Level 5-Day 14.Naomi Wolf 'A Woman's Place' (1)

词汇提示

1.awry 错误的2.backlash 反对3.tassels 流苏4.menstruate 来月经

原文

Naomi Wolf : 'A Woman's Place' (1)

Even the best of revolutions can go awry when we internalize the attitudes we are fighting.The class of 1992 is graduating into a violent backlash against the advances women have made over the last 20 years.This backlash ranges from a Senator using "The Exorcist" against Anita Hill, to beer commercials with the "Swedish bikini team."Today I want to give you a backlash survival kit, a four-step manual to keep the dragons from taking up residence inside your own heads.My own commencement, at Yale, eight years ago, was the Graduation from Hell.The speaker was Dick Cavett, rumored to have been our president's"brother" in an all-male secret society.Mr. Cavett took the microphone and paled at the sight of hundreds of female about-to-be- Yale graduates."When I was a graduate," I recall he said, "There were no women.The women went to Vassar.At Vassar, they had nude photographs taken of the women in gym class to check their posture.One year the photos were stolen, and turned up for sale in New Haven's red-light district.His punch line, "The photos found no buyers."I'll never forget that moment.There we were, silent in our black gowns, our tassels, our brand new shoes.We dared not break the silence with hisses or boos,out of respect for our families, who'd come so far; and they kept still out of concern for us.Consciously or not, Mr. Cavett was using the beauty myth aspect of the backlash: when women come too close to masculine power, someone will draw critical attention to their bodies.We might be Elis, but we still wouldn't make pornography worth buying.That afternoon, several hundred men were confirmed in the power of a powerful institution.But many of the women felt the shame of the powerless: the choking on silence, the complicity, the helplessness.We were orphaned from the institution.I want to give you the commencement talk that was denied to me.Message No. 1 in your survival kit: redefine "becoming a woman."Today you have "become women."But that sounds odd in ordinary usage.What is usually meant by "You're a real woman [sic] now? "You"become a woman" when you menstruate for the first time, or when you lose your virginity, or when you have a child.These biological definitions are very different from how we say boys become men.One"becomes a man" when he undertakes responsibility, or completes a quest.But you, too, in some ways more than your male friends graduating today, have moved into maturity through a solitary quest for the adult self.

翻译

娜奥米·沃尔夫:《女人的位置》(1)

即使是最好的革命，当我们内化了我们所对抗的态度时，也会出错。

1992届毕业生将在一场针对女性在过去20年里取得的进步的暴力反弹中毕业。

从一位参议员用《驱魔人》来攻击安妮塔·希尔，到“瑞典比基尼队”的啤酒广告，都出现了这种反弹。

今天我想给你们一个反击生存工具包，一个四步手册来防止龙在你自己的头脑中居住。

八年前，我自己在耶鲁大学的毕业典礼是“来自地狱的毕业典礼”。

演讲者是迪克·卡维特，据传他是我们总统在一个全是男性的秘密社团里的“兄弟”。

卡维特先生接过麦克风，面对数百名即将毕业的耶鲁女学生，他的脸色变得苍白。

“当我毕业的时候，”我记得他说，“没有女人。

女人们去了瓦萨学院。

在瓦萨学院，他们给体育课上的女性拍了裸照，以检查她们的姿势。

有一年，这些照片被盗，并在纽黑文的红灯区被出售。

他的妙语是:“照片没有找到买家。”

我永远不会忘记那一刻。

我们静静地站在那里，穿着黑色长袍，戴着流苏，穿着崭新的鞋子。

出于对远道而来的家人的尊重，我们不敢用嘘声或嘘声打破沉默;他们不作声，是出于对我们的关心。

不管有意无意，卡维特都是在利用这种反对的美丽神话方面:当女性过于接近男性权力时，有人会把批评的注意力吸引到她们的身体上。

我们可能是Elis，但我们仍然不会让色情作品值得购买。

那天下午，几百人在一个强大的机构的权力下得到确认。

但是，许多妇女感到无能为力的耻辱:沉默、同谋和无助。

我们是孤儿院的孤儿。

我想给你们在毕业典礼上的演讲，我被拒绝了。

你生存工具箱里的第一条信息:重新定义“成为一个女人”。

今天，你们已经“成为女人”了。

但这在日常用法中听起来很奇怪。

“你现在是个真正的女人了”通常是什么意思?

当你第一次来月经时，或者当你失去贞操时，或者当你有了孩子时，你就“成为了一个女人”。

这些生物学上的定义与我们所说的男孩变成男人的方式非常不同。

当一个人承担责任或完成任务时，他就“成为了一个人”。

但是，在某些方面，你们也比你们今天毕业的男性朋友们更加成熟，你们是通过对成人自我的孤独追求而走向成熟的。