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What does it mean to be a feminist?
The word feminism was coined in the 19th century by French philosopher and socialist Charles Fourier. But while feminists all seek equality between the sexes across political, social and cultural spheres, there is no one type of feminism. The author Rebecca West wrote in 1913 "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat".
“女权主义”一词是19世纪由法国哲学家和社会主义者查尔斯·傅立叶创造的。但是，尽管女权主义者都在政治、社会和文化领域寻求男女平等，但并不存在单一类型的女权主义。作家丽贝卡·韦斯特在 1913 年写道：“我自己从未能准确地了解什么是女权主义。我只知道，每当我表达不同于那些逆来顺受的可怜虫的观点时，人们就称我为女权主义者”。
The first wave of feminists fought for women to be able to vote and own property. Until these gains were made, largely in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women often needed male guardians to transact business on their behalf, which was particularly galling if your guardian was an idiot.
第一波女权主义者为妇女争取选举权和财产权。在取得这些成就之前，主要是在 19 世纪末和 20 世纪初，妇女往往需要男性监护人来代表她们处理事务，如果你的监护人是个白痴，那就尤其令人讨厌了。
In 1949 the brilliant French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir published The second sex. She argued that one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. This was good news for those who felt constrained by the expectation that women should be quiet and nice. Beauvoir's critics, and feminism's critics, have often said that anger is not very ladylike. This is no bad thing. Who wouldn't rather be a woman than a lady?
1949 年，杰出的法国哲学家西蒙娜·德·波伏娃出版了《第二性》一书。她认为，女人不是天生的，而是后天形成的。这对于那些认为女性应该文静乖巧的人来说是个好消息。波伏娃的批评者和女权主义的批评者经常说，愤怒者并不够淑女。可这并非坏事。相比淑女，大多数人更愿意成为女人。
Feminism has gradually shifted for women around the world to advocate many different kinds of change like equal pay and reproductive freedom. Most recently, social media has become a crucial tool for raising awareness and encouraging debate. Feminist campaigns to combat female genital mutilation, to acknowledge the contributions made by women in the past and to speak out against sexual abuse in all its forms have filtered into mainstream cultural discourse.
女权主义逐渐转向世界各地的女性，倡导许多不同类型的变革，如同工同酬和生育自由。最近，社交媒体已成为提高认识和鼓励辩论的重要工具。反对切割女性生殖器官、承认妇女过去所作贡献和大声疾呼反对一切形式的性虐待的女权主义运动已经渗透到主流文化话语中。
At the end of 2017, Time magazine named women who had broken their silence on sexual assaults as its Person of the Year. There is still a long way to go before men and women have full equality all over the world and resistance to this idea has not disappeared. Perhaps feminism boils down to the words of Dorothy Parker who once said: my idea is that all of us, men as well as women, whoever we are, should be considered as human beings.
2017年年底，《时代》杂志将对性侵事件发声的女性评为年度人物。要在全世界实现男女完全平等，还有很长的路要走，对这一理念的抵触情绪并未消失。也许女权主义可以归结为多萝西·帕克曾经说过的一句话：我的想法是，我们所有人，无论男女，无论我们是谁，都应被视为人类。
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