WHAT WOMEN WANT FROM WOMEN IN FICTION I've always been curious as to whether women feel represented by their portrayal as characters. Since "Hey, Lucy, I've got some mansplaining to do" would not be a popular start to my column, I sought help via social media and email from my female friends for their thoughts on the subject. Years of reading books and watching movies that lacked meaningful female presence sent Fun Home graphic novelist Alison Bechdel on a similar quest, so she introduced a yardstick that has become known as the Bechdel test. Especially important is that female characters have their own narrative arcs and don't just exist to motivate men's love interests, as a fantasy solution to a broken man's problems, or as the victim of the violence that spurs him into action. "Especially important is that female characters have their own narrative arcs and don't just exist to motivate men's love interests, as a fantasy solution to a broken man's problems, or as the victim of the violence that spurs him into action."