Why We Should Still Read Dykes to Watch Out For
Miles Madonna | April 25, 2024
If you have been in any gender and women’s studies class —or even a film class —you have heard of Alison Bechdel. She is the co-creator of the famous Bechdel-Wallace test, where to pass, a work must feature at least two female characters who have a conversation about something other than a man. Her 2006 graphic memoir “Fun Home” was a runaway hit, even being adapted into a musical. Despite being known for the Bechdel-Wallace test and “Fun Home,” Alison Bechdel is not recognized for her earlier work. She is the author of many comics and graphic novels, including the iconic lesbian serial novella “Dykes to Watch Out For” — which is actually where the Bechdel-Wallace test originated from — that started in 1987.
I first read “Dykes to Watch Out For” in the winter of 2021. I was in my sophomore year of college and experiencing a depressive episode. Coming to college in 2020 had made it hard to make friends, and the aforementioned depressive episode made it hard to keep them. One day, looking at the graphic novel section at Barnes & Noble, I was surprised to see the word DYKE on the spine of a book. Was that even allowed? I slid it out of its spot on the bookshelf and flipped through the pages, met with densely worded comic strips full of people with short hair, muscle tees and single earrings. I knew I had to take it home with me.
“Dykes” was published weekly for 25 years, so you get close to its characters and storylines, following them through decades of their lives. Topics usually include some sort of relationship drama or political activism, often centering around a women’s bookstore where many of the characters work. Bechdel herself describes it as, “half op-ed column and half endless, serialized Victorian novel.” We follow characters through break-ups, gentrification, gender experimentation and more. Most of the characters are lesbians, but there are also straight, bisexual and other queer identities represented.
I spent the next few days curled up in bed under a heated blanket, making my way through the 400-page tome that is “The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.” I was immediately sucked into the soap-opera-esque world that these characters lived in. Finally, I could live vicariously through the lives of a large messy lesbian friend group. It felt like when I watched “The L Word” for the first time as a young teenager, but remarkably better. This was made by a dyke, for dykes, about dykes. It felt realistic as opposed to “The L Word’s” hypersexual cast full of femmes.
These characters helped me understand my own lesbianism, something I had been aware of for years at that point but had not explored due to a lack of community. But these dykes served as my community. Though the comic strip started in 1987, I was struck by how relevant it all felt. Even though I had not lived through the Bush presidency, the AIDS epidemic, or fought for gay marriage, I could relate to the dykes that came before me. We are living in similar times of political and social unrest, so it is not hard to parallel their experiences to mine. “Dykes” showed me the diversity in lesbian life, making it feel like I had a real future, as this is not represented in most other media. The cast of characters is diverse, featuring dykes of varied races, ability and gender expression.
Some have complained of biphobic or transphobic comments in the series, which is an obvious cause for alarm, but what Bechdel does after a character makes a mistake is special. If a character says something problematic, it is remedied later on in the story. Sometimes in real time, corrected by another character. In regards to trans issues, the story mirrors the issues going on in the lesbian community in the 90s, where trans women were not always welcomed. But where there are characters that don’t understand, other characters work to enlighten them. Because “Dykes” ran for so long, we get to see the characters and community they are in change for the better as time goes on
I still have not come across anything that has made me feel the same as “Dykes” has. And others feel the same, many crediting it as the first time they saw themselves truly represented in media. Bechdel depicted women living together and having children, gender non-confirming dykes and more at a time when it was not half as accepted as it is today. Even though queer people still face many issues, it is easy to forget that it used to be much worse. During its publishing, Bechdel’s work reached many queer people in small towns, or that just had not come out yet, that were desperate for community. Its impact on these people alone makes it a notable piece of queer media.
I cannot recommend “Dykes to Watch Out For” enough. It gave me hope for my future, showing me the kind of community I want in my life. If you are not a lesbian, it is still worth a read for the wonderful characters and the delicious drama. And plus, will you not feel cool knowing what your lesbian friends are talking about? It is an important part of lesbian culture that deserves to stay popular. In “Dykes to Watch Out For,” Bechdel shows us the many ways that lesbians can be, non-judgmentally. And most of all, it reminds us that dykes have and will always be just as messy as straight people.