高承勇性格分析:要不要动用“情色资本”？

Women with brains and beauty -- like Christina Hendrickson from "Mad Men" -- are not encouraged to use both, says a British social scientist. But they should.

正如一位英国社会学家说的那样，人们往往认为对女性来说，漂亮和大脑难以两全。然而，女人却需要同时运用这两项资本。

By Brian Alexander

作者／Brian Alexander
译者／LukeJS

“Erotic capital” isn’t a Vegas hotspot. It’s a person’s innate sex appeal, an asset that is just as important to economic and personal success as education or social connections, according to British social scientist Catherine Hakim. Everyone, but especially women, should exploit it to the max, she says.

“情色资本”并不是说一个红灯闪烁的区域，它指的是一个人内在的性吸引力。对个人成功来说，情色资本跟经济资本、教育资本和人际关系资本同样重要。英国社会学家凯瑟琳·哈基姆表示，每个人，尤其是女性，都应该将情色资本运用到极致。

Hakim’s new book, the provocatively titled “Honey Money,” might seem at first to be a manifesto arguing that all women ought to become Hooters babes. That’s the way some have portrayed Hakim’s ideas.

哈基姆的新书标题很吸引人：《甜蜜钱秘（Honey Money）》。一些读者认为，这也许是第一本宣称所有女人都应该变成性感辣妹的书。

But that’s not what Hakim wants, as she noted in an academic paper published last year. In short, Hakim is appealing for everyone to stop pretending that sex appeal -- a combination of style, looks, social skills, and attitude -- doesn’t matter. It does, but somehow, when it comes to women, success (however that’s defined) owed in some measure to sex appeal is bad.

她在去年发表的一篇学术论文中指出，她并不希望读者如此这般解读她的新书。简单的说，性吸引力是指一个人的风格面貌、社交技能和态度的综合，许多人认为它并不重要，而哈基姆是想呼吁人们重新检视这一错误观点。性吸引力很重要，但是在许多情况下，当人们在衡量女性的成功时，不管对成功的定义是什么，依靠性来获得的成功，普遍的评价都很差。

The idea of using both one's brains and erotic appeal -- think, oh, Catherine Deneuve or, maybe bombshell Christina Hendricks from "Mad Men" -- has been given short shrift, Hakim argues. "Either a woman is valued for her human capital (her brains, education, work experience, and dedication to her career) or she is valued for her erotic capital (her beauty, elegant figure, dress style, sexuality, grace, and charm). Women with brains and beauty are not allowed to use both.”

哈基姆表示，同时运用智慧和美貌（嗯，想想凯瑟琳·德纳芙或者现今正疯狂流行的广告狂人中的克里斯蒂娜·亨德里克斯吧），往往遭到大多数人的白眼冷遇。“在评价女性时，人们往往要么看重人力资本（她的智力、教育背景、工作经验、职业投入等），要么看重情色资本（她的美貌、优雅的身姿、穿衣风格、性感程度、风度和魅力等），二者只择其一。人们往往认为，女人不能同时运用智慧和美貌。”

That's not exactly true, of course. Just have a look at TV news anchor people. I was once interviewed by Natalie Morales on TODAY and could barely function; she's got a heap of erotic capital. She is also smart and skilled at her job. All these aspects are important contributors to her success, but few women feel comfortable acknowledging their sex appeal has anything to do with their careers since it is seen as not being part of "merit."  

当然，这种观点是错误的。只要看看那些电视新闻主播便知。我曾采访过今日新闻的主播娜塔莉·莫拉莱斯，令我印象深刻。她有着巨大的情色资本，同时也很机智，工作经验丰富。这些对她的成功都起到了举足轻重的作用，但是没有几个女人能大方承认她们的性吸引力与职业成功之间的关系，因为她们认为那不是什么“优点”。

Men don’t have to deal with this either/or problem. Nobody accuses David Beckham of selling out or being a less competitive athlete because he poses in underwear. But when female Olympic athletes use their sex appeal, they are condemned as anti-feminist.  

男人们不用苦恼这种孰是孰非的问题。大卫·贝克汉姆拍摄了许多内裤广告，但没人因此认为他黔驴技穷或者运动水平下降。但是当奥林匹克女选手表现出自己的性吸引力时，人们往往指责她们违背了女性主义。

Hakim argues that “erotic capital is rising in social and economic importance today” in response to our increasingly sexualized society and that it “gives women an advantage, and is a key factor in women’s changing status in society and the economy.”

哈基姆认为，在如今泛性化的社会中，“情色资本已经像社会和经济资本一样不断得到重视”，因其“为女性博得了竞争优势，逐渐成为女性在改变社会和经济地位中的关键因素”。

It might be accelerating now but as Hakim points out in one example, high-status women have never been afraid of using their sex appeal. “Diplomatic wives clearly deploy erotic capital in their social activities. We argue that erotic capital has greater value when it is linked to high levels of economic, cultural, and social capital.”

现在下定论尚为时过早，不过正如哈基姆举例所指出的那样，地位高的女性从不拒绝使用自己的性吸引力。“显然，善于交际的家庭主妇在社交活动中，对自己的情色资本运用娴熟。我们认为，当情色资本与经济、文化和社会资本的提高相挂钩时，其价值将进一步得到重视。”

In “Rapture,” my book about biotechnology and the quest for immortality, a woman named Deeda Blair, a beautiful and fabulously connected Washington D.C. doyenne, was contacted by another important mover named Mary Lasker, founder of the Lasker Foundation, a prestigious medical charity. Lasker wanted to mount an attack on high blood pressure, so she called Blair “and said do you know anybody who knows Elliot Richardson,” then secretary of health education of welfare under President Nixon. Blair responded: ‘Well, two nights ago, there was a party at the British Embassy and I spent a large part of the evening waltzing between the columns with him.’”

我写的《升入天堂》这本关于生物工程学的书探讨了永生这一话题，书里面讲了这样一个故事。一位叫迪达·布莱尔的美丽女性是华盛顿特区的元老级人物，而玛丽·拉斯克是著名的医疗慈善机构——拉斯克基金会的创始人。拉斯克想要攻克高血压的治疗难题，于是联系上了布莱尔，问她“是否认识能够联系上埃利奥特·理查森的人”，理查森时任尼克松总统当局的卫生教育福利部部长。布莱尔回答道：“这个嘛，两天以前，英国大使馆举办了一个晚会，我在那里跟他跳舞跳了大半个晚上。”

The campaign was funded. That’s erotic capital.

这个项目得到了启动资金。这就是情色资本的作用。