黄色笑话是一种服从性测试

近日，著名编剧史航被多名女性指控性骚扰，史航本人晒出微信聊天记录回应称不存在性骚扰。

🤔️小作业：

A. They are no longer acceptable in any public forum.

B. Men from all over the world are equally comfortable with them.

C. Women do not feel the need to brush off or laugh at them.

D. There is no difference between having a joke in the workplace or delaying it until "you are with your mates at the pub" for female co-workers.

A. They make them feel excluded.

B. They make them feel empowered.

C. They make them feel indifferent.

D. They make them laugh.

无注释原文：

Is it okay to tell a dirty joke at work?

From: BBC

6 March 2020

On her first day in a new job in the City, Kate (not her real name) didn't know what to expect. Now a successful executive, she remembers being ready to roll with the punches, anything in order to get ahead.

What she didn't expect was unrelenting sexual innuendo.

Whenever she wore red heels, one of her bosses joked about how she wasn't "wearing knickers".

In other meetings, senior male colleagues would say "while you're down there", when she was plugging in a computer.

By the time she quit, she says, she knew the reference to red shoes was a joke that was often made.

While Kate doesn't mind a bit of "banter", she says it was just too easy for lines to be blurred, especially within the tough culture of the City. What was meant as joking around with the boys, when you are the subject of the comments amount to sexual harassment.

She told the human resources team who handled her exit interview that this kind of office "humour" had driven her to attempt suicide.

'Disparaging'

While Kate's experience was extreme, others agree with her, that "jokes" at work often get out of hand. In one survey, out of 20,000 people questioned, only 16% of British women were comfortable with sexual workplace humour.

On the other hand, 28% of men in the UK think it is okay to tell a dirty joke at work. And British men are happier to have a laugh over a crude joke, than men from many other parts of the world including Turkey, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the United States.

The difference between having a joke in the workplace or delaying it until "you are with your mates at the pub" can mean a lot to female co-workers, says Hillary Margolis a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"A lot of women feel they have to brush or laugh off a joke or they will be seen as too serious. But it can make women and those who identify as non-binary - and also people who are LGTBQ - feel disparaged," she says.

Sexist jokes can also make men feel uncomfortable, especially if they are in a female dominated work environment.

'Impact understated'

More often than not, a joke is really meant to be a joke, Ms Margolis says, but sometimes people think sexual humour at work is a form of sexism, which makes women feel excluded.

"Sometimes these things can shut people down and make women feel like they have to hide who they truly are.

"Women will often laugh at these kind of jokes in the workplace because they don't want to be perceived as being too emotional, sensitive or like they just can't hack it," says Ms Margolis.

Having to feel like they not free to be themselves, can put people on the back foot.

She adds: "Sometimes the impact is really underestimated".

Not tolerated

Kate's upsetting experience was some years ago now. Bev Shah, who founded City Hive, a social network for workers in finance, says she does not know of anyone these days who would joke openly this way.

"These types of jokes are no longer acceptable in any public forum in the same way racial jokes no longer are," said Ms Shah.

She says any comments of that sort should ring immediate alarm bells for employers, especially in the post #metoo era, and shouldn't be tolerated.

Speaking up

The survey, by Ipsos MORI and the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London asked people across the world in 27 countries.

The countries where workplace humour of a sexual nature was most acceptable were Belgium and China where 47% of men would joke or tell stories about sex.

Where as under 13% of men in Mexico, America and Canada agreed.

When it comes to speaking up, just like Kate will today, British women do not fear pushing back against inappropriate jokes. Over 80% of UK women surveyed said they would "tell off family or friends who make a sexist comment".

And, British men also said they would stick up for women as well with 73% willing to take a stand against sexism.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Is it okay to tell a dirty joke at work?

From: BBC

6 March 2020

On her first day in a new job in the City, Kate (not her real name) didn't know what to expect. Now a successful executive, she remembers being ready to roll with the punches, anything in order to get ahead.

在伦敦城新工作的第一天，凯特（化名）不知道会发生什么。如今，作为一名成功的高管，她回忆说，当时为了出人头地，她做了好应对任何事情的准备。

字面意思是“在挨拳头时即随之滚动”，可以引申为在面临困难时懂得随机应变，表示“渡过一道道难关；克服一连串困难”，英文解释为“to be able to deal with a series of difficult situations”。

What she didn't expect was unrelenting sexual innuendo.

但她没有想到的是无休止的性暗示。

unrelenting /ˌʌn.rɪˈlen.tɪŋ/ 表示“坚定不移的；不松懈的；不屈不挠的”，英文解释为“extremely determined; never becoming weaker or admitting defeat”举个🌰：She will be remembered as an unrelenting opponent of racial discrimination. 她不屈不挠地反对种族歧视，将会为人所铭记。

也可以指“无休止的（不愉快的事情）；持续的；不缓和的；势头不减的”，英文解释为“If you describe something unpleasant as unrelenting, you mean that it continues without stopping.”

innuendo /ˌɪn.juˈen.dəʊ/ 表示“影射（的话）；暗讽（的话）”，英文解释为“(the making of) a remark or remarks that suggest something sexual or something unpleasant but do not refer to it directly”举个🌰：There's always an element of sexual innuendo in our conversations. 我们的交谈中总有性暗示的成分。

Whenever she wore red heels, one of her bosses joked about how she wasn't "wearing knickers".

每次她穿红色高跟鞋时，其中一个老板都会开玩笑地说她没有“穿内裤”。

本身表示“鞋跟”，英文解释为“the raised part at the back of a shoe, under your heel”，也可以指“脚跟”，英文解释为“the rounded back part of the foot”。

复数heels，表示“女高跟鞋”，英文解释为“Heels are women's shoes that are raised very high at the back. ”

knickers /ˈnɪk.əz/ 表示“（女用）衬裤，内裤”，英文解释为“a piece of underwear worn by women and girls covering the area between the waist and the tops of the legs”如：a pair of black cotton knickers 一条黑色棉质内裤。

In other meetings, senior male colleagues would say "while you're down there", when she was plugging in a computer.

在其他会议上，当她给电脑接入电源时，资深男同事会说“趁你还在下面”。

plug (sth) in/plug (sth) into sth表示“给…接通电源；把（某一电器）与（另一电器）接通”，英文解释为“to connect an electrical device to an electrical system or device so that it can be used, by pushing its plug into a socket”举个🌰：Of course the radio isn't working - you haven't plugged it in! 你没有插电源，收音机当然不响了！

By the time she quit, she says, she knew the reference to red shoes was a joke that was often made.

她说，当她辞职时，她知道红鞋是一个经常被拿来开玩笑的东西。

While Kate doesn't mind a bit of "banter", she says it was just too easy for lines to be blurred, especially within the tough culture of the City. What was meant as joking around with the boys, when you are the subject of the comments amount to sexual harassment.

虽然凯特不介意一些“玩笑”，但她表示，界限太容易模糊了，尤其是在伦敦城竞争激烈的环境中。当你成为评头论足的对象时，本应只是男孩们开玩笑的东西，就变成了性骚扰。

banter /ˈbæntə/ 表示“无恶意的玩笑”，英文解释为“Banter is teasing or joking talk that is amusing and friendly.”举个🌰：As she closed the door, she heard him exchanging good-natured banter with Jane. 她关门时听见他与简在开着善意的玩笑。

blurred /blɜːd/ 1）表示“弄不清的；分不清的”，英文解释为“difficult to understand or separate clearly”举个🌰：Do you agree that male and female roles are becoming blurred? 你是否同意男人和女人的角色差别正变得越来越模糊？

2）表示“模糊的”，英文解释为“difficult to see”举个🌰：The photograph was very blurred. 这张照片很模糊。

表示“等于；意味着；达到；总计”，英文解释为“to be the same as something, or to have the same effect as something”举个🌰：His behaviour amounted to serious professional misconduct. 他的行为相当于严重失职。

sexual harassment /ˌsek.ʃʊəl həˈræs.mənt/ 表示“性骚扰”，英文解释为“unwanted or offensive sexual attention, suggestions, or talk, especially from an employer or other person in a position of power”

She told the human resources team who handled her exit interview that this kind of office "humour" had driven her to attempt suicide.

她告诉负责她离职面谈的人力资源团队，这种办公室“幽默”让她试图自杀。

'Disparaging' 蔑视

While Kate's experience was extreme, others agree with her, that "jokes" at work often get out of hand. In one survey, out of 20,000 people questioned, only 16% of British women were comfortable with sexual workplace humour.

尽管凯特的经历是极端的，但其他人也同意她的观点，即公司里的“玩笑”经常失控。在一项针对2万人的调查中，只有16%的英国女性对职场性幽默感到自在。

disparaging /dɪˈspær.ɪ.dʒɪŋ/ 表示“贬斥的，贬低的”，英文解释为“criticizing someone, in a way that shows you do not respect or value them”如：disparaging remarks 贬损的言辞。

On the other hand, 28% of men in the UK think it is okay to tell a dirty joke at work. And British men are happier to have a laugh over a crude joke, than men from many other parts of the world including Turkey, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the United States.

另一方面，28%的英国男性认为在工作中讲黄色笑话是可以的。而相对于土耳其、墨西哥、澳大利亚、加拿大和美国等许多其他地区的男性来说，英国男性更乐于开粗俗的玩笑。

crude /kruːd/ 1）表示“粗糙的；简陋的；粗制的；未加修饰的”，英文解释为“simple and not skilfully done or made”如：a crude device/weapon 简陋的装置/粗制的武器。

2）表示“粗俗的；粗野的；无礼的”，英文解释为“rude and offensive”如：a crude remark/comment 粗俗的话/评论。

The difference between having a joke in the workplace or delaying it until "you are with your mates at the pub" can mean a lot to female co-workers, says Hillary Margolis a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

人权观察组织高级研究员希拉里·马戈利斯（Hillary Margolis）说，在工作场所开玩笑或者等到“你和你的朋友在酒吧时”再开玩笑之间的区别对女同事来说意义重大。

pub /pʌb/ 表示“（英国或爱尔兰的）酒吧，酒馆”，英文解释为“a place, especially in Great Britain or Ireland, where alcoholic drinks can be bought and drunk and where food is often available”举个🌰：Do you want to go to (informal go down) the pub after work? 你下班后想去酒吧吗？

"A lot of women feel they have to brush or laugh off a joke or they will be seen as too serious. But it can make women and those who identify as non-binary - and also people who are LGTBQ - feel disparaged," she says.

她说：“很多女性觉得她们必须对笑话置之不理或一笑了之，否则她们会被视为过于严肃。但这可能会让女性和那些认为自己是非二元性别的人——以及LGTBQ的人——感到被蔑视。”

表示“漠视，不理睬”，英文解释为“to refuse to listen to what someone says, or to refuse to think about something seriously”举个🌰：He just brushed off all their criticisms. 他对他们的一切批评都置之不理。

表示“对…一笑置之”，英文解释为“to make yourself laugh about something unpleasant in order to make it seem less important or serious”举个🌰：She tried to laugh off their remarks, but I could see she was hurt. 她试图对他们的话一笑置之，但我看得出她的内心还是受到了伤害。

binary本身表示“二进制的”（The binary system expresses numbers using only the two digits 0 and 1. It is used especially in computing.）在计算机的世界里，处理的实际上都是0和1这两个数字。

此处binary表示“二元的；有两个不同部分的”，英文解释为“Binary describes something that has two different parts.” non-binary就是表示“非二元性別的”，英文解释为“having a gender identity (= feeling of being a particular gender) that is not simply male or female”. 也被广泛称作Genderqueer（性别酷儿），用来指称那些超越传统意义上对男性或女性的二元划分、不单纯属于男性或女性的自我性别认同。

📍此前纽约时报的有一篇文章专门讲述了Nonbinary一词：“Washington, D.C., schools are the latest, with a small change on the public school enrollment form for next year that some members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community regard as a big step forward: The term “nonbinary,” which refers to people who do not identify exclusively as male or female, will be included as a gender choice.” “华盛顿特区的学校对明年的公立学校入学表格做出了一个小改动：“非二元性别的”——意指那些性别认同不单纯属于男性或女性的人，被加入到性别选择中。这是被一些L.G.B.T.Q.群体成员认为是一大进步的最新例子。”

Sexist jokes can also make men feel uncomfortable, especially if they are in a female dominated work environment.

性别歧视笑话也会让男性感到不舒服，尤其是如果他们处于女性主导的工作环境中。

'Impact understated' 影响被低估

More often than not, a joke is really meant to be a joke, Ms Margolis says, but sometimes people think sexual humour at work is a form of sexism, which makes women feel excluded.

马戈利斯女士说，通常情况下，笑话就是笑话，但有时人们认为工作中的性幽默是一种性别歧视，这让女性感到被排斥。

1）表示“往往，多半”，英文解释为“most of the time”举个🌰：More often than not, a student will come up with the right answer. 学生多半会作出正确的回答。

2）more often than not = as often as not 表示“通常，常常，一般”，英文解释为“usually”举个🌰：More often than not when I make the effort to visit her, I wonder why I even bothered. 常常是当我很费劲去探望她的时候，我就纳闷我为什么要找这麻烦。

1）表示“排除…；不考虑…；认为…不可能”，英文解释为“to decide that something is not true or possible”举个🌰：We can't exclude the possibility that he is dead. 我们不能排除他已经死亡的可能性。

2）表示“阻止…进入；把…排斥在外”，英文解释为“to prevent someone or something from entering a place or taking part in an activity”举个🌰：Microbes must, as far as possible, be excluded from the room during an operation. 在手术过程中，要尽可能防止细菌进入手术室。

🎬电影《简·爱》（Jane Eyre）中的台词提到：Children, I exhort you to shun her, exclude her, shut her out from this day forth. 孩子们，奉劝你们离她远点，排斥她，从今天起与她隔绝。

"Sometimes these things can shut people down and make women feel like they have to hide who they truly are.

“有时候这些东西会让人变得沉闷，让女性觉得她们必须隐藏自己的真实自我。”

"Women will often laugh at these kind of jokes in the workplace because they don't want to be perceived as being too emotional, sensitive or like they just can't hack it," says Ms Margolis.

马戈利斯女士说：“女性在职场往往会对这类笑话发笑，因为她们不想被认为过于情绪化、敏感，或者觉得自己无法承受。”

1）表示“感知，察觉，注意到，意识到”，英文解释为“to see something or someone, or to notice something that is obvious”举个🌰：He perceived a tiny figure in the distance. 他注意到远处有个很小的身影。

2）表示“认为；看待；视为”，英文解释为“to come to an opinion about something, or have a belief about something”举个🌰：How do the French perceive the British? 法国人是如何看待英国人的？

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述比特币的文章中提到：Scarcity is a trait of many things that are perceived to have value. 稀缺性正是许多被视为有价值的事物共有的特征。

can/can't hack it表示“能/不能应付（某情形）”，英文解释为“to be able/not able to manage in a particular situation”举个🌰：Lots of people leave this job because they can't hack it. 很多人由于应付不了这项工作而放弃了。

Having to feel like they not free to be themselves, can put people on the back foot.

感觉不能自由地做自己会让人感到不安，会使人处于被动状态。

on the back foot/put someone on the back foot表示“使人处于劣势或被动的位置”，英文解释为“If someone is on the back foot, or if something puts them on the back foot, they feel threatened and act defensively.”

She adds: "Sometimes the impact is really underestimated".

她补充道：“有时这种影响真的被低估了。”

Not tolerated 不能容忍

Kate's upsetting experience was some years ago now. Bev Shah, who founded City Hive, a social network for workers in finance, says she does not know of anyone these days who would joke openly this way.

凯特的痛苦经历是几年前的事了。金融从业者社交网络City Hive的创始人贝夫·沙赫（Bev Shah）表示，她不知道如今还有谁会这样公开地开玩笑。

upsetting /ʌpˈset.ɪŋ/ 表示“令人心烦意乱的，令人苦恼（或愤怒)的”，英文解释为“making someone feel worried, unhappy, or angry”

"These types of jokes are no longer acceptable in any public forum in the same way racial jokes no longer are," said Ms Shah.

沙赫女士说：“这类笑话在任何公共论坛都不再被接受，就像种族笑话一样。”

She says any comments of that sort should ring immediate alarm bells for employers, especially in the post #metoo era, and shouldn't be tolerated.

她表示，这类言论应该立即引起雇主的警惕，尤其是在#metoo时代，不应被容忍。

表示“敲警钟；发出危险信号；引起警觉”，英文解释为“If something rings/sounds alarm bells, it makes you start to worry because it is a sign that there may be a problem.”举个🌰：The name rang alarm bells in her mind. 这个名字引起了她的警觉。

Speaking up 大声说出来

The survey, by Ipsos MORI and the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London asked people across the world in 27 countries.

这项调查由全球市场研究公司益普索莫里（Ipsos MORI）和伦敦国王学院全球女性领导力研究所联合开展，受访者来自全球27个国家。

The countries where workplace humour of a sexual nature was most acceptable were Belgium and China where 47% of men would joke or tell stories about sex.

最能接受职场性幽默的国家是比利时和中国，47%的男性会开黄色玩笑或讲述性方面的故事。

Where as under 13% of men in Mexico, America and Canada agreed.

而在墨西哥、美国和加拿大，只有不到13%的男性同意这一观点。

When it comes to speaking up, just like Kate will today, British women do not fear pushing back against inappropriate jokes. Over 80% of UK women surveyed said they would "tell off family or friends who make a sexist comment".

就像凯特今天所做的那样，在面对不恰当的笑话时，英国女性并不害怕站出来说不。超过80%的受访英国女性表示，她们会“斥责发表性别歧视言论的家人或朋友”。

tell /tel/ 表示“责备，斥责（某人）”，英文解释为“to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong”举个🌰：The teacher told me off for swearing. 我因骂脏话遭到了老师的训斥。

And, British men also said they would stick up for women as well with 73% willing to take a stand against sexism.

此外，英国男性也表示，他们会为女性挺身而出，73%的人愿意站出来反对性别歧视。

stick up for sth/sb = stand up for sth/sb 表示“支持，维护（想法、遭受指责或攻击的人）”，英文解释为“to defend or support a particular idea or a person who is being criticized or attacked”举个🌰：Don't be bullied, learn to stand up for yourself and what you believe in. 不要任人欺侮，要学会捍卫自己的权利和信仰。

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