|
露西‧斯通
(LUCY STONE)
一位失望的女人
A Disappointed Woman
在教育、婚姻、宗教方面，在各個方面，失望是婦女的命運。
露西‧斯通(1818-1893)生於麻塞諸塞，在九個孩子中排行第八。當她家庭拒絕資助她上大學時，她到學校任教，攢足了錢後，進了美國第一所招收女學生的大學──奧伯林學院學習。斯通是位廢奴主義者和女權主義者，而且還是位著名的演說家。當她在1855年嫁給改革家亨利‧布萊克威爾時，他們擬定了一個新式的婚姻契約，以抗議將妻子置於丈夫管轄之下的法律。為了象徵性地表示她獨立的身份，斯通保留了她當姑娘時的姓氏。這是這個領域中一個引人注目的舉措。露西‧斯通同盟長期鼓勵婦女在婚後保留她們當姑娘時的姓氏。
在1869年，露西‧斯通與亨利‧布萊克威爾幫助成立了「全美婦女選舉權協會」並創為了一家針對選舉權的主要雜誌──《婦女之刊》。下文摘自斯通於1855年10月在俄亥俄的辛辛那提舉行的全國婦女權利大會上的即席演講。
上一位發言者暗示說這個運動是一些失望婦女的運動。從我記憶中最早的年代起，我就一直是個失望的女子。當我與我的兄弟一道追求尋覓知識的源泉時，人們責備我說：「那對你不合適；那不屬於女人。」那時，世界上只有一所大學錄取女學生，而那所大學在巴西。我本來會想辦法到那兒去的。不過，當我準備上路的時候，在年輕的俄亥俄州開辦了一所大學──美國第一所允許婦女和黑人享有與白種男人同樣機會的大學。當我要尋求一個能使英名永垂青史的職業時，我失望了──除了教師、裁縫和管家之外，所有職業的大門都對我緊鎖著。在教育、婚姻、宗教方面，在各個方面，失望是婦女的命運。我畢生的工作是加深每個婦女心中的這種失望感，直至她們不再向它低頭為止。我希望婦女不要成為會走路的擺設，不要向她們的父親和兄弟索討最時髦、最華麗的新帽子，而要向他索要她們的權利。
婦女的權利問題是個實際的問題。佔主導地位的觀點認為，這只是個短時間的問題，它只不過是婦女要求有權在馬路上抽煙，有權常常光觀酒吧間。其他人以為它是個相對說來屬於知識界的問題；還有一些人則認為，它只是個事關地位、身份的問題。關於婦女的地位和身份，人們已經寫得、說得太多了。所有這些說法歸根到底，都僅僅是建立在一些時代習俗和偏見之上。這一點可以從以下事實中得到證明－某個國家的婦女可以做的事情，另一個國家的婦女卻不許做。我國的婦女可以舉行禱告會等等，但是在信奉伊斯蘭教的國家裏，清真寺上卻寫著：「女人與狗以及其他動物不得入內。」溫德爾‧菲利浦說：「一個人能夠從事的最好而且最偉大的事情，是找到他的地位和身份。」我相信天父，當他賦予我們某種辦事能力時，他不會鑄下什麼大錯。那麼，就讓婦女去尋找她們自己的地位和身份吧。不要在我們出生之前就吩咐我們說，我們的領域就是燒飯、補襪和釘鈕扣。……
A Disappointed Woman
The last
speaker alluded to this movement as being that of a few disappointed women. From
the first years to which my memory stretches, I have been a disappointed woman.
When, with my brothers, I reached forth after the sources of knowledge, I was
reproved with "It isn't fit for you: it doesn't belong to women." Then there was
but one college in the world where women were admitted, and that was in Brazil.
I would have found my way there, but by the time I was prepared to go, one was
opened in the young State of Ohio--the first in the United States where women
and Negroes could enjoy opportunities with white men. I was disappointed when I
came to seek a profession worthy an immortal being--every employment was closed
to me, except those of the teacher, the seamstress, and the housekeeper. In
education, in marriage, in religion, in everything, disappointment is the lot of
woman. It shall be the business of my life to deepen this disappointment in
every woman's heart until she bows down to it no longer. I wish that women,
instead of being walking show-cases, instead of begging of their fathers and
brothers the latest and gayest new bonnet, would ask of them their rights.
The question of Woman's Rights is a practical one. The notion has prevailed
that it was only an ephemeral idea; that it was but women claiming the right to
smoke cigars in the streets, and to frequent bar-rooms. Others have supposed it
a question of comparative intellect; others still, of sphere. Too much has
already been said and written about woman's sphere. Trace all the doctrines to
their source and they will be found to have no basis except in the usages and
prejudices of the age. This is seen in the fact that what is tolerated in woman
in one country is not tolerated in another. In this country women may hold
prayer-meetings, etc., but in Mohammedan countries it is written upon their
mosques, "Women and dogs, and other impure animals, are not permitted to enter."
Wendell Phillips says, "The best and greatest thing one is capable of doing,
that is his sphere." I have confidence in the Father to believe that when He
gives us the capacity to do anything He does not make a blunder. Leave women,
then, to find their sphere. And do not tell us before we are born even, that our
province is to cook dinners, darn stockings, and sew on buttons. . . .
|