(Laughter)
(笑声)
I was afraid of womanhood. Not that I'm not afraid now, but I've learned to pretend. I've learned to be flexible. In fact, I've developed some interesting tools to help me deal with this fear. Let me explain. Back in the '50s and '60s, when I was growing up, little girls were supposed to be kind and thoughtful and pretty and gentle and soft, and we were supposed to fit into roles that were sort of shadowy -- really not quite clear what we were supposed to be.
对于女性气质,我曾经有些担心。 不是说我现在不担心了, 而是我已学会掩饰。 我已学会应变自如。 事实上,我学会了一些有趣的东西 来帮助我应付这种担心。 让我解释一下。 回到1950和1960年代,在我成长年代中, 小女孩应该是善良,体贴 可爱,温柔和温顺的。 我们得适应 这种模糊的女孩象征模式。 真的不是很清楚我们应该是什么样子的?
(Laughter)
(笑声)
There were plenty of role models all around us. We had our mothers, our aunts, our cousins, our sisters, and of course, the ever-present media bombarding us with images and words, telling us how to be. Now my mother was different. She was a homemaker, but she and I didn't go out and do girlie things together, and she didn't buy me pink outfits. Instead, she knew what I needed, and she bought me a book of cartoons. And I just ate it up. I drew, and I drew, and since I knew that humor was acceptable in my family, I could draw, do what I wanted to do, and not have to perform, not have to speak -- I was very shy -- and I could still get approval. I was launched as a cartoonist. Now when we're young, we don't always know. We know there are rules out there, but we don't always know -- we don't perform them right, even though we are imprinted at birth with these things, and we're told what the most important color in the world is. We're told what shape we're supposed to be in. (Laughter) We're told what to wear -- (Laughter) -- and how to do our hair -- (Laughter) -- and how to behave.
在我们身边有很多女性榜样, 如我们的母亲,我们的阿姨,我们的姐妹, 当然,无处不在的媒体 不断给我们灌输女性的图片和文字, 教导我们该成为怎样的一个女孩。 我母亲当时是与众不同的。 她是一个家庭主妇, 但我和她没有出去,去做些女性该做的事情。 她没有给我买粉红套装。 相反,她知道我所需的,她买给我卡通书。 我就如饥似渴地读卡通书。 我也画画了, 自从我知道在我家漫画可以被接受, 我可以画画,做我想做的事, 而不去做些我不擅长的事,我不善于讲话 我非常害羞 但我仍然得到画画的认同。 后来我作为一名漫画家。 当我们年轻时, 我们总是不清楚--我们知道有关女孩的条条框框, 但是我们的确不清楚-- 我们完全不会遵照条条框框去做事, 尽管我们从出生被灌输 这些女孩的东西, 我们被教导 世界上最重要的颜色是什么? 我们被教导我们应该是什么样子的? (笑声) 我们被教导该怎样穿衣打扮? (笑声) 怎样做头型? (笑声) 怎样做个女孩?
Now the rules that I'm talking about are constantly being monitored by the culture. We're being corrected, and the primary policemen are women, because we are the carriers of the tradition. We pass it down from generation to generation. Not only that -- we always have this vague notion that something's expected of us. And on top of all off these rules, they keep changing. (Laughter) We don't know what's going on half the time, so it puts us in a very tenuous position.
目前我要谈到的这些规则 随着文化不断地被监测。 我们不断被纠正。 因为女性是传统的载体, 所以基层监视者就是女性。 我们把这传统传递了一代又一代。 我们不仅仅 常有这种模糊的 关于我们自身期待的概念。 在这些所有规则之上, 它们还不断地改变。 (笑声) 我们不知道长时间过后会发生什么, 它使得我们处在非常脆弱的地位上。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
Now if you don't like these rules, and many of us don't -- I know I didn't, and I still don't, even though I follow them half the time, not quite aware that I'm following them -- what better way than to change them [than] with humor? Humor relies on the traditions of a society. It takes what we know, and it twists it. It takes the codes of behavior and the codes of dress, and it makes it unexpected, and that's what elicits a laugh. Now what if you put together women and humor? I think you can get change. Because women are on the ground floor, and we know the traditions so well, we can bring a different voice to the table.
现在如果你不喜欢这些规则, 绝大多数人不喜欢这些规则, 我知道我也不喜欢这些规则, 即使我遵从这些规则有好长时间, 也没有意识到我在遵从这些规则,-- 还有什么更好的能比用幽默的方法来改变这些规则呢? 漫画依赖于社会的传统。 漫画取材于我们所知的,然后混合加工。 漫画取材于我们的行为守则和我们着装喜好, 漫画是出人意料的创作, 它才会激发出笑声。 那么如果你把女性和漫画混合在一起又会是什么? 我认为你会得到变革。 因为女性是在基层, 我们很了解传统, 我们可以带来不一样的声音。
Now I started drawing in the middle of a lot of chaos. I grew up not far from here in Washington D.C. during the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations, the Watergate hearings and then the feminist movement, and I think I was drawing, trying to figure out what was going on. And then also my family was in chaos, and I drew to try to bring my family together -- (Laughter) -- try to bring my family together with laughter. It didn't work. My parents got divorced, and my sister was arrested. But I found my place. I found that I didn't have to wear high heels, I didn't have to wear pink, and I could feel like I fit in.
当时我开始画画 正处于很多混乱中。 我在离华盛顿特区不远的地方长大 经历了民权运动,一系列暗杀事件, 水门事件听证会,接下来的女权运动。 我认为我画画, 想要搞明白到底发生了什么。 随后我的家庭也陷入了混乱。 我尝试画画来使我们家庭团结起来, (笑声) 试着用漫画引发出的笑声让家庭团结在一起。 但漫画不管用。 我父母离婚了,我妹妹被逮捕了。 但我发现了我自己。 我发现我没有穿高跟鞋, 我没有穿粉红套装, 我觉得我很合适。
Now when I was a little older, in my 20s, I realized there are not many women in cartooning. And I thought, "Well, maybe I can break the little glass ceiling of cartooning," and so I did. I became a cartoonist. And then I thought -- in my 40s I started thinking, "Well, why don't I do something? I always loved political cartoons, so why don't I do something with the content of my cartoons to make people think about the stupid rules that we're following as well as laugh?"
当我20多岁时, 我发现很少有女性从事漫画行业。 我想,“好吧,或许我可以打破 漫画这小玻璃天花板的规则。” 我做到了;我成为了一个漫画家。 然后我想,在我40岁时我开始思考, “那么我为什么不做些事情? 我常常喜爱政治漫画, 那么我为什么不创作政治题材的漫画 让人们在思考我们所遵从的这些愚蠢的规则的 同时也开怀一笑?”
Now my perspective is a particularly -- (Laughter) -- my perspective is a particularly American perspective. I can't help it. I live here. Even though I've traveled a lot, I still think like an American woman. But I believe that the rules that I'm talking about are universal, of course -- that each culture has its different codes of behavior and dress and traditions, and each woman has to deal with these same things that we do here in the U.S. Consequently, we have. Women, because we're on the ground, we know the tradition. We have amazing antennae.
我的观点 是典型的-- (笑声) 我的观点是典型的美国式观点。 我改变不了。我生活在这儿。 即使我常旅行, 我还是像一个美国女人那样去思考。 但我认为我谈到的规则 是普遍性的,当然-- 每一种文化有其自身的行为守则 和衣着喜好,风俗习惯, 每个女人都得面对这同样的规则 如同我们在美国这儿面对的。 因此,我们 女性,因为我们处在基层,我们了解风俗传统, 我们有着惊人的直觉感。
Now my work lately has been to collaborate with international cartoonists, which I so enjoy, and it's given me a greater appreciation for the power of cartoons to get at the truth, to get at the issues quickly and succinctly. And not only that, it can get to the viewer through not only the intellect, but through the heart. My work also has allowed me to collaborate with women cartoonists from across the world -- countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Argentina, France -- and we have sat together and laughed and talked and shared our difficulties. And these women are working so hard to get their voices heard in some very difficult circumstances. But I feel blessed to be able to work with them.
目前我的工作是 与国际漫画家一同协作, 我喜欢这种经历。 它给了我一个更大提升空间 用漫画的力量 来揭示真相, 迅速和简洁地搞清问题。 不仅仅如此,漫画可以让观者感同身受, 不仅是在智力上,更是在心灵上的共鸣。 我的工作使我 和来自全球的女性漫画家们合作, 她们来自沙特阿拉伯, 伊朗,土耳其, 阿根廷,法国, 我们一同坐下来,开心地 谈论和分享我们所面临的困境。 这些女性是在一些非常困难的情况下努力工作着, 让世界听到她们发自内心的声音。 我能和她们一同工作,为此我感到很幸运。
And we talk about how women have such strong perceptions, because of our tenuous position and our role as tradition-keepers, that we can have the great potential to be change-agents. And I think, I truly believe, that we can change this thing one laugh at a time.
我们谈到 女性怎么会有如此强烈的看法? 因为我们女性自身的脆弱地位 和我们作为传统守护者的角色, 我们可以有极大的潜力 成为变革者。 我认为,我真心相信, 每当我们变革这些事时, 我们都能开兴一笑。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)