VOA慢速英語:Do Sex Strikes Work?

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

Last month, women in a civil rights group in Togo called a weeklong sex strike to try to force the president of the West African nation to resign. Members of "Let's Save Togo" planned to withhold sex from their husbands to pressure the men to take action against President Faure Gnassingbe.

上周，多哥一個民權組織的婦女號召進行為期一周的性罷工，以試圖迫使這個西非國家的總統(tǒng)辭職。這個名為“拯救多哥”的民權組織的成員計劃拒絕與自己的丈夫發(fā)生性行為，以迫使他采取行動反對該國總統(tǒng)福雷·納辛貝(Faure Gnassingbe)。

The opposition says his family has ruled Togo for too long. Withholding sex for political goals has a long history. It was used in ancient Greece. In the play "Lysistrata," the women of Athens decide to stop having sex with their husbands until the men end the Peloponnesian War.

反對派表示，福雷家族統(tǒng)治多哥的時間太長了。為實現(xiàn)政治目標拒絕性行為有著悠久的歷史，這招曾在古希臘被用過。在戲劇《莉西斯特拉忒》中，雅典婦女決定停止與自己的丈夫發(fā)生性行為，直到他們結束伯羅奔尼撒戰(zhàn)爭。

But do sex strikes work? Pepper Schwartz is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle. She says the idea is good for making news headlines, but it takes a lot of work.

但性罷工有效嗎?佩珀·舒瓦茨(Pepper Schwartz)是西雅圖市華盛頓大學的社會學教授。她說這個想法有利于做頭條新聞，但它只是白費功夫(take a lot of work)。

PEPPER SCHWARTZ: "If you're talking about a few days where women make a point, I think that works. If you're talking about turning a whole nation around because nobody's getting any, I wouldn't put hard money on that because I don't think people stick to sex strikes. Yes, it's good to bring consciousness to your mate, [but] it's probably hard to stick to. Three, if you do stick to it too long, you might lose that other person's willingness to support your issue. So it's a tricky thing. I think it's a good headline, a lot harder to put into practice."

舒瓦茨：“如果咱們說的是女性闡明觀點的這幾天，我認為這有效。如果咱們說的是把整個國家扭轉過來，因為沒有得到性，我不會支持這種觀點。因為我不認為人們會堅守性罷工。是的，它有利于給伴侶帶去某種意識，但它可能很難堅持。第三，如果你堅持性罷工時間太長，你可能會失去他人支持你觀點的意愿。所以這是一件棘手的事情。我認為它是一個好頭條新聞，付諸實踐要難得多。”

But pro-democracy activists in Togo say a sex strike during the civil war in Liberia gave them cause for hope. In two thousand three, Liberia had been through fourteen years of war. Leaders of the group Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace organized a series of nonviolent actions. Those included a sex strike.

多哥支持民主的活動人士表示，利比里亞內戰(zhàn)期間的性罷工給他們帶來了希望。2003年時利比里亞已經經歷了14年的戰(zhàn)爭。利比里亞和平運動婦女聯(lián)盟(Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace)的領導人組織了一系列非暴力活動，其中就包括性罷工。

The actions earned the group's leader a share of the twenty-eleven Nobel Peace Prize. Leymah Gbowee shared the prize with two other women, including Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She became Africa's first democratically elected female president in two thousand six. The third winner was Tawakkul Karman, a women's rights activist in Yemen.

這一行動讓該組織領導人蕾曼.格鮑伊(Leymah Gbowee)與包括利比里亞總統(tǒng)埃倫.約翰遜-瑟利夫(Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf)在內的另兩名女性共同獲得了2011諾貝爾和平獎。約翰遜-瑟利夫于2006年成為非洲第一位民選女總統(tǒng)。第三名獲獎者是也門女權人士塔瓦庫爾.卡門(Tawakkul Karman)。

Yaliwe Clarke is a lecturer in gender studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

克拉克(Yaliwe Clarke)是南非開普敦大學一名兩性研究講師。

YALIWE CLARKE: "I think if there's a sharing of the gains of this approach with other African women, then it will inspire them just like in Liberia -- this, the way in which the Mass Action for Peace, the methods that the women used in Liberia for the Mass Action for Peace. They've been written about, a film has been made, so now, you know African women are saying, 'Well, we can do that, as well.'"

克拉克：“我認為如果這一途徑的得到的收獲能讓其它非洲婦女也分享到，它就會激勵她們，就像利比里亞和平運動所做的那樣。利比里亞和平運動被寫成書，拍成了一部電影。所以現(xiàn)在非洲婦女都在說，‘我們也能做到那些。’”

But Pepper Schwartz at the University of Washington says women need to hold real power in order for something like a sex strike to work.

但華盛頓大學的舒瓦茨表示，為了讓性罷工類似的活動產生效果，婦女需要掌握實權。

PEPPER SCHWARTZ: "They only work in proportion to the amount of power women have in a society. In other words, you have to have a certain amount of power already to tell your husband no. In some societies your husband would pound on you or, you know, enact his own kinds of revenge, but you have to have a society where a man respects a woman's opinion and her desire to say no and will, in fact, respect her for it."

舒瓦茨：“它們產生的效果與社會中女性擁有的權力大小成正比。換句話說，你必須有一定的權力吩咐你的丈夫。在一些社會中，丈夫會打你，或者實施他自己的報復。你必須在一個男性尊重女性觀點和她說不的愿望的這樣一個社會，也就是尊重她。”