“做人难,做女人更难。”难就难在世人早为你下了断言:生为女人,你就该天经地义地成为一道美丽的风景线。而最难之处在于:美与不美,从来都不容女人自己说了算!于是,美丽不仅成为这个充满偏见的世俗社会强加在女人身上的无理要求,也成为限制女人才华和绑架女人智慧的罪魁祸首。只是,到底是接受这一无理要求,还是“杀死”这个罪魁祸首,女人该自己做个决断。
Guess what? According to the standard of beauty currently in place1) in our culture—namely white, young, thin with long, straight hair, I am not beautiful. Can’t happen. As a rounded black woman with curly hair, the best I can hope for is moderately attractive. Which means that according to the latest research and Newsweek’s own polling, I am at a disadvantage in the workplace, which appears to value looks over education. But I still don’t care about the beauty standard—I don’t even care what it is. I can’t. For me, it is as immutable2) and unreachable, and thus as meaningless, as the fact that rich people get better lawyers. So what if the standard is getting stricter, more unrealistic, and meaner by the day? The standard will change, and as bell-bottoms3) gave way to leg warmers4), it’ll morph into something else. And most of us still won’t be beautiful by whatever new criteria Ralph Lauren5) cooks up6). I’ll probably never fit into other groups that society favors, either. I’ll never be a billionaire. And unless I have a sudden and unprecedented set of surgeries, I’ll never be a white man. And yet I somehow managed to graduate from Yale, find a job I sometimes like, and, miracles of miracles, get married and have a kid.
你猜怎么着?按照当前文化中流行的美貌标准,也就是皮肤白皙、青春年少、身材苗条,还要有一头长长的直发,我可不是个美女。也永远不可能是。作为一个身材圆润、头发卷曲的黑人女性,我顶多也就希望自己是稍有魅力。而根据最新的研究以及《新闻周刊》的投票结果,这就意味着我在职场上处于非常不妙的地位,因为在那儿,相貌似乎比学历更重要。不过,我还是不在乎这个评判美貌的标准——甚至连这个标准到底是什么我都懒得管。我也管不着。在我看来,这个标准就像“有钱人能请到好律师”这一事实一样,无法改变、难以企及,因此也毫无意义。试想,如果这个标准逐渐变得更苛刻、更不切实际、更不怀好意,那该怎么办呢?标准是会变的,就好比喇叭裤被连裤袜所取代一样,标准也会改头换面。而无论拉尔夫·劳伦炮制出怎样的新标准,大多数人还是成不了美女。我大概永远也成不了大众青睐的那一类人。我压根儿就成不了亿万富翁。而除非我立即做一套史无前例的整容手术,否则也永远不会变成一个白人男子。可是,我照样还是通过努力拿到了耶鲁大学的毕业证书,找到了一份自己还算喜欢的工作,然后简直就像奇迹中的奇迹——我居然还结了婚、生了孩子。
Beauty bias notwithstanding7), there are still opportunities for people who aren’t hotties8)—lots of them. Virtually all the women I know have come to terms with the fact that their self-esteem cannot be tied to Photoshopped 15-year-olds on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar9). Never in the history of the world have women had so many amazing opportunities, and it makes not a whit10) of sense to squander11) them obsessing over our looks. We do not yet reap rewards equal to those of men. But we can either succeed in the breathtaking arenas that are now open to us or we can spend our days competing with fashion models and movie stars. In other words, you can be Hillary Clinton or Heidi Montag12). It’s your choice.
虽然存在以貌取人的现象,但是机遇还是会眷顾那些并不性感的人的——这样的机遇还很多。实际上,我认识的所有女性都已接受了眼前的事实,那就是千万别拿自己和《时尚芭莎》封面上生造出的妙龄女郎比,那纯粹是自扫尊严。有史以来,女人在这个世界上还从未有过如此多的天赐良机,我们没有丝毫理由因为受容貌的困扰而浪费掉这些机会。当然,我们获得的酬劳还难以与男人们相媲美。但我们可以选择:或者在某些已经向我们敞开大门的激动人心的领域里斩获成功,或者选择把日子打发在与时装模特和电影明星“血拼”美丽上。换句话说,你要么成为希拉里·克林顿,要么成为海蒂·蒙塔格。就看你怎么选了。
Despite the $20 billion U.S. beauty industry bearing down on13) us, and all that media implying that one must look like Gisele14) to succeed, girls and women are making extraordinary strides and have done so in a remarkably short period of time. We are currently earning the majority of undergraduate (and many graduate) degrees, including medicine and law. We don’t have a lot of CEOs to call our own, but some of ones we have, including Carly Fiorina15) and Meg Whitman16), have turned their business prowess into viable political careers. There are a decent number of women in the House and Senate (76 and 17, respectively), but there’s no reason that we can’t expect those numbers to grow—especially on the heels of17) Clinton’s presidential run and the recent successes of women in the GOP18). Clearly, eligibility19) for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue20) is not required to succeed or even to change the world. And believe it or not, trends in beauty-buying back that up. The market-research firm NDP released a study in April 2009 that revealed that teens and women are now using beauty products in significantly fewer quantities, down 6 percent from 2008 to 2009. Karen Grant, a senior global-industry analyst for NPD, told me its research has shown this is not simply recession-related but that some women are actually becoming less emotionally engaged with the beauty market. Most of the world’s women aren’t Vogue-approved hotties, and still so many manage to kick-ass21) in law school or business school or medical school, and not by sitting in a plastic surgeon’s office or the gym all day. Three of the last four secretaries of state have been women—none of whom showed up on the cover of W22). Sonia Sotomayor may never win a Miss America pageant, but boohoo, she’s a Supreme Court justice. I’d choose that over a tiara23) any day.
尽管美国两百亿美元的美容产业不断冲击着我们,尽管新闻媒体无不暗指一个人要想成功必须要有吉赛尔那样的容貌,但是女孩和妇女们仍然在极短的时间内取得了非凡的进步。目前大多数本科(以及许多研究生)学位都是我们女性拿到的,这其中包括医学和法学学位。我们中间当上CEO的人虽然不多,但其中有些人——比如卡莉·费奥利那和梅格·惠特曼——已经将她们卓越的商业才能转而投入到可望成功的政治生涯中。妇女已经在参众两院获得了相当多的席位(分别为17个和76个),而我们完全有理由相信这一数字还会继续增长,尤其是继希拉里·克林顿竞选总统以及近期女性在共和党内取得诸多成就之后。显而易见,能不能被《体育画报》泳装特刊看中,并不妨碍我们取得成功,甚或改变世界。信不信由你,美容品消费趋势也印证了这一点。市场调查公司NDP在2009年4月发布的一项研究结果显示,现在使用美容产品的少女和妇女人数明显减少,从2008年到2009年减少了6%。NPD全球产业高级分析师卡伦·格兰特对我说,该公司的研究表明这不能简单地归因于经济不景气,还说明了一些女性对美容市场的依恋与热衷其实正在减退了。虽然世界上大多数女性都不是《时尚》杂志眼里的性感尤物,但是照样有很多人通过努力在法学院、商学院以及医学院里取得不凡成绩,而不是天天泡在整容手术室或者健身馆里。在过去的四任国务卿中,有三位是女性——她们谁都没有在《W》杂志的封面上露过脸。索妮亚·索托马约尔或许永远当不了美国小姐,可呜呼,她当上了最高法院的法官。换成是我,不管到什么时候,我都宁愿当法官而不要争什么美国小姐的桂冠。
I’m not saying you have to completely let yourself go. One of the reasons looks, though not necessarily beauty, are so important to hiring managers is because appearance can help you suss out24) a lot of information, such as the way you conduct yourself professionally. I suspect if Angelina Jolie showed up to an interview at an accounting firm in flip-flops25) and dirty jeans, she’d have trouble getting hired. So despite our fears, looks in the hiring arena do not always equal perfect bone structure. For millennia, beauty was a woman’s only currency and, even then, the most gorgeous women were property themselves, unable to inherit land or marry of their own accord. But the days of boobs being our only advantage are as close to being over as they ever have been. We just have to believe it. Stop worrying about unfair beauty standards. Look around. Most of the world does not look like the Laker Girls26) or even Coyote Ugly27) waitresses. And that’s OK with them.
我的意思并不是说你要对自己的外表彻底放任不管。尽管不是非得貌美如花不可,但对于人事经理而言,外表还是很重要的,这里面的原因有很多,其中之一就是从外表可以发现很多讯息,比如你的表现是否够专业。要是安吉丽娜·茱莉穿着人字拖和脏牛仔裤去会计公司面试的话,我猜她够呛能被录取。所以,尽管我们有种种担心和顾虑,但在求职时,外表的含义并不总是完全等同于天生无可挑剔的美丽。在数千年的时间里,美貌一直被当成是女人唯一的资本,可即使在那时,最漂亮的女人自己也不过是一种财产而已,她们无法继承土地,也不能嫁给自己的意中人。不过,把身材火辣作为女人唯一优势的时代即将过去。这一点我们必须相信。不要再担心不公正的美貌标准。到处看看,你就会发现,这世界上的大多数人长得既不像湖人队的拉拉队女郎,也不像《女狼俱乐部》里的女招待,可对于她们来说,这没什么大不了的。
And think about it this way. As we continue to grow in power as workers, spenders, heads of households, and legislators, our economic power will force a change in this so-called beauty bias. But we have to be brave and continue to reject the conclusion that turning ourselves into Scarlett Johansson28) is the only way to get ahead. Yes, people can be vicious in their categorization of women’s looks. Insult them back or ignore them. We aren’t victims. We aren’t objects. And I, for one, am not going to spend my life worrying about when to start Botox29) treatments. When I’m on my deathbed, I hope to be smiling in satisfaction about all I accomplished, not that I made it to 102 without any cellulite30).
这样想吧,当我们在工作、消费、操持家庭以及参政议政方面的力量不断壮大时,我们的经济影响力将会迫使这一所谓的美貌偏见产生变化。不过,现在我们还得勇敢一点,要始终拒绝认同这样的世俗断言,即把自己变成斯嘉丽·约翰逊那样的美女才是通向成功的唯一途径。没错,人们在对女人的外貌进行分门别类时极有可能居心叵测。要做的是反戈一击,或者干脆嗤之以鼻。我们不是牺牲品,也不是物品。就拿我来说吧,我可不打算把生命浪费在操心什么时候开始打肉毒素上。在我行将就木的时候,我希望自己能会心一笑,为的是自己曾经取得的所有成就,而不是自己到102岁了还没有一丝赘肉。
1. in place:适当的,适实的,合乎时宜的
2. immutable [I5mju:tEbl] adj. 不可改变的
3. bell-bottoms:喇叭裤
4. leg warmers:暖腿袜套,连裤袜
5. Ralph Lauren:拉尔夫·劳伦(1939～),美国时尚设计师,美国经典品牌“拉尔夫·劳伦”的缔造者
6. cook up:〈口〉想出,捏造,编造
7. notwithstanding
[7nCtwIW5stAndIN] prep. 尽管,还是
8. hottie [5hCtI] n. 性感的人
9. Harper’s Bazaar:《时尚芭莎》,全美第一本时装杂志,创刊于1867年。
10. not a whit:一点不,丝毫不
11. squander [5skwCndE] vt. 浪费,挥霍
12. Heidi Montag:海蒂·蒙塔格(1986～),流行歌手、演员,一个为追求容貌完美而在三年时间内做了三十多项整容整形手术的“整容狂人”
13. bear down on:沉重地压在……上,使难以承受负荷
14. Gisele:即吉赛尔·邦辰(Gisele Bundchen, 1980～),世界超模
15. Carly Fiorina:卡莉·费奥利那,惠普公司前任总裁兼首席执行官,被誉为“世界第一女CEO”。她于2008年转向政坛发展,加入了当时的美国共和党总统候选人麦凯恩的竞选联盟。
16. Meg Whitman:梅格·惠特曼(1956～),全球最大的电子商务公司eBay公司的前任首席执行官,于2010年6月8日在竞选加利福尼亚州州长的初选中获胜。她将在2010年11月与民主党候选人、前加州州长杰瑞·布朗竞选新一任州长。
17. on the heels of:紧跟在……后面
18. GOP:大老党(Grand Old Party),美国共和党的别称
19. eligibility [7elIdVE5bIlEtI]] n. 合适,合格
20. Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue:《体育画报》泳装特刊。《体育画报》是世界著名体育杂志,于1954年在美国创刊。
21. kick-ass:通常用作形容词,表示“卓越的,极好的”;这里用作动词。
22. W:美国时尚杂志,于1971年创刊。
23. tiara [tI5B:rE] n. (饰有钻石或鲜花的)冕状头饰(为社会地位极高的妇女于非常正式的社交场合使用)
24. suss out:估摸,推断出,发现……的真相
25. flip-flop [5flIpflCp] n. (塑料或橡胶)平底人字拖鞋
26. Laker Girls:湖人拉拉队女郎,即美国NBA洛杉矶湖人队的拉拉队成员
27. Coyote Ugly:《女狼俱乐部》,2000年上演的浪漫喜剧。文中此处的“Coyote Ugly waitresses”指《女狼俱乐部》里外形美艳、身怀绝技的女服务生。
28. Scarlett Johansson:斯嘉丽·约翰逊(1984～),美国好莱坞女星,代表电影有《其实你不懂他的心》、《午夜巴塞罗那》等。
29. Botox:肉毒素,由肉毒杆菌分泌的一种生物神经毒素,有除皱、美容的功效。
30. cellulite [5seljulaIt] n. 脂肪团