It sounds like a joke: Did you hear the one about the woman taking a feminist studies class who got angry when someone called her a feminist?
这听上去像个笑话:有人选修了女权主义研究的课程,却为自己被叫作“女权主义者”而生气。
But when I was in college, I embraced the same contradiction.
但是,在大学期间我也接受了这个悖论。
On one hand, I started a group to encourage more women to major in economics and government.
一方面,我创建了一个小组,鼓励更多的女生主修经济学和政府管理课程;
On the other hand, I would have denied being in any way, shape, or form a feminist.
另一方面,我又拒绝成为任何形式的女权主义者。
None of my college friends thought of themselves as feminists either.
我的大学校友们也没人认为自己是女权主义者。
It saddens me to admit that we did not see the backlash against women around us.
我必须很难过地承认,我们并没有听到周围存在着大量针对女性的反对声。
We accepted the negative caricature of a bra-burning, humorless, man-hating feminist.
提起女权主义者,我们既有的印象就是一个主张烧掉胸罩、面若冰霜、仇视男人的女人。
She was not someone we wanted to emulate, in part because it seemed like she couldn't get a date.
我们谁也不想效仿她,因为这样做有可能会找不到男朋友。
Horrible, I know — the sad irony of rejecting feminism to get male attention and approval.
我知道,这听上去很可怕——为了得到男性的注意和认可而拒绝女权主义,真是相当悲哀的讽刺。
In our defense, my friends and I truly, if naively, believed that the world did not need feminists anymore.
为了给自己辩护,我和我的朋友完全(也有点天真地)相信,这个世界不再需要女权主义者了。
We mistakenly thought that there was nothing left to fight for.
我们错误地认为,已经没有什么理由继续为之奋斗和争取了。
I carried this attitude with me when I entered the workforce.
刚参加工作时,我仍然这么想。
I figured if sexism still existed, I would just prove it wrong. I would do my job and do it well.
如果性别歧视还存在的话,我会证明它是错误的,我会尽职尽责把工作完成好。
What I didn't know at the time was that ignoring the issue is a classic survival technique.
我当时并不知道忽视问题的存在就是一种传统的生存技能。