Tavi Gevinson: A teen just trying to figure it out

Translator: Tracy Wong Reviewer: Sylvia He

Four years ago today, exactly, actually,

啱啱四年前嘅今日

I started a fashion blog called Style Rookie.

我開咗個叫做 Style Rookie 嘅時尚博客

Last September of 2011, I started an online magazine

2011 年 9 月 我又開咗個畀後生女睇嘅

for teenage girls called Rookiemag.com.

叫 Rookiemag.com 嘅網上雜誌

My name's Tavi Gevinson, and

我係 Tavi Gevinson ……

the title of my talk is "Still Figuring It Out,"

我今日演講嘅主題係「仍在探索中」

and the MS Paint quality of my slides

為咗配合今日嘅主題

was a total creative decision in keeping with today's theme,

我專登用咗微軟嘅畫圖程序做幻燈片

and has nothing to do with my inability

我唔係唔識用

to use PowerPoint. (Laughter)

微軟嘅投影片程序

（笑聲）

So I edit this site for teenage girls. I'm a feminist.

呢個網站係為少女度身製作 我係一個女權主義者

I am kind of a pop culture nerd, and I think a lot about

我算係流行文化嘅狂熱擁躉

what makes a strong female character,

對電影、電視裡邊嘅

and, you know, movies and TV shows,

女強人嘅角色好有研究

these things have influence. My own website.

媒體對我嘅網站有好大嘅影響

So I think the question of what makes a strong female

所以，我認為女強人嘅定義

character often goes misinterpreted,

經常俾人曲解

and instead we get these two-dimensional superwomen

結果性格多面化嘅女超人

who maybe have one quality that's played up a lot,

就變成只有一種特質，好似貓女

like a Catwoman type,

or she plays her sexuality up a lot,

佢專賣自己嘅性感

and it's seen as power.

因為性感象徵力量

But they're not strong characters who happen to be female.

但係佢哋係強嘅女性角色 唔係女性嘅強人形象

They're completely flat,

全都係平淡無奇

and they're basically cardboard characters.

到好似個紙片人

The problem with this is that then

咁問題就嚟咗

people expect women to be that easy to understand,

啲人期望女人簡單易明

and women are mad at themselves

而啲女人就好希望

for not being that simple,

自己真係咁簡單

when, in actuality, women are complicated,

現實中，女人係複雜嘅動物

women are multifaceted -- not because women are crazy,

女人係多面嘅，唔係因為佢哋癲

but because people are crazy,

而係有因為人就係癲嘅

and women happen to be people. (Laughter)

而女人咁啱就係人

（笑聲）

So the flaws are the key.

所以缺點其實就係關鍵

I'm not the first person to say this.

我唔係第一個噉講嘅人

What makes a strong female character

女強人吸引人嘅地方就係

is a character who has weaknesses, who has flaws,

佢嘅弱點同缺點

who is maybe not immediately likable,

你開頭可能唔係好鍾意佢

but eventually relatable.

但係佢最終會令你有同感

I don't like to acknowledge a problem

我既然提及呢個問題

without also acknowledging those who work to fix it,

就要提及有參與解決問題嘅人

so just wanted to acknowledge shows like "Mad Men,"

譬如電視劇《廣告狂人》

movies like "Bridesmaids," whose female characters

同埋電影《最爆伴娘團》

佢哋有複雜同多面嘅女性角色

or protagonists are complex, multifaceted.

Lena Dunham, who's on here, her show on HBO

屏幕上嘅人係莉娜．丹恩

佢嘅新作《紐約叻女》 下個月喺 HBO 首播

that premiers next month, "Girls,"

she said she wanted to start it because she felt that

佢講過，佢製作呢部戯

因為佢識得嘅女人 內心都係矛盾嘅

every woman she knew was just a bundle of contradictions,

and that feels accurate for all people,

but you don't see women represented like that as much.

但係女人喺戲裏邊好少表現到咁

Congrats, guys. (Laughs)

各位男士，你哋好彩嘞

（笑聲）

But I don't feel that — I still feel that there are some types

但我覺得有幾類型嘅女性嘅內心矛盾

仲未俾戲塑造到

of women who are not represented that way,

and one group that we'll focus on today are teens,

其中一類係青少年

because I think teenagers are especially contradictory

因為青少年會係特別拗

and still figuring it out,

同仲係喺度探索

and in the '90s there was "Freaks and Geeks"

90 年代有《怪胎與宅男》

and "My So-Called Life," and their characters,

同埋《我所謂的生活》同裡邊嘅角色

Lindsay Weir and Angela Chase,

Lindsay Weir 同埋 Angela Chase

I mean, the whole premise of the shows

成部戯嘅前設

were just them trying to figure themselves out, basically,

基本就係人物自我探索嘅過程

but those shows only lasted a season each,

可惜呢兩套戯都只係播咗一季

and I haven't really seen anything like that on TV since.

從此之後，我再冇見到類似嘅電視節目

So this is a scientific diagram of my brain — (Laughter) —

呢個係我個腦

（笑聲）

喺我睇電視劇時嘅圖解

around the time when I was,

when I started watching those TV shows.

I was ending middle school, starting high school --

我啱啱讀完初中升高中

I'm a sophomore now —

宜家，我讀緊二年級

and I was trying to reconcile

我一直想

all of these differences that you're told you can't be

從我收到嘅互相矛盾嘅信息裡邊揾到平衡

when you're growing up as a girl.

You can't be smart and pretty.

你唔可以又聰明又靚

You can't be a feminist who's also interested in fashion.

係女權主義者嘅話，就唔可以追求時尚

You can't care about clothes if it's not for the sake

如果你唔係在乎其他人 尤其係男人嘅眼光

你就唔會在乎扮靚

of what other people, usually men, will think of you.

So I was trying to figure all that out,

所以我一路都喺度諗

and I felt a little confused,

我覺得有啲迷茫

and I said so on my blog,

我喺我嘅博客有提過

and I said that I wanted to start

我講過我想開設

a website for teenage girls

一個專為女仔設定嘅網站

that was not this kind of one-dimensional

一個唔係一邊倒嘅

strong character empowerment thing

強勢嘅授權嘅嘢

because I think one thing that can be very alienating

因為噉會令女生卻步

about a misconception of feminism is that

同令佢哋對女權主義產生誤解

girls then think that to be a feminist, they have to live up to

以為佢哋要成為女權主義者

就要同女權主義嘅信念完全一致

being perfectly consistent in your beliefs,

never being insecure, never having doubts,

唔可以冇信心，唔可以有疑慮

having all of the answers. And this is not true,

要識得所有嘢

現實唔係噉嘅

and, actually, reconciling all the contradictions I was feeling

我明白咗女權主義唔係一本規則

became easier once I understood that feminism

而係討論、對話、過程之後

was not a rulebook but a discussion,

a conversation, a process,

我就冇覺得咁矛盾喇

and this is a spread from a zine that I made last year

呢個係我上年整嘅雜誌嘅其中兩頁

when I -- I mean, I think I've let myself go a bit

我開始自己搞啲插圖

on the illustration front since.

But, yeah.

呃，係噉

So I said on my blog that I wanted to start this publication

我喺博客度講過

我想開始為女生出版刊物

for teenage girls and ask people to submit

their writing, their photography, whatever,

亦邀請大家投稿，文章，攝影，咩都得

to be a member of our staff.

然後成為雜誌社嘅一員

I got about 3,000 emails.

我大約收到三千封電郵

My editorial director and I went through them and

總編同我睇過所有嘅電郵

put together a staff of people,

組咗一班員工

and we launched last September.

係上年九月創刊

And this is an excerpt from my first editor's letter,

呢個係我哋第一封 編輯致讀者嘅信嘅摘錄

where I say that Rookie, we don't have all the answers,

話 Rookie 雜誌唔係咩都識

we're still figuring it out too, but the point is not to

我哋仲係探索緊

重點唔係為女生提供答案

give girls the answers, and not even give them permission

更加唔係限制佢哋自己搵答案嘅自由

to find the answers themselves,

but hopefully inspire them to understand that

而係鼓勵佢哋

they can give themselves that permission,

使佢哋明白佢哋自己有話事權

they can ask their own questions, find their own answers,

佢哋可以自己問問題 自己揾答案等等

all of that, and Rookie, I think we've been trying to make it

我哋一直嘗試提供

a nice place for all of that to be figured out.

一個探索同解決唔同困惑嘅空間

So I'm not saying, "Be like us,"

我晤係話：「你好似我哋咁。」

and "We're perfect role models," because we're not,

抑或「我哋係楷模」 因為我哋根本唔係

but we just want to help represent girls

但我哋只想俾女生

一個展示唔同嘅性格特質嘅地方

in a way that shows those different dimensions.

I mean, we have articles called

我哋有篇文章叫做

《認真看待妳自己： 點樣唔在意人哋嘅睇法》

"On Taking Yourself Seriously: How to Not Care What People Think of You,"

but we also have articles like,

但我哋都有文章，好似係

oops -- I'm figuring it out!

哎呀，我探索緊！

Ha ha. (Laughter)

哈哈！

（笑聲）

If you use that, you can get away with anything.

呢一招真係免死金牌

We also have articles called

我哋都有文章

"How to Look Like You Weren't Just Crying in Less than Five Minutes."

叫做《點可以喺五分鐘之內 扮成你冇淨係喺度喊》

So all of that being said, I still really appreciate

以上全部，我真係好欣賞

those characters in movies and

電影中嘅角色

articles like that on our site,

同我哋網站上嘅文章

that aren't just about being totally powerful,

所講嘅唔只做有力量嘅人

maybe finding your acceptance with yourself

仲要接受自己

and self-esteem and your flaws and how you accept those.

有自信心同埋接受自身嘅缺點

So what I you to take away from my talk,

我希望你從今次演講中得到總結係

the lesson of all of this, is to just be Stevie Nicks.

要學習史蒂薇．尼克斯

Like, that's all you have to do. (Laughter)

學佢就係你要做嘅嘢

（笑聲）

Because my favorite thing about her,

因為我最鍾意佢嘅就係 其實佢咩我都好鍾意

other than, like, everything, is that

she is very -- has always been

佢係好，一直

unapologetically present on stage,

喺台上好從容

and unapologetic about her flaws

唔會為自己嘅缺點而道歉

and about reconciling all of her contradictory feelings

亦唔會想調和自己互相矛盾嘅感情

and she makes you listen to them and think about them,

佢令你聆聽佢哋，令你思考

and yeah, so please be Stevie Nicks.

冇錯，請學習一下史蒂薇．尼克斯

Thank you. (Applause)

多謝各位

（鼓掌）