“平等主义”与“性别主义”——简议美国女性主义史学的两条思路

“Egalitarianism” and “Maternalism”: A Brief Discussion on Two Ideas of American Feminist Historiography

美国女性主义史学至少包含两条不同的思路——“平等主义”与“性别主义”。“平等主义”起源于启蒙人权观念。借助启蒙人权观念,美国女权主义者自19世纪末20世纪初第一波女权运动浪潮以来,便开始呼吁男女平等。但在现实斗争中,男女平等的诉求遭遇了较大的阻力,女权运动进展有限。女权主义者不得不将思路转向“性别主义”。“性别主义”强调女性为人妻母的传统角色,并以此名义涉足公共领域,突破了“分离领域”的界限。如此一来,“性别主义”便从早期的权宜之策转变为一种越来越成熟的女权主义思路。上述两条思路从现实逐渐延伸到史学研究之中,催生了关注性别不平等和关注女性力量两个类别的女性主义历史书写。

American feminist thought contains at least two different lines: “egalitarianism” and “maternalism”.“Egalitarianism” originated from the concept of enlightenment human rights.Borrowed from the enlightenment concept of human rights, American feminists have been calling for equality between men and women since the first wave of feminist movements at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.However, in the struggle of the real world, the demand for equality between men and women has encountered excessive resistance, and the feminist movement has made limited progress.They had to change their strategy from “egalitarianism” to “maternalism”.“Maternalism” emphasizes the traditional role of women as wives and mothers, who sets foot in the public sphere in this name, breaking through the boundaries of “separate spheres”.In this way, “maternalism” has changed from an early expedient to an increasingly mature feminist thinking.These two lines of feminism gradually extended from the feminist practices to the historical writing, giving birth to two different ways of feminist historical writing: One focuses on gender inequality, and the other focuses on women’s power.