九大事實爲證：傳統的性別角色?胡扯！

Remember the good old days when men were men and women were women? You know, when the manliest of men wore their hair long and curly with their best high heels.

還記得昔日那美好的時光嗎？那時，男人還是男人，女人還是女人。你知道嗎？那時最具男子氣概的男人留着捲曲的長髮，穿着他們最好的高跟鞋。

Oh, maybe you were imagining a slightly different picture of modern gender? Consider the earring. associated exclusively with women for about 200 years, guys have recently started to reclaim them. "In the last two decades," Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told The Huffington Post, "men have gotten in touch with their inner pirate."

奧，也許剛剛你想象的現代性別圖景稍稍有些不同。想想耳飾吧。200年以來，人們只把耳飾同女性聯繫起來，但最近，男人們已經開始重新佩戴耳飾了。“最近二十年來，”紐約時裝技術學院博物館館長瓦萊麗•斯蒂爾告訴《赫芬頓郵報》說，“男人們已經聽到他們內心的呼喚了。”

While there are real biological differences between the sexes, gender is generally considered to be a social construction -- it can be pretty much whatever we want it to be, and we've wanted it to be a lot of things over the years. Below, find some ways our perception of gender presentation has already changed from the past to present.

男女的確存在生理上的差異，但“性別”通常被認爲是一個社會概念—我們想怎麼定義它，它就是什麼樣的。這些年來，我們已經賦予了它如此多的內涵。下面的一些事實表明，從過去到現在，我們對於性別表現的看法已經發生了變化。

Pink used to be a "boy color" and blue a "girl color," and before that every baby just wore white.

No.1 粉紅色曾經是“男孩子的顏色”，藍色曾經是“女孩兒的顏色”，而在此之前，每個寶寶都只穿白色的衣服。

Not so long ago, parents dressed their babies in white dresses -- due to the fact they could be bleached -- until about age six. Yes, even the boys.

曾幾何時，直到六歲之前，父母們都給他們的寶寶穿白色的衣服—這是因爲白色的衣服可被漂白。即使男孩兒也是如此。

Pastels came into style when a 1918 retail trade publication attempted to nail down the rules: pink for boys and blue for girls. "Being a more decided and stronger color, [pink] is more suitable for the boy," the article stated, "while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." Whether or not people listened (and blatantly sexist rationale aside), they at least seemed to accept a much wider variety of color options for their infants until sometime around 1940, University of Maryland historian Jo B. Paoletti notes, when preferences switched to the color divide we're familiar with today.

1918年，一份零售的行業刊物2試圖確定這樣的慣例：粉紅色是男孩子的顏色，而藍色是女孩子的顏色。也就在那時，淺色開始流行起來。“粉紅色看起來更爲果敢，堅強，更適合男孩子，”這篇文章寫道，“藍色看起來更爲雅緻，秀氣，對女孩兒來說更漂亮。”“不論人們有沒有聽從這一建議（當時還有公然的性別歧視理論），對於寶寶衣服顏色的選擇，他們可接受的範圍還是很廣的，至少看起來是如此，這種情況一直持續到1940年左右，”馬里蘭大學的歷史學家喬•B•保萊蒂提到，“到那時人們對於顏色的偏好才轉變成了今天我們所熟知的體現性別的顏色差異3。”

High heels were originally created for men and seen as "masculine" for a century.

No.2 高跟鞋最初是爲男人設計的。有一個世紀，人們認爲高跟鞋很具“陽剛之氣”。

Persian soldiers wore high-heeled shoes in the name of necessity when riding horseback, since shooting an arrow from a saddle was easier with a heel to secure the foot in its strap. As the European elite became fascinated with the unfamiliar culture, men adopted the horsemen's masculine footwear for their own (totally impractical) use around 1600. After the (gasp!) lower classes began sporting heeled footwear, the leisure class responded as only they could -- by making the heel higher.

波斯士兵認爲騎馬的時候穿高跟鞋是必要的。這是因爲高跟鞋能使腳牢牢地固定在腳蹬上，這樣在馬鞍上射箭會更容易。歐洲的名流們對這一陌生的文化着迷起來，大約在1600年左右，他們自己（完全不實際）也穿起了這種本屬於騎手的充滿陽剛之氣的鞋。在下層階級開始炫耀高跟鞋之後（大喘氣！），上流階層隨之將鞋跟變高了，以此表示只有他們能這樣做。

But when women began adopting the style as well, men's shoe heels became stockier and shorter, while women's became thinner and higher. "Most of the time," Steele told HuffPost, "when something begins to be associated with the feminine, it gets kind of 'contaminated' for men." By the end of the 18th century, she noted, men were over the whole heeled shoe thing. If only they could've looked past the gender divide, they'd have seen a way to longer-looking legs and a perkier butt.

但當女人們也開始穿高跟鞋的時候，男人們的鞋跟就變得又短又粗，而女人們的鞋跟卻更細更高了。“大多時候”，斯蒂爾對《赫芬頓郵報》說，“對於男人來說，什麼東西只要一同女性聯繫起來，好像就被‘污染’了。”她提到，到了18世紀末，男人們就完全不穿高跟鞋了。要是他們能看看過去的性別差異，他們早就能找到使腿更細，屁股更翹的方法了。

At one time, secretaries and schoolteachers were all guys.

No.3 曾經，祕書和學校老師都是男人。

The term "women's work" is based on the idea that women are intrinsically less qualified for all but certain roles in the workforce; but what those roles are, exactly, has changed a bit over time. At the turn of the last century, an estimated 85 percent of clerical jobs were filled by men earning twice the salary of their female counterparts. These men usually used the job as an entry-level managerial position in their climb up the white-collar ladder.

詞語“女人的工作”的產生基於這樣一種觀念：在職場，除了某幾種工作外，女人天生不如男性（更能勝任工作）；而這幾種工作的類別，準確地說，並沒有隨着時間的推移改變多少。據估計，上世紀末（此處應爲作者筆誤，應爲上上個世紀4）有85%的文職工作是由男人做的，而他們的薪水是做同樣工作的女性的兩倍。這些男人將這份工作作爲攀登職業生涯階梯的第一步—從初級管理職位幹起，最終成爲白領。

As more women entered the workforce, the field began to shift. But female secretaries rarely made the jump from office peon to executive, and a "secretary" came to look like the smartly dressed girls we see on "Mad Men." Around the same time, teaching schoolchildren was also a male-dominated profession, until the work became "feminized" and men backed away, slowly, into the bushes.

隨着更多的女性進入職場，這一領域開始發生了變化。但是女祕書很少能從辦公室僱員一躍成爲經理管理人員，也沒有哪一位祕書能如我們在《廣告狂人》（Mad Men）裏所看到的、的那些女孩兒那樣，衣着時髦得體。差不多同時，小學老師也是一個男性佔主導的職業，直到這一工作變得“女性化”，男人們慢慢退出這一工作領域，最終從業者寥寥無幾。Lace used to be manly. And womanly. So long as you were upper-class.

No.4 過去，蕾絲適合男人，也適合女人。只要你屬於上層階級。

Much like the high-heeled shoe, lace was popularized in the European market around the 16th century as a status marker, Steele told HuffPost. The stuff was so intricately crafted that just an inch and a half of Valenciennes lace (one particularly labor-intensive variety) took 14 hours to produce -- and it came with a price to match.

斯蒂爾告訴《赫芬頓郵報》，和高跟鞋十分相像，16世紀左右，蕾絲作爲身份的象徵在歐洲市場大爲流行。這種東西製作工藝極爲複雜，即便只是製作一英寸半長的瓦朗西安蕾絲（製作特別耗費勞力的一種）也要花上14個小時—當然，價格也相應地不菲。

It was acceptable for men to wear lace through the 18th century, Steele explained, but the style died out around the 19th century. "A lot of decoration in clothing was interpreted as meaning 'aristocratic, upper class'" she explained, "and it becomes redefined around 1800 as meaning 'feminine.'" The same goes for the business of shopping for clothing fabric. "Men shopped quite happily for clothing right through the 18th century," she explained.

“整個18世紀，男人穿蕾絲製成的衣服都是被接受的，”斯蒂爾解釋說，“但這種風尚在19世紀逐漸消失了。”“許多衣服上的裝飾都被解讀成‘貴族，上層階級’的象徵，”她解釋說，“1800年左右，蕾絲又被重新定義成‘女性化的東西。’”買衣物布料這件事也一樣。“整個18世紀，男人們都十分樂於買衣服，”她解釋說。

Even men used to cry when they wanted to seem sincere.

No.5 過去，爲了顯得真誠，男人常常會哭。

A man's stoicism has always been a point of pride, up there with biceps and ability to drink his weight in beer -- right? Nope.

男人的堅忍克己，再加上強健的肌肉以及能將與他們體重重量相當的啤酒一飲而盡的氣魄總是令他們驕傲的一件事情—對嗎？並不是這樣的。

"Tearlessness," wrote historian Tom Lutz, "has not been the standard of manliness through most of history." Although men may be biologically inclined against crying, the act has been used over centuries by both genders to signify sincerity, pleasure or even heroism. Odysseus cries throughout the Iliad. Jean-Jacque Rousseau, Lutz wrote, considered crying part of our natural state. In the 18th century, crying was so normalized and even expected that "if you didn't cry at the theatre … you were some kind of lower class boor," he told the Orange County Register. Even American hero Abraham Lincoln cried at certain moments during his public speeches.

“不流眼淚，”歷史學家湯姆•盧茨寫道，“在大部分的歷史時間裏，並不是判斷一個人男子氣概的標準。”儘管男人也許天生不愛哭，但幾百年來，兩性都用“哭”來表現真誠，快樂甚至英雄氣概。盧茨寫道，“在《伊利亞特》中，奧德修斯從頭哭到尾。讓•雅克•盧梭認爲哭是我們自然狀態的一部分。”他告訴《橘郡紀事報》說，“在18世紀，哭是一件很正常的事情，如果在劇場你不哭，就會被認爲是下層階級的粗人。” 甚至連美國的英雄亞伯拉罕•林肯，在做公開演講時也曾數次動容。

Cheerleading started out as a boys' club, because it was too "masculine" for girls.

No.6 啦啦隊最初是一個男孩兒俱樂部，因爲這對於女孩兒來說太“男性化了”。

"The reputation of having been a valiant 'cheer-leader' is one of the most valuable things a boy can take away from college," reads a 1911 article in The Nation. Similar to actually playing collegiate sports, leading cheers for the team helped prepare students for leadership roles later in life, argued Mary Ellen Hanson in her history of American cheerleading.

1911年《國家》雜誌上的一篇文章寫道，“成爲英勇的啦啦隊長會替一個男孩贏得榮譽，這是他可以帶出大學校園的最有價值的東西之一。”“其實，和參加大學體育比賽相似，率領隊員爲隊伍加油幫助學生培養領導能力，爲日後生活中他們所要擔當的領導角色做準備，”瑪麗•愛倫•漢森在講述美國啦啦隊歷史5時說道。

The first cheerleader is said to be University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell, who convinced the crowd to follow his chanting lead during an 1898 game. His legacy was carried on by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan -- all cheerleaders. It wasn't until the 1920s and 1930s that women were really included (and not until the 1960s that it became female-dominated) since the sport was previously deemed too "masculine" for them, helping develop powerful, unladylike voices. Plus, they'd hear too much cursing hanging around all those manly male cheerleaders.

據說，第一位啦啦隊長是明尼蘇達大學的學生約翰尼• 坎貝爾。在1898年的一次比賽中，他說服衆人聽從他的指揮，呼喊加油。德懷特•艾森豪威爾，富蘭克林•羅斯福和羅納德•里根將他的這一“首創”延續了下去—三人都當過啦啦隊長。直到20世紀20年代和30年代女性才真正參與進來（直到20世紀60年代她們才成爲主導）。這是因爲先前人們認爲這一運動對女性來說太“男性化”，並且會促使她們發出有強力的，不那麼淑女的聲音。此外，她們還得聽那些“極具男子氣概”的男啦啦隊長的過分的咒罵。It wasn't just a Beatles shag, either -- the Merovingian kings of the early Middle Ages in Europe rocked long locks, and many others at the time followed suit. Men of the lowest classes, however, wore short hair or were made to shave it completely as a symbol of their low status.

不僅僅是披頭士留着蓬亂的長髮—歐洲中世紀早期梅羅文加王朝的國王們也長髮搖曳，（當時）許多人紛紛效仿。然而，最底層階級的男人們卻留着短髮，或者被要求將頭髮完全剃光，來作爲他們低微地位的象徵。

Later on, 17th century men began wearing long wigs. Sure, it could have been because tons of people had syphilis, causing their hair to fall out in embarrassing patches, but long, thick hair became a status symbol anyway. King Louis XIV was particularly known for wearing a wig with rich, wavy tresses that were the envy of all the land, probably.

後來17世紀時，男人們開始戴假的長髮。當然，這可能是由於成千上萬的人患了梅毒，致使他們的頭髮脫落而呈令人尷尬的斑片狀6。但無論如何，又長又厚的頭髮已經成爲了地位的象徵。國王路易十四尤以戴假的長髮而著名，整個國家的所有人都羨慕他茂密的波浪形長髮。

Both men and women can get kind of baby-crazy -- it just happens to men later in life.

No.8 男人和女人都可能瘋狂地想要孩子—只不過對於男人來說，這種瘋狂來得晚一些。

Research by two Kansas State University psychologists in 2011 found that the urge to procreate -- often known as "baby fever" -- is strongest in women at younger ages, and decreases as they age. For men, however, likelihood of baby fever increases with age. "It's like men and women are converging over time," one of the researchers told LiveScience. "Gender role norms didn't do much as far as explaining people's desire to have a baby."

2011年堪薩斯州立大學兩名心理學家所做的研究發現，女人們想要生孩子的衝動—也就是人們平常所熟知的“孩子狂熱症”在年輕的時候最強，隨着年齡的增加而減弱。然而對於男人來說，年齡越大，他們越可能瘋狂地想要孩子。“隨着時間的推移，男人和女人（在要孩子這件事上）的觀點可能正趨向統一，”其中之一的研究者告訴《生活科學》雜誌說，“在解釋人們想要孩子的慾望時，性別角色的標準並不說明多大問題。”

Results of a 2013 survey of 81 women and 27 men in Britain suggested that while men were slightly less likely to express desire for children, they were more likely to feel depressed, jealous, or angry if they didn't have any.

在英國，2013年一項由81位女士和27位男士參與的調查的結果表明，儘管（同女人相比），男人表達想要孩子慾望的可能性會稍稍小一些，但如果沒有孩子，他們會更容易感到壓抑，嫉妒或者生氣。

The art of brewing beer was pioneered by women.

No.9 釀造啤酒的藝術是由女性開創的。

Yes, the manliest man drink for manly men was primarily brewed, according to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, by the ladies. Brewing beer was seen as a domestic chore for much of history, like making bread and other things that came from grain, until the economy shifted into an industrial-based one and commercial breweries (run by men) took off. As a sad side effect, unique regional brews died out as large-scale production limited available varieties of beer.

是的，根據古老的埃及象形文字記載，具有陽剛之氣的男人所喝的最具男子氣概的飲料最初是由女人釀造的。在很長的歷史時期裏，釀造啤酒，同做麪包和其他將糧食進行加工的活計一樣，被認爲是家庭雜務。直到經濟進入工業化時代，商業啤酒廠（由男人經營）開始發展起來。可是，這也產生了一個可悲的副作用：大規模生產限制了可生產的啤酒種類，獨特的區域啤酒也就隨之消失了。

There's even a word, likely originating during the 12th century, for female brewers: "brewster."

甚至還有一個詞，很可能起源於12世紀，用來形容女性啤酒釀造者“brewster（啤酒釀造者）。”