2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：美貌经济学

　　Discriminating against people on the grounds of personal appearance should be banned, shesays. It limits a person’s right to equal opportunity, reinforces the subordination of groupswhere unappealing characteristics, including obesity, are concentrated (ie, the poor, someethnic minorities), and restricts self-expression. Yet because ugliness is harder to define thanrace or sex, some argue that anti-discrimination laws are impossible to maintain. Andanyway, say employers, appearance is often relevant to the job at hand.

　　她说，因为外表而歧视他人的行为应该被禁止。这种行为不但限制了个人享受平等机遇的权利和表达的自由;在一个人会因外表的缺陷(包括肥胖)而被关注的团体(如穷人、少数民族)里，这种行为还加强了个人对集体的服从。但是，因为外貌与种族、性别不同，是美是丑更难界定，有人则认为反外貌歧视的法律不可能维持。但不管怎样，雇主们说，外表经常与手头上的工作有关。

　　Ms Rhode sees the hurdles, but argues that they can be dealt with. In places where “lookism” isalready prohibited (eg, Washington, DC), such statutes have not provoked a flood offrivolous cases, she says. Occasionally beauty is essential to a business (ie, modelling, but notair-hostessing). But concerns about an employee’s effectiveness often reflect the biases ofemployers, not customers. Laws influence attitudes over time, she says, by denying those withprejudices the opportunity to indulge them.

　　罗得女士看出了其中的障碍，但认为这些障碍可以被跨越。她说，在“相貌歧视”已经被禁止的地方(如华盛顿)，这种法规也没有惹起如潮般荒唐可笑的案件。有时，美貌对某些职业而言至关重要(如模特，但空姐就并非如此)。但是对员工工作效率的考虑经常只能反映雇主而非客户的偏好。这项法律断绝了对相貌丑陋心存偏见的人纵容这些偏见的机会，随着时间的推移，法律会影响人们的态度，她说道。

　　“Honey Money”, Catherine Hakim’s provocative book, is a different kettle of fish. Where MrHamermesh and Ms Rhode see discrimination, she sees an opportunity for women toenhance their power “in the bedroom and the boardroom”. She argues that “erotic capital” isan underrated class of personal asset, to set beside economic capital (what you have), humancapital (what you know) and social capital (who you know). Ms Hakim attempts to quantify acomplex mix of physical and social assets, consisting of beauty, sex appeal, self-presentation, social skills, liveliness and sexual competence. Like other sorts of capital, theerotic kind is important for success; but unlike others it is largely independent of birth andclass. It is especially valuable for poor people, young people, the newly arrived and theotherwise unqualified. In heterosexual settings it belongs primarily to women.

　　凯瑟琳•哈金挑起争议的著作《甜蜜的金钱》则有截然不同的观点。在汉姆梅斯女士和罗得女士看到歧视的地方，她却看到了女性在卧室和会议室中增强自身力量的机遇。她认为与经济资本(你所拥有的)、人力资本(你所知道的)和社会资本(你所知道的)相比，“魅力资本”是一种被低估了的个人资产。哈金女士尝试去量化一个人有形资产和社会资产的复杂组合，其中包括美貌、性感、自我表现、社会技能、活力和性能力。魅力资本之于成功的重要性，与其他类型的资本相当;但与其他类型的资本不同的是，魅力资本在很大程度上与出身和阶级无关。对于穷人、年轻人、初来乍到者或不合格的人而言，魅力资本尤其重要。在异性恋的环境里，魅力资本主要属于女性。

　　Ms Hakim suggests that women have more eroticcapital than men to start with, mainly because theyhave had to work at it for centuries. But women havethe erotic upper hand for another reason: the male“sexual deficit”. Despite the fact that both sexes aremore sexually active than ever before, from the ageof about 30 women’s libido tends to fall off whilemen’s does not. Because women have less interestin sex than men, it is, to put it crudely, a seller’smarket. In the power dynamic of couples, controllingaccess to sex is more important than earning moremoney, says Ms Hakim. It is the woman’s main bargaining chip, as most still earn less than theirpartners. Feminists who want women to throw away their femininity are overlooking a powerfulasset, Ms Hakim argues.

　　哈金女士之所以认为女人一开始比男人有更多的魅力资本，是因为在过去几个世纪里，她们已经在这方面作出了巨大努力。但女性在魅力方面占优势的另一个原因在于：男性的“性感赤字”。尽管事实上两性在性爱方面都比以前要积极，而且在30岁以后，女性的性欲趋于下降，男性则不然。因为女性在性爱方面的兴趣要少与男性，所以简言之，这是一个卖方市场。对于精力旺盛的夫妇而言，控制进行性生活比赚钱更为重要，哈金女士说道。因为大部分女性的收入仍然低于其另一半，故魅力就成了她们的主要筹码。哈金女士认为，那些希望女性抛弃其女人味的女权主义者忽略了一项强大的资产。

　　This is controversial stuff. Even those who reject the notion that women are just not that intosex can support Ms Hakim’s call for the full legalisation of prostitution and surrogatepregnancies for profit, thus giving women the freedom to earn a return on whichever personalasset they choose.

　　这个说法极具争议。即便是那些反对女人对性爱不那么感兴趣的人，也能支持哈金女士的号召：将妓女这一职业全面合法化;实行营利性的代孕。不论女性选择利用何种个人资产，这样都能给予她们从中获取回报的自由。

　　All three authors are in or fast approaching their 60s. They are contemporaries of thegeneration of feminists who waged war against the beauty culture, leaving unshaved legs andallegedly burned bras in their wake. But life has moved on. Sexualised images are everywhere,and the world that has emerged is one in which no one can afford to pretend beauty does notmatter. Men too, having lost their monopoly of well-paid jobs, are investing in their eroticcapital to enhance their appeal to mates and employers. They are marching off to gyms anddiscovering face cream in record numbers. Perhaps this explains Mona Lisa’s bemused smile.She knew what was coming.

　　三位作者都已经接近或步入花甲之年。她们与向美貌文化宣战、不刮腿毛、据说还焚烧胸罩的女权主义者是同一代人。但生活在不断继续。具有性意味的图片已随处可见，眼前的世界，已经没人能够有本钱假装美貌无关紧要。男人也如此，他们已经失去了高薪职位的垄断地位，如今便投资自己的魅力资本以提高对其伴侣及雇主的吸引力。他们向健身房进军，物色到的面霜数目已创历史新高。或许，这样的世界能解释蒙娜丽莎神秘的微笑。对于后来之事，她早已了若指掌。

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