Sorry, Sisters, This Is Not the Revolution 1

American feminism late 1980s style could be defined, cynically, as women\\\'s rush to do the same foolish and benighted things that have traditionally occupied men. And why not? The good and honest things that have traditionally occupied women -- like rearing children and keeping husbands in clean shirts -- are valued in the open market at somewhere near the minimum wage. And whatever one thinks of investment banking or corporate law, the perks and the pay are way ahead of those for waitressing and data entry. So, every time a woman breaks a new barrier the rest of us tend to cheer -- even if she\\\'s running a pollution-producing company or toting a gun in some ill-considered war.

Two cheers, anyway. Because this is not the revolution that I, at least, signed on for. When the feminist movement burst forth a couple of decades ago, the goal was not just to join \\\'em -- and certainly not just to beat \\\'em -- but to improve an imperfect world. Gloria Steinem sketched out the vision in a 1970 TIME Essay titled \\\"What It Would Be Like If Women Win.\\\" What it would be like was a whole lot better, for men as well as women, because, as she said right up front, \\\"Women don\\\'t want to exchange places with men.\\\" We wanted better places, in a kinder, gentler, less rigidly gendered world.

We didn\\\'t claim that women were morally superior. But they had been at the receiving end of prejudice long enough, we thought, to empathize with the underdog of either sex. Then too, the values implicit in motherhood were bound to clash with the \\\"male values\\\" of competitiveness and devil-may-care profiteering. We imagined women storming male strongholds and, once inside, becoming change agents, role models, whistle-blowers. The hand that rocks the cradle was sure to rock the boat.

To a certain extent, women have \\\"won.\\\" In medicine, law and management, they have increased their participation by 300% to 400% since the early \\\'70s, and no one can argue that they haven\\\'t made some difference. Women lawyers have spearheaded reforms in the treatment of female victims of rape and of battering. Women executives have created supportive networks to help other women up the ladder and are striving to sensitize corporations to the need for ) flexible hours, child care and parental leave. Women journalists have fought to get women\\\'s concerns out of the \\\"style section\\\" and onto the front page. Women doctors, according to physician-writer Perri Klass, are less paternalistic than their male counterparts and \\\"better at listening.\\\"

But, I\\\'m sorry, sisters, this is not the revolution. What\\\'s striking, from an old-fashioned (ca. 1970) feminist perspective, is just how little has changed. The fact that law is no longer classified as a \\\"nontraditional\\\" occupation for women has not made our culture any less graspingly litigious or any more concerned with the rights of the underdog. Women doctors haven\\\'t made a dent in the high-tech, bottom-line fixation of the medical profession, and no one would claim that the influx of executive women has ushered in a new era of high-toned business ethics.

Time1990最佳封面——女人向前冲（1/2）

上世纪80年代的美国女权运动可以被这样定义，女士们被鼓励去做那些传统上被男人们霸占的工作，同时，在一些地方，家庭主妇们的传统劳动——做家务和带孩子，也被纳入开放市场考量的系统，她们的劳动价值应该接近最低工资。从公司法和投资的角度来考虑，她们的所得应该比女招待或者女打字员们还高。当一位勇敢的女性冲破封锁，创出自己的事业时，我们其他的女性们应该为她庆祝。哪她开了一家污染环境的公司，或者在一场不正义的战争中开枪。

这些看似微小的进步当然值得庆祝，因为女权主义运动本来就不是像想象中那样的革命。二十年前女权运动兴起时，目标并不是加入男性社会，当然也不是为了把男性踩在脚底下。它致力于改善这个并不完美的世界，就像罗莉娅·斯坦能（Gloria Steinem）在1970年发表于时代杂志的《女人获胜会怎样》中描绘的图景一样，不管对于男性还是女性，未来的世界都应该是个更好的世界。就像她前瞻性的预言一样，“女权运动并不是为了让女人取代男性的位置”，女性只是想要更好得更合理的社会阶层，寻求一个更温柔，更优雅，更少暴力的世界。

我们从来没有宣称女性都是道德家，但是作为两性关系中的弱者，她们一直被歧视。母系氏族的价值观被“男性为尊”的价值观和其带来的暴利冲击。我们想象女性抢夺了男性的要塞，成为两性中的掌权者，角色塑造者，成为社会大船向前的掌舵者．

在某种程度上，女权主义者的确取得了一定的胜利。在医药界、法律界、商界，跟70年代早期相比，她们的参与度成功的提高到300%，甚至400%，并且，她们的工作做的像男人一样优秀。在一些女性受到侵害，比如强奸或者虐待案中，女性律师起到了改革先锋的作用。女性的经营主管人员也建立了更有利于女性的工作网络，给同性们提供更多的晋升机会，提供更利于家庭生活，更有弹性的假期等等。女记者们把女性的关注目光从时尚版块吸引到了头版头条。按照一名内科医师写手的说法，女医生也比男医生更加善于倾听，不那么家长式作风。

但是，很抱歉，亲爱的姐妹们，这并不意味着革命。从1970年的老场景来对比，今天的改进微不足道。虽然法律明文规定消除了传统的对女性的职业歧视，但社会风气并没有扭转多少，对于弱势阶层的关怀并没有增多。女医生在高端领域的影响力微乎其微，也没有人认为女性引领了商业道德的新纪元。

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