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Editor's Note: Considering that cultivating outstand female leaders in different fields is one of the core values in Stella Matutina’s education, this issue focuses on the introduction to Women’s studies in the United States. The invited author, Brena Tai, aims at making the readers understand the historical context of establishing this highly interdisciplinary field, and the “agency” that getting a degree in Women’s Studies can give. The editor hopes that this general introduction to “how examining social issues from feminist perspectives may promote the realization of social justice” could inspire more Stella Matutinans to explore your “self-positioning” in a girls’ high school and how to “take actions with gender consciousness” in the future. 編按 : 由於「培育優質女性領導人才」是曉明教育的核心價值之一，本期國際教育專刊介紹「婦女研究」在美國的發展。本期特邀作者—戴宇呈小姐－著眼於帶領讀者了解設立這個高度跨領域的科系之歷史背景、及攻讀「婦女研究」能賦予的「能動性」。編譯則希望藉由這篇簡介 --「從女性主義角度分析社會議題、如何促進社會正義的實現」-- 能激勵更多曉明人探索妳在女校學習中的「自我定位」、以及未來如何「採取具性別意識的社會行動」。

揭開婦女研究的神秘面紗Unveil Women’s Studies

Written by Brena Tai ( 作者 : 戴宇呈 )

(PhD Candidate in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University, USA)

美國俄亥俄州立大學婦女與性別研究所博士候選人

Translated by Carol Lai ( 翻譯 : 賴翊瑄 )

2009 年當我決定來美國攻讀婦女研究學位時，親朋

好友總是一臉狐疑、不知道這個領域是什麼東東；有阿姨問我：「這個念完以後要從事男女諮商嗎？」有的人不解「婦女」有什麼好研究的？有的人認為女性主義就只是關於性別平權。有的人覺得我念這個以後會嫁不出去。有的人說這個領域是造成社會分裂不安的因素之一，因為他們認為這是個歧視男人的科系。有的人說在台灣社會男女已經很平等了，有必要念這個領域嗎？

Even in the U.S, these concerns are not unusual.其實這些疑問在美國一樣的普遍。

A male doctor, after knowing my major, joked that “I might not be able to major in Women’s Studies, because I never truly understand women in my lifetime.” His joke suggests that, for him, Women’s Studies merely deals with romantic relationships between men and women.

記得有一個男醫生，知道我念婦女研究、便語帶諷刺地開玩笑說：「喔！我這輩子應該都無法念婦女研究，因為我這輩子都搞不懂女人」－婦女研究對他而言，只是個人層面的男女關係而已。

Undoubtedly, everyone is concerned about job prospects after my graduation. In fact, I have no idea either. Having a degree in Women’s Studies might result in the difficulties in finding a decent job; however, I don’t regret my initial decision at all. I have benefited substantially from my academic training and teaching in the past 5 years. Additionally, Women’s Studies is much more interesting than my 2 majors in college [Foreign Languages & Literatures and Drama & Theatre--translator's note]—I am sure that it is what I want to conduct further research in.

當然大家最關心的是畢業以後找的到工作嗎？關於這點，我就真的不知道了；確實是不容易找工作，但我還是不後悔我當初的選擇－因為在過去五年的學習訓練、以及教課的過程中，我學到太多太多了。而且就我主觀感受而言，婦女研究比我大學的兩個主修 [ 譯者注 : 外文和戲劇系 ]來的有趣多了－我很確定這是我想要繼續研究的領域。

So, what have I learned in my graduate studies (master and doctoral degrees) in an American Women’ Studies program in the past 5 years? Let’s answer the question by tracking the history of Women’ studies in the U.S.A.: its institutionalization was a product of American Feminist Movement from the 1960s to the 1980s. It aims at destabilizing the patriarchal structure of the academia. On the one hand, it guarantees more women to become scholars; on the other, it urges us to take women’s contribution to societal improvement and the fact that women are easily marginalized (for example, institutionalizing the suppression of women via legal, cultural, or economic system) seriously.

那究竟我在美國五年攻讀婦女研究碩士博士到底在學些什麼呢？美國婦女研究這個科系是 60、70、80 年代婦女運動下的產物，其設立目的為打破以男性為研究主體的父權學術傳統；一方面讓女性可以進入學術研究、成為研究者，另一方面重新正視女性在歷史社會文化上的種種貢獻、與被邊緣化的事實（如：將女性的壓迫架構在各種社會的機制上－像是法律、文化、經濟等等）。

When I decided to pursue a graduate degree in Women’s Studies in the U.S.A in 2009, many of my family members and friends, lacking the knowledge of this research field, showed their suspicion in my decision. A female relative asked, “are you going to be a couples and marriage counselor after receiving the degree?” In general, some people wonder “what to research” in Women’s Studies; some equate feminism with gender equality; some worry that I could not get married after graduation; some assert that the research in Women’s Studies has been a key factor of social friction—because the field itself has created much discrimination against males; and some believe that pursuing such a degree is not necessary—because gender equality has already been achieved in Taiwan.

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立足曉明 放眼國際 :國際教育專刊

Read Bi-lingually, Think Globally:

Essays on Internationalizing Education

2015 年 05 月 15 日第 5期

Issue 5: May 15 2015

淺談女性主義視角

On Feminist Perspective

編譯：賴翊瑄 (Chief Editor: Carol Lai)

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Does Women’s Studies only care about women?婦女研究只關心女人？

Recently, Women’s Studies has extended beyond women-related issues. For instance, my department at The Ohio State University changed its name into “Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies” a few years ago. This change suggests that “women” is not our only concern. In addition to gender issues, my colleagues and I care about race, sexual tendency, social class, nationality, religion, colonization, and so on. Our research interests include not only women but also, much more broadly, other minority groups and various power structures / oppressions in selected societies.

現在的婦女研究涵蓋的議題已變得更廣了，像是我們的系在前幾年從 Women’s Studies 改名為 Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies －反映了「婦女」並非唯一的焦點。除了性別之外，我們也關心種族、性傾向、階級、國籍、宗教、殖民等等。我們的研究對象並非只是女人、而是更廣的包含了其他的弱勢族群，並探討特定社會文化架構中的各種權力關係和壓迫機制之間的相互作用。

In fact, a proper name for my department should be “Feminist Studies.” “Why don’t we change the department name into “Feminist Studies” directly? Instead, the department only added ‘gender and sexuality’ to “Women’s Studies?” I once asked the department head. And she responded to me: “it would be too radical to name our department as ‘Feminist Studies.’ Being too radical might lead to less support from other departments in the university or other authorizes—it potentially affects our chances to receive research grant.” Although my department adopted a less threatening name for getting financial and political supports in the future, what we actually do are to study feminist theories and to apply them to daily-life analysis.

事實上，真正符合我們研究內容的科系名應該叫做 “Feminist Studies" （女性主義研究），而非婦女研究。我曾問過系主任為什麼我們不改成這個名字、而只是多加了 "gender and sexuality"?　她回答說：「因為直接叫『女性主義研究』政治意圖太強烈，會比較難得到學校其他科系、或是上級的支持，可能會影響到系上的補助。」雖然基於學術資源與政治的考量，系上只能選擇將系名、改成比較不具威脅性的 Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies，但其實我們主要學的以及研究的、就是女性主義思想與應用。

What is feminism?女性主義是什麼？

Similar to “Marxism,” which helps us understand social structure from the aspect of class conflicts, feminism is a discourse that guides us to analyze how the society works from the views of women and of other suppressed individuals. Extending from “the suppressed,” scholars of feminism study how diverse forms of identity politics—gender, race, sexual tendency, class, nationality, religion, etc.—construct our understanding of “gender.” Scholars of feminism aims not only at achieving gender equality but also at raising awareness to other kinds of social justice—for example, eliminating racial discrimination, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, facing the notorious history in which colonial authorities deprived aborigines of their tribal lands, and environmental justice. For real feminists, a society does not achieve equality, if any individual or a single group remains suppressed. The liberation of women can only be successful when other suppressed social groups are liberated. For instance, if racial discrimination still exists in a society, women of color would still be suppressed because of their skin color.

如同「馬克思主義」是一種思想，它主要是從階

級對立的概念切入社會結構；女性主義也是一種思想，以女性為主延伸至其它受壓迫者的角度、理解這個社會是如何運作的，進而探討性別、種族、性向、階級、國籍、宗教等等其他身份認同，如何共同型塑「性別 (gender)」這個概念。而女性主義的目的，並非只是要達到性別平權、還包含其他面向的社會正義：例如，消除種族歧視、縮小貧富差異、正視殖民者對於原住民土地的掠奪、環境正義等等。對於女性主義思想而言，只要有任何一個人、或一個族群仍是被壓迫的，這個社會就無法達到公平正義。因為女性的解放，必須同時來自其他族群的解放才有辦法達成；比方說，如果種族歧視仍然存在，有色女人 (women of color) 仍會因為她們的種族而受到壓迫。

The most recent feminist research is developed under the concept “intersectionality.” This development suggests that the life experience of any single woman is never molded by a single gender, because a woman’s life is influenced by her race, social class, nationality and other social factors. For example, even though a maid from Indonesia and her Taiwanese lady are both female, their life experiences could be very different. Compared to her middle-class lady, the Indonesian maid is more likely to suffer from discrimination (from Taiwanese or even her own lady). Thus, women’s liberation in a feminist’ imagination much harder to achieve than gender equality.

現 在 的 女 性 主 義 透 過「 多 元 交 織 性(intersectionality)」這個概念的發展，已深刻了解到任何女人的生命經驗從來都不是只由性別單一決定的，因為一個女人的經驗，會受到她特定的種族、階級、國籍等等的影響。比方說，即便女印傭及其女僱主都是女人，但在台灣的環境中，她們兩個經歷的生活可能大相徑庭：相較於她的台灣中產階級女僱主而言，女印傭比較可能因為她的國家、階級和膚色，而在台灣受到歧視、甚至被女僱主歧視。因此女性主義想像中的女性解放，是遠大於性別平權的。

Although there are some common concerns among feminists, feminism is not a single-faceted concept. Instead, it covers diverse sub-schools—such as liberal feminism, radical feminism, “women of color” feminism, transnational feminism, postcolonial feminism, psychoanalytic feminism, ecofeminism, and so on. Inside “women of color” feminism, there are Black feminism, Chicana feminism, Asian American feminism, indigenous feminism, Latina feminism, and so on. Every sub-school has different explanations of and solutions to suppression of women. Thus, we use “feminism in plural” for emphasizing its complexity.

另外，雖然女性主義作為一種思想、有一定的核心關懷，但女性主義並非單一的概念；女性主義有各種流派－像是自由主義女性主義、基進女性主義、社會主義女性主義、有色女人女性主義、跨國女性主義、後殖民女性主義、精神分析女性主義、生態女性主義等等。而有色女人女性主義 (women of color feminism) 之中，又有黑人女性主義、支加那 (Chicana) 女性主義、亞裔女性主義、原住民女性主義、拉丁美洲裔 (Latina) 女性主義等；每一個支派的女性主義對於女性被壓迫的原因、會有不同的見解，不同流派也會提出不同的解決方法；因此我們會說，女性主義總是以「複數」的形式存在 (feminism in plural)。

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Feminism is useless?女性主義沒有用？

The core of Women’s Studies is feminist theories, which can be applied very broadly. Consequently, we cover almost everything in class--law, philosophy, literature, history, economics, visual culture, pop culture, drama and films, psychoanalysis and so on. Feminism is a tool for analyzing every social aspect, but not a specific text or case study. For instance, I once asked my students to discuss: why do we see 00, 0, 1, 3, 5…in women pants size chart, but only XS, S, M… (or 26, 27…) in men pants size chart? What does size 0 or 00 suggest? A nonexistent person? My students usually can associate these special sizes with double standards toward women in the society: women are believed to be the skinner, the better. However, men are not required to be “skinny.”

婦女研究這個領域所學的主要是女性主義思想，它可以運用的範圍非常之廣，因此我們所學的內容包山包海：例如，法律、哲學、文學、歷史、經濟、視覺文化、流行文化、戲劇電影、精神分析等等。女性主義是一種分析的角度，而非專屬於某一類的文本或例子；女性主義是可以拿來分析社會生活的各個層面。比方說我在教課時，曾問過學生為什麼美國女生的褲子 size 有分 00、0、1、3、5…，但男生的褲子只有 XS、S、M、或 26 腰、27 腰兩種分法，卻沒有分 00 0 ？而且究竟為什麼 size 會有 0或00 號－難道這是個不存在的人嗎？學生通常可以從衣服的特殊尺碼，連接到社會中對於性別的雙重標準：男人總希望女人越瘦越好、腰越細越好，但反之對男人卻沒有這種對於「小」的要求。

Thus, feminism is not merely a concept; instead, it is tied to our daily life. Women’s Studies is very interdisciplinary in nature—it helps us connect many seemingly unrelated topics to each other, and further discuss various forms of oppression. Feminism can guide us to rethink many social problems and imagine the society to function in another way. Practically speaking, feminism might be useless in science or business; however, for reflecting on self-identity, relationships among individuals as well as between an individual and the society, feminism is a very useful tool.

因此，女性主義絕非一個抽象離生活遙遠的東西，而是和生活緊密相關的思想。婦女研究是極為跨領域的－它往往是以一個橫切面的的角度、連結看似不相關的事物，再往縱向的方向深入探討各種壓迫機制。女性主義可以幫助我們重新思考社會的問題，及想像另一種社會運作的可能。以實際的賺錢角度而言，女性主義相對於科學或商業領域可能是沒用的；但從作為一個人、與其他人之間的關係、及人和社會的關係而言，女性主義是很實用的。

4 Skills developed in Women’s Studies major婦女研究訓練的四種能力

I b e l i e v e t h a t women’s studies helps s t u d e n t s d e v e l o p 4 transferrable skills—c r i t i c a l t h i n k i n g , imagination, creativity, and taking actions. By

using feminist analytical tools, students are able to think about social problems and their relations with oppressions-- individually and critically. In addition to critical thinking, Women Studies also trains and inspires students to think creatively—if we don’t imagine a social structure that excels the current ones, we cannot achieve social justice someday.

If we don’t imagine, we would think negatively after analyzing a series of social problems and lament: “there is no way out! We cannot make any change at all!” In addition, Women’s Studies puts much emphasis on taking actions—that is, how do we use feminist thoughts to improve our own or other communities? However, actions could be taken in different creative forms: some people choose social movements; some choose art works; some go for volunteering, and some establish non-profit organizations.

我認為婦女研究這個領域，主要是在訓練學生四種能力：批判力、想像力、創造力、行動力。透過女性主義的分析架構，學生能夠俱有獨立批判的能力分析社會問題，進而理解是什麼樣的壓迫機制的相互作用、而產生這樣的問題。另外，婦女研究科系也在訓練和激發學生的想像力和創造力，因為如果無法想像、一個超越現有的政治經濟文化社會架構的可能，那我們永遠不可能往一個更平等正義的方向前進；沒有想像力，只會讓我們在分析完社會問題後、感到無力絕望，然後回到「沒辦法啦！事情就是這樣，不可能改變啦！」的消極思想中。另外，婦女研究非常強調行動力－也就是如何結合所學的女性主義概念、來幫助自己所在的社群以及其他的族群；但究竟要如何落實這個行動力，仍要依賴創造力與想像力。有的人選擇發起社會運動、有的透過藝術創作來喚起大家的注意、有的人選擇做義工、有的人選擇組成非營利組織等等。

And I chose education.而我選擇了教育。

Thinking through feminism, I hope to engage more people into caring for social minorities and realizing social justice. Even though my dreams and research field are not of practical value (i.e., for making money), my training in Women’s Studies is not useless at all. Whenever humans exist and some care about associating interpersonal relationships with social justice in the world, the existence and distribution of feminist thoughts are meaningful. Based on this belief, I hope that you readers, instead of viewing feminism with certain bias, try to understand the value of Women’s Studies.

我希望透過女性主義的觀點，影響更多的人來關心社會上的弱勢族群、一起往社會正義的方向努力；即使我的領域和夢想，仍無法在現今社會轉換成實際的金錢價值，但不代表這樣的專業訓練是沒有價值的。只要有人存在的一天，有人關心如何從公平正義的角度、理解人與人之間的關聯，女性主義就有其存在與推廣的意義。我也希望妳 / 你可以把對女性主義的偏見擺在一旁，試圖去理解這個領域的真正內涵。

And I will work harder on making feminism “more local” and “closer to daily life!”

而我，也會努力往女性主義「在地化」和「生活化」的方向前進！

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