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[英语演讲]Do You Think You Know Me?
你认为你了解我吗？ by Peggy Dersch from Southeast Missouri State University It was winter, 1976. A news item concerning the attempted rape of an eight-year-old child was reported on WABC-TV in New York City. Following the news, the station's weather announcer, Tex Antoine, began his report by reminding viewers of what he called an ancient proverb; "Confucius once say: if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it!" After enough protest calls, station officials required Antoine to offer a public apology. He said simply, "I regret making the statement." And then he added, "I didn't realize the victim was a child." The ignorance about rape displayed by Tex Antoine is not uncommon. In Chicago, Illinois, Gallant Greetings Corporation produced and distributed a birthday card. On the front was a disheveled woman with a wide grin across her face. The inscription read, "Birthdays are like rape." Then you open the card the message continued. "When it's inevitable - enjoy... enjoy..." There was a space to sign your name, and then the final phrase, "Happy Day!" Jokes about rape are not difficult to find. But the truth is, tape is no laughing matter. When we consider the fact every night of the year, in fact every 14 minutes day and night all year long a woman is forcibly raped, we realize that rape is a very serious matter. But you don't have to share the ignorance of a Tex Antoine or the Gallant Corporation to be guilty of misunderstanding the nature of the crime of rape. As a matter of fact, all of us, everyone in this room, is a victim of a stereotype. We are all prejudiced against the rape victim. I know, and I intend to show you. Now, let me assure you this is not just another speech on rape. In fact, let me make a few things clear about my intentions before I go any further. First of all, don't get the idea I'm out to accuse anyone of being apathetic or unconcerned. I'm not. Don't expect me to shock you with the latest probability figures showing that everyone in this room will be raped within the next ten days. I'm not. Don't think I'm trying to repulse you with brutal accounts of a victim's experience or horrifying stories of courtroom battles. I'm not. My purpose is simply this: to make everyone here think more critically about how he views the crime of rape. You see, this is not a speech on rape, but on the attitudes we all have toward it - attitudes which are frequently as serious a problem as the act of rape itself. Rape is an unusual crime. Some of us, like Tex Antoine, make a joke of it; others of us cry about it; and still others choose not to talk about it at all. But whatever our response to rape, one thing remains constant and is a factor which separates rape from any other crime in the book: we see the rapist as a criminal, but we tend to see the rape victim that way too. Society attributes at least part of the blame to the victim herself. We see her somehow at fault. I suppose there are lots of reasons for this. Some of us choose to believe that deep down women secretly want to be raped - that they ask for it. You might think this attitude is outdated but it still survives, even in our courts of law. Let me give you an example. In Dane County, Wisconsin, Judge Archie Simonson let a 15-year-year-old boy off with only probation for raping a 16-year-old girl in the stairwell of their high school. His explanation? "I'm trying to say to women - stop teasing... Whether women like it or not, they are sex objects." You probably recognize this statement for the ignorance it represents. But even those who reject the notion that the victim invited the attack may still fall for the view that she didn't resist hard enough. "Why didn't she fight back?" we say. "You can't hit a moving target." So common is this myth that even rape victims themselves believe it. I recently read a magazine article about one such victim; her name is Linda Rogers. She recalled: "Before the rape, I would have been surprised that a victim might fell guilty. Yet I did - not I had invited the rape, but that I should have been able to prevent it." Her feelings might be easier to understand when we examine what is currently being taught in criminology courses. For example, here's what one of the most widely used criminology textbooks, Daniel Glaser's Adult Crime and Social Policy, has to say: "To force a woman into intercourse is an impossible task in most cases if the female is conscious and extreme pain is not inflicted." And this text is not unusual. According to Dr. Gail Wisan, professor of sociology at George Washington University, each of today's 13 most popular criminology texts, all of them published since 1970 and over half since 1975, include similar examples. Is it really any wonder that so many hold the attitudes they do? Now, of course, not everybody believes that women want to be raped or that they don't try hard enough to resist an attack. But even though we know that, we may still subconsciously feel that somehow, some way, a woman brings rape on herself. Social psychologists call this the "just world hypothesis" - a belief that bad things just don't happen to good people - or, in other words, good women don't get raped. But whatever the logic or reasoning behind it, however you explain the tendency to view the rape victim as a criminal herself, the perception exists, and its effects are devastating. For example, one rape victim called a Boston Hospital follow-up counselor and explained: "I am having problems with my family. No one wants to have anything to do with me. My grandmother doesn't want me to tell my brother and I want him to know. She says it is a shame on the family. No one is talking with me. They won't even say hello to me. Even my husband is ashamed of me." And the effects can be more than just psychological. A friend of mine who worked one summer in a rape crisis center in St. Louis, Missouri, told me about Sandy, a 14-year-old girl who was raped two years ago. The only girl from a large religious family, she was considered an outcast by her parents. In their own words, she had been "violated" and, therefore, was unmarriageable material. Today, at age 16, Sandy is runaway. Too often people's attitudes about rape and their perception of the victim do as much damage as the rapist himself. And more of us than we'd like to admit harbour these attitudes. Now perhaps many of you at this point are saying to yourselves, "Not me - I don't feel that way." Maybe you're right. But maybe you're wrong. Unless I'm mistaken, everyone in this room is subject to ill-conceived attitudes about rape victims. All of us, even you, are victims of a stereotype. And I think I can prove it to you. Most of you have never met me before, yet even so you have been developing just in these few minutes an idea of what I'm like, so that by now you have some notion or image of me, Peggy Dersch. Now let me tell you something about myself that you don't know. At the age of 13 I was violently and forcibly raped in the home of a friend. (Don't worry, I'm not going to recount any detains for you. I promised I wouldn't, remember?) Already your impressions of me are beginning to change, aren't they? Just in these few seconds your image of me has been altered by two words - "rape victim". If you were to meet me again I'm almost sure you'd act differently than you would have ten minutes age. And if I happened to be wearing shorts or a T-shirt you might even raise an eyebrow or sneer. Why? Because I'd be asking for trouble. You see, when a woman is labeled "rape victim," ordinary behavior is reinterpreted in sexual terms. Any attractiveness in dress or figure is held against her. Is there anyone in this room who can honestly say that his impression of me has not changed just a little? Is there anyone who can honestly say he doesn't see me as a little cheapened, a little less wholesome? I've seen it happen before. I have just labeled myself rape victim, and Peggy Dersch the rape victim is different from the Peggy Dersch you knew before, isn't she? I could be wrong. My point may be totally erroneous. But I can tell you this. In a survey taken in July of last year, 25% of those responding said they believed they'd be treated by their family and friends as though they were partly to blame if they were raped. Even though many said their families would be sympathetic, all of the respondents expressed a feeling that the rape victim is still considered at fault, either for having led someone on or for not having resisted more. In a word, many considered her "cheapened" by the experience. Now please don't misunderstand; I'm not asking you for sympathy and I'm not casting blame or trying to make you feel guilty. And I'm not saying that we haven't done a great deal already to lift the "veil of shame" around the subject of rape. But it's still there. So I only ask you to level with yourself; think for a moment whether you are truly free of the prejudice against rape victims which abounds in our society. Do you somehow look down upon me and others like me, even though you know better? Don't be surprised or ashamed if you do. The attitude is quite common. And until all of us, individually and collectively as a society, can come to grips with that attitude, we will make little progress against what may well be the most reprehensible crime of all. I ask you to consider how you would act if your sister, or daughter, or wife, or someone else you love were raped. How would you treat her? And how are you going to treat me? Notes: 1.Chicago 芝加哥
2.Gallant Greeting Corporation 爱情贺卡公司
3.a disheveled woman 披头散发的女人
4.a wide grin across her face 咧嘴大笑
5.a victim of a stereotype 偏见的受害者
6.apathetic 冷淡的，莫不关心的
7.the latest probability figures 最新的概率数据
8.stairwell 高楼楼梯的底层井地
9.probation 缓刑
10.sex object 性感的人，性交对象
11.a moving target 活动的靶子，这里指女子被攻击的目标
12.criminology 犯罪学
13.follow-up counselor 医院里专门对出院病人进行随访给以咨询的顾问
14.outcast 被抛弃者
15.harbour 怀有，心怀
16.be subject to 易受。。。
17.ill-conceived 坏的（看法，想法）
18.sneer 嗤笑，讥笑
19.wholesome 健康，无污点的
20.respondent 民意调查中回答问题的对象
21.level with 率直，诚恳对人
22.come to grips with 与。。。搏斗，认真处理
23.reprehensible 应受指责的 这篇演讲的主题是社会对强奸受害者的偏见。为了说明许多人都有这样一种偏见，即认为：好女人不会被强奸。被强奸者大多是自找的，或至少是未做全力抵抗。演讲者现身说法，讲了她13岁那年在朋友家被强奸的事。在与听众的互动中，一是用you，we 这些称呼直接和听众对话，二是直接向听众发问，三是引导听众将心比心，设身处地地思考问题。除了以上这些，演讲者还有几个突出的地方：一是增强了演讲开头的趣味性，二是使故事说明更具广泛性，三是运用具体的数据，四是采用平行排比结构。 仅供学习参考之用，转贴请注明出处。请勿用于其它用途，否则责任自负。
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