九大事实为证：传统的性别角色?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.

还记得昔日那美好的时光吗？那时，男人还是男人，女人还是女人。你知道吗？那时最具男子气概的男人留着卷曲的长发，穿着他们最好的高跟鞋。

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."

奥，也许刚刚你想象的现代性别图景稍稍有些不同。想想耳饰吧。200年以来，人们只把耳饰同女性联系起来，但最近，男人们已经开始重新佩戴耳饰了。“最近二十年来，”纽约时装技术学院博物馆馆长瓦莱丽•斯蒂尔告诉《赫芬顿邮报》说，“男人们已经听到他们内心的呼唤了。”

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.

男女的确存在生理上的差异，但“性别”通常被认为是一个社会概念—我们想怎么定义它，它就是什么样的。这些年来，我们已经赋予了它如此多的内涵。下面的一些事实表明，从过去到现在，我们对于性别表现的看法已经发生了变化。

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

No.1 粉红色曾经是“男孩子的颜色”，蓝色曾经是“女孩儿的颜色”，而在此之前，每个宝宝都只穿白色的衣服。

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.

曾几何时，直到六岁之前，父母们都给他们的宝宝穿白色的衣服—这是因为白色的衣服可被漂白。即使男孩儿也是如此。

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，一份零售的行业刊物2试图确定这样的惯例：粉红色是男孩子的颜色，而蓝色是女孩子的颜色。也就在那时，浅色开始流行起来。“粉红色看起来更为果敢，坚强，更适合男孩子，”这篇文章写道，“蓝色看起来更为雅致，秀气，对女孩儿来说更漂亮。”“不论人们有没有听从这一建议（当时还有公然的性别歧视理论），对于宝宝衣服颜色的选择，他们可接受的范围还是很广的，至少看起来是如此，这种情况一直持续到1940年左右，”马里兰大学的历史学家乔•B•保莱蒂提到，“到那时人们对于颜色的偏好才转变成了今天我们所熟知的体现性别的颜色差异3。”

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

No.2 高跟鞋最初是为男人设计的。有一个世纪，人们认为高跟鞋很具“阳刚之气”。

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.

波斯士兵认为骑马的时候穿高跟鞋是必要的。这是因为高跟鞋能使脚牢牢地固定在脚蹬上，这样在马鞍上射箭会更容易。欧洲的名流们对这一陌生的文化着迷起来，大约在1600年左右，他们自己（完全不实际）也穿起了这种本属于骑手的充满阳刚之气的鞋。在下层阶级开始炫耀高跟鞋之后（大喘气！），上流阶层随之将鞋跟变高了，以此表示只有他们能这样做。

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.

但当女人们也开始穿高跟鞋的时候，男人们的鞋跟就变得又短又粗，而女人们的鞋跟却更细更高了。“大多时候”，斯蒂尔对《赫芬顿邮报》说，“对于男人来说，什么东西只要一同女性联系起来，好像就被‘污染’了。”她提到，到了18世纪末，男人们就完全不穿高跟鞋了。要是他们能看看过去的性别差异，他们早就能找到使腿更细，屁股更翘的方法了。

At one time, secretaries and schoolteachers were all guys.

No.3 曾经，秘书和学校老师都是男人。

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.

词语“女人的工作”的产生基于这样一种观念：在职场，除了某几种工作外，女人天生不如男性（更能胜任工作）；而这几种工作的类别，准确地说，并没有随着时间的推移改变多少。据估计，上世纪末（此处应为作者笔误，应为上上个世纪4）有85%的文职工作是由男人做的，而他们的薪水是做同样工作的女性的两倍。这些男人将这份工作作为攀登职业生涯阶梯的第一步—从初级管理职位干起，最终成为白领。

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.

随着更多的女性进入职场，这一领域开始发生了变化。但是女秘书很少能从办公室雇员一跃成为经理管理人员，也没有哪一位秘书能如我们在《广告狂人》（Mad Men）里所看到的、的那些女孩儿那样，衣着时髦得体。差不多同时，小学老师也是一个男性占主导的职业，直到这一工作变得“女性化”，男人们慢慢退出这一工作领域，最终从业者寥寥无几。

Lace used to be manly. And womanly. So long as you were upper-class.

No.4 过去，蕾丝适合男人，也适合女人。只要你属于上层阶级。

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.

斯蒂尔告诉《赫芬顿邮报》，和高跟鞋十分相像，16世纪左右，蕾丝作为身份的象征在欧洲市场大为流行。这种东西制作工艺极为复杂，即便只是制作一英寸半长的瓦朗西安蕾丝（制作特别耗费劳力的一种）也要花上14个小时—当然，价格也相应地不菲。

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.

“整个18世纪，男人穿蕾丝制成的衣服都是被接受的，”斯蒂尔解释说，“但这种风尚在19世纪逐渐消失了。”“许多衣服上的装饰都被解读成‘贵族，上层阶级’的象征，”她解释说，“1800年左右，蕾丝又被重新定义成‘女性化的东西。’”买衣物布料这件事也一样。“整个18世纪，男人们都十分乐于买衣服，”她解释说。

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

No.5 过去，为了显得真诚，男人常常会哭。

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.

男人的坚忍克己，再加上强健的肌肉以及能将与他们体重重量相当的啤酒一饮而尽的气魄总是令他们骄傲的一件事情—对吗？并不是这样的。

"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.

“不流眼泪，”历史学家汤姆•卢茨写道，“在大部分的历史时间里，并不是判断一个人男子气概的标准。”尽管男人也许天生不爱哭，但几百年来，两性都用“哭”来表现真诚，快乐甚至英雄气概。卢茨写道，“在《伊利亚特》中，奥德修斯从头哭到尾。让•雅克•卢梭认为哭是我们自然状态的一部分。”他告诉《橘郡纪事报》说，“在18世纪，哭是一件很正常的事情，如果在剧场你不哭，就会被认为是下层阶级的粗人。” 甚至连美国的英雄亚伯拉罕•林肯，在做公开演讲时也曾数次动容。

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

No.6 啦啦队最初是一个男孩儿俱乐部，因为这对于女孩儿来说太“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《国家》杂志上的一篇文章写道，“成为英勇的啦啦队长会替一个男孩赢得荣誉，这是他可以带出大学校园的最有价值的东西之一。”“其实，和参加大学体育比赛相似，率领队员为队伍加油帮助学生培养领导能力，为日后生活中他们所要担当的领导角色做准备，”玛丽•爱伦•汉森在讲述美国啦啦队历史5时说道。

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.

据说，第一位啦啦队长是明尼苏达大学的学生约翰尼• 坎贝尔。在1898年的一次比赛中，他说服众人听从他的指挥，呼喊加油。德怀特•艾森豪威尔，富兰克林•罗斯福和罗纳德•里根将他的这一“首创”延续了下去—三人都当过啦啦队长。直到20世纪20年代和30年代女性才真正参与进来（直到20世纪60年代她们才成为主导）。这是因为先前人们认为这一运动对女性来说太“男性化”，并且会促使她们发出有强力的，不那么淑女的声音。此外，她们还得听那些“极具男子气概”的男啦啦队长的过分的咒骂。

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.

不仅仅是披头士留着蓬乱的长发—欧洲中世纪早期梅罗文加王朝的国王们也长发摇曳，（当时）许多人纷纷效仿。然而，最底层阶级的男人们却留着短发，或者被要求将头发完全剃光，来作为他们低微地位的象征。

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.

后来17世纪时，男人们开始戴假的长发。当然，这可能是由于成千上万的人患了梅毒，致使他们的头发脱落而呈令人尴尬的斑片状6。但无论如何，又长又厚的头发已经成为了地位的象征。国王路易十四尤以戴假的长发而著名，整个国家的所有人都羡慕他茂密的波浪形长发。

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

No.8 男人和女人都可能疯狂地想要孩子—只不过对于男人来说，这种疯狂来得晚一些。

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年堪萨斯州立大学两名心理学家所做的研究发现，女人们想要生孩子的冲动—也就是人们平常所熟知的“孩子狂热症”在年轻的时候最强，随着年龄的增加而减弱。然而对于男人来说，年龄越大，他们越可能疯狂地想要孩子。“随着时间的推移，男人和女人（在要孩子这件事上）的观点可能正趋向统一，”其中之一的研究者告诉《生活科学》杂志说，“在解释人们想要孩子的欲望时，性别角色的标准并不说明多大问题。”

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.

在英国，2013年一项由81位女士和27位男士参与的调查的结果表明，尽管（同女人相比），男人表达想要孩子欲望的可能性会稍稍小一些，但如果没有孩子，他们会更容易感到压抑，嫉妒或者生气。

The art of brewing beer was pioneered by women.

No.9 酿造啤酒的艺术是由女性开创的。

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，根据古老的埃及象形文字记载，具有阳刚之气的男人所喝的最具男子气概的饮料最初是由女人酿造的。在很长的历史时期里，酿造啤酒，同做面包和其他将粮食进行加工的活计一样，被认为是家庭杂务。直到经济进入工业化时代，商业啤酒厂（由男人经营）开始发展起来。可是，这也产生了一个可悲的副作用：大规模生产限制了可生产的啤酒种类，独特的区域啤酒也就随之消失了。

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

甚至还有一个词，很可能起源于12世纪，用来形容女性啤酒酿造者“brewster（啤酒酿造者）。”