Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For and the graphic memoir Fun Home.

Alison was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, United States, into a family of teachers, Catholics by religion, who ran a funeral home. She graduated from Simon's Rock College and then, in 1981, from Oberlin College. Alison’s younger brother, John Bechdel, is a well-known keyboardist who has played with such groups as Ministry and Fear Factory.

After completing her education, Alison Bechdel moved to New York, where she worked in publishing while simultaneously attempting to enroll in many art schools, but was rejected everywhere.

Bechdel began her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For with a single drawing titled “Marianne, dissatisfied with the morning brew: Dykes to Watch Out For, plate no. 27.” On the advice of acquaintances, she sent this work to the feminist newspaper Womannews, where it was published in 1983. Soon Alison moved from single drawings to comic strips, and the following year her comic was already being published in other periodicals as well.

Initially, the comic consisted of separate strips unrelated by a common plot or characters; however, in 1987 Bechdel introduced recurring characters, and the action centered on Mo and her friends.

The comic became the source of the so-called Bechdel test, which checks films, books, and other works for feminism. According to this test, a work is considered sufficiently feminist if three conditions are met: - it has at least two women, - talking to each other, - about something other than a man.

Since 1988, Bechdel has contributed work to The Advocate; since 1990, she has worked professionally as a comic artist. Shortly afterward, she moved to Burlington, Vermont, and then to Bolton, Vermont.

In 2012, Alison Bechdel was awarded The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement by the publishers’ association Publishing Triangle.

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