倫敦日誌
英鎊上的簡·奧斯汀遭遇傲慢與偏見
2013年08月07日
Pool photo by Bloomberg
英國央行行長馬克·卡尼手捧10英鎊面額紙幣的設計圖，上面的圖像是作家簡·奧斯汀。然而網絡上卻掀起了反對運動。
倫敦——確保女性頭像繼續出現在英國紙幣上本是一場優雅的運動，而且，上個月英國人宣布將在10英鎊紙幣上用深受人們喜愛的小說家簡·奧斯汀(Jane Austen)取代查爾斯·達爾文(Charles Darwin)，本應可以為這場運動畫上句號。
然而網絡上卻掀起了一場反對行動，對幾位知名女性進行網上騷擾，包括發出強姦和死亡威脅，事態發展到如此惡劣的程度，以至於Twitter不得不在本周末採取措施，加強其關於舉報污言穢語的全球政策。
幾位穿着特定歷史時期服飾的女性主義者發起了一場關於權力、性侵以及社交媒體時代言論自由邊界的全國性辯論。這期間，我們看到了不少的傲慢與偏見。
數月前，當意識到英國紙幣上可能很快就不再有女性形象後——當然，除了伊麗莎白二世女皇(Queen Elizabeth II)之外，「女性空間」(The Women』s Room)網站聯合創始人、博主卡羅琳·克利亞多-佩雷茲(Caroline Criado-Perez)發起了這場運動。這事看上去很緊急：4月，英國央行英格蘭銀行(Bank of England)宣布，英國紙幣上五位歷史人物中的唯一女性、社會改革家伊麗莎白·弗萊(Elizabeth Fry)的頭像將被溫斯頓·丘吉爾(Winston Churchill)所取代，一個毫無疑問的男性。
克利亞多-佩雷茲說，英國歷史上有這麼多著名女性，當然能至少再找到一位，將其頭像印到英國紙幣上。
擔心英國央行沒有靈感的克利亞多-佩雷茲還帶領一群倡導
者，裝扮成女性參政權倡導者埃米琳·潘克赫斯特(Emmeline Pankhurst)、小說家喬治·艾略特（George
Eliot，原名瑪麗·安·伊萬斯[Mary Ann
Evans]）、以及在公元60年迎戰羅馬入侵者的凱爾特戰士布狄卡(Boadicea)。29歲的克利亞多-佩雷茲將支持其運動的超過3.5萬個簽名親
手送到位於倫敦的英國央行門口，並籌集到近2萬美元（約合12萬元人民幣）的捐款。如果「銀行的男性」（該銀行制定利率的九人委員會中沒有一名女性）無視
2010年《平等法》(Equality Act)中要求公共機構在做所有決定時都要謹記性別平等這一目標的規定，就將用這些捐款發起法律行動。
當時即將離任的英國央行行長默文·A·金(Mervyn A. King)總愛指出，有一名女性（女王）的頭像出現在了每一種紙幣和硬幣背面，但他似乎無暇顧及這場辯論。
然而，7月份，更年輕的加拿大人馬克·J·卡尼(Mark J. Carney)接替了默文·金的職位，卡尼是英國央行319年歷史上首位外籍行長。卡尼抓住了這個樹立形象的機會。
7月24日，卡尼說，銀行一直以來都想將一位女性歷史人物的頭像印到英鎊紙幣上，而且他宣布，奧斯汀的頭像將登上新版10英鎊紙幣。他還承諾將對紙幣選擇歷史人物頭像的全過程進行審核。
「對女性來說，這是偉大的一天，」克利亞多-佩雷茲回應道。
然而，就在同一天，在Twitter上，對克利亞多-佩雷茲的點滴謾罵，以每分鐘增加一條的速度演變成了威脅的洪流，其中包括粗魯的強姦和死亡威脅。從公眾人物到議會議員的其他幾名女性，也都成了Twitter用戶襲擊的目標。有三名女記者接到炸彈威脅。
「我要用槍托一次次地打你，直到你失去知覺。」一名Twitter用戶警告克利亞多-佩雷茲說，他還威脅說，「之後再燒死你。」
一名Twitter用戶對工黨(Labour Party)議員斯黛拉·克里希(Stella Creasy)說，「我要在明晚9點強姦你。我們是不是在你家附近見面？」
迄今為止，有兩名年齡分別為21和25歲的男子已因涉嫌騷擾而被捕。蘇格蘭場(Scotland Yard)的電子犯罪處正在調查Twitter上的攻擊帖，其中大部分攻擊帖是匿名網絡用戶發出的，也就是所謂的網絡惡棍(troll)。
在接到一封至少彙集了12.4萬個簽名的在線請願信之後，
受到壓力的Twitter於周六在其網站上宣布，它正在引入一個新的一次點擊按鈕，來報告每條帖子里的謾罵行為。這項新功能將幫助用戶，將他們引導至一個
在線論壇。公司還承諾，要分出更多人手來識別辱罵他人的帖子，還要更新Twitter的規定，明確聲明Twitter不會容忍粗言穢語的行為。
Twitter英國分部業務負責人托尼·王(Tony Wang)以個人名義發了一條道歉推文，「向在Twitter上遭受辱罵的女性致歉。」
他說，謾罵「在真實世界裡是不可接受的，在Twitter上也是不可接受的。我們能夠且將會採取更多措施來保護用戶，使他們免受辱罵」。
這場辯論突顯了一個基本的矛盾：科技讓女性倡導人士更容易受到男性至上主義者的辱罵，不過，它同時也強化了女性的權力。（克利亞多-佩雷茲在Change.org網站收集到了她想要的簽名，她在Twitter擁有超過2.46萬名關注）。
英國《衛報》(The Guardian)專欄作家塔尼婭·戈爾德(Tanya Gold)警告說，她反對邀請社交網絡網站來「為我們的辯論維持秩序」，她表示，「在Twitter上厭惡女性的人，應該為人所不齒，而不是被當成罪犯。」
卡尼和他在英格蘭銀行的同事也許鬆了一口氣，原因是他們發現，性別平等運動轉移了公眾注意力，讓他們暫時不再死盯着男性依然占絕對優勢的金融圈子。
不過，沒有幾個人會料到，奧斯汀可能會在無意之中成為女性主義者的一個象徵，這位作家最出名的作品可能要屬那些對19世紀愛情的沉思。
亞利桑那州立大學(Arizona State University)文學教授德沃尼·盧瑟(Devoney Looser)說，「她有廣受歡迎的魅力和多元化的政治吸引力。和埃米琳·潘克赫斯特等人不同，你更加難以從政治上定位奧斯汀。保守派和進步派都樂於接納她。」
翻譯：谷菁璐、張薇London Journal
Bid to Honor Austen Is Not Universally Acknowledged
August 07, 2013
LONDON — It was a genteel campaign to ensure that British bank notes would continue to carry images of women, and it could have ended with the announcement last month that Jane Austen, the much-beloved novelist, would replace Charles Darwin on the £10 note.
Instead, a countercampaign
of online harassment, including threats of rape and death, against
several high-profile women here turned so nasty that Twitter took steps
this weekend to tighten its global policy on reporting abuse.
There has been plenty of pride, but also a good
dose of prejudice, as a small band of feminists in period costumes has
initiated a national debate about power, rape and the limits of free
speech in the age of social media.
Caroline Criado-Perez, a blogger and co-founder of the Web site The Women’s Room,
began her campaign months ago when she realized that soon there might
be no women — except Queen Elizabeth II, of course — left on British
bank notes. The issue seemed urgent: in April, the Bank of England had announced
that the only woman currently featured among five historical figures,
the social reformer Elizabeth Fry, would be replaced by Winston
Churchill, indisputably male.
Surely, Ms. Criado-Perez argued, there were enough women of note in British history to find at least one more?
In case the bank lacked
inspiration, she led a group of campaigners dressed up as the suffragist
Emmeline Pankhurst, the novelist George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans) and
the Celtic warrior queen Boadicea, who fought Roman invaders in A.D.
60. Ms. Criado-Perez, 29, hand-delivered more than 35,000 signatures
supporting her cause to the bank’s doorstep in London and collected
nearly $20,000 in donations to mount a legal challenge should the “men
of the bank” (there are no women on the nine-member committee that sets
interest rates) ignore the 2010 Equality Act obliging public institutions to keep in mind the goal of gender equality in all matters that they decide.
The departing governor of
the bank, Mervyn A. King, fond of pointing out that one woman, the
queen, is on the back of every bill and coin, appeared to have little
time for the debate.
But in July he was replaced by a younger man, a Canadian named Mark J. Carney, the first non-Briton to run the bank in its 319-year history. Mr. Carney seized the opportunity to make a gesture.
On July 24, Mr. Carney said
that it had always been the bank’s intention to include another woman
among the historical figures on the bank notes, and he announced that
Austen would appear on future £10 notes. He also vowed to review the
whole process of choosing historical figures for the notes.
“A brilliant day for women,” Ms. Criado-Perez said in response.
But that same day on
Twitter a trickle of abuse grew into a shower of crude rape and death
threats against Ms. Criado-Perez at a rate of nearly one per minute.
Several other women, from members of the public to members of
Parliament, have also been the targets of Twitter attacks. Three female
journalists received bomb threats.
“I’m going to pistol whip
you over and over until you lose consciousness,” one Twitter user warned
Ms. Criado-Perez, threatening to “then burn ur flesh.”
“I will rape you tomorrow
at 9pm,” a Twitter user told Stella Creasy, a Labour Party legislator.
“Shall we meet near your house?”
Two men, ages 21 and 25,
have been arrested so far in connection with the harassment. Scotland
Yard’s electronic-crime unit is investigating the Twitter attacks
involving mostly anonymous Internet users, so-called trolls.
Twitter, under pressure
after receiving an online petition with at least 124,000 signatures,
announced Saturday on its site that it was introducing a new one-click
button to report abuse on every post. The new feature will help users
navigate their way to an online form. The company also pledged to
dedicate more staff members to identifying abusive posts and is updating
its rules, stating explicitly that it will not tolerate abuse.
Tony Wang, who runs Twitter’s British operation, posted a personal apology “to the women who have experienced abuse on Twitter.”
The abuse is “not acceptable in the real world, and it’s not acceptable on Twitter,” he said. He added, “There is more we can and will be doing to protect our users against abuse.”
The debate highlighted a
basic tension: technology has made female campaigners more vulnerable to
sexist abuse, but it has also empowered them. (Ms. Criado-Perez
collected her signatures on Change.org and has more than 24,600 followers on Twitter.)
Tanya Gold,
a columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, warned against
asking social networking sites to “police our debate,” suggesting that
“misogynists on Twitter should be shamed rather than criminalized.”
Mr. Carney and his
colleagues at the Bank of England may be relieved to find that the
attention of equality campaigners has for now shifted the focus away
from the still overwhelmingly male world of finance.
But few could have foreseen
that Austen, a writer perhaps best known for her musings on
19th-century romance, might inadvertently become a feminist symbol.
“She has a wide popular and
a varied political appeal,” said Devoney Looser, a professor of English
at Arizona State University and an Austen specialist. “Unlike someone
like Emmeline Pankhurst, it’s more difficult to slot Austen politically.
She’s embraced by conservatives and progressives both.”
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