一部讲述培养“大胆”女孩的佳作

安娜丽莎·梅雷利

If the number of extreme sportswomen is any indicator， women appear to be a lot less daring than men—at least when it comes to athletic endeavors.

Caroline Paul， a long-time adventurer， noticed this in her friends daughters. She noticed that， compared to boys， girls showed less bravery and were more likely to shy away from thrill-seeking—even before puberty， when their bodies arent too different from their male counterparts.

Paul told Quartz she began to ask herself “how come women seem to be much less gutsy than men？” She found the answer to be in the way they are raised as girls. Research， which Paul recently quoted in a New York Times op-ed1， shows parents are a lot more likely to warn girls than boys about perils， and demand caution. Even when playing outdoors， they tend to discourage daughters from taking risks and assist them， as if they were too frail to do it by themselves， while they encourage their sons initiative， letting them push their boundaries on their own.

And what is learned in play as kids is practiced in real life as adults—fearful girls become less daring women. “Girls are being treated as if [they]  need help and are too fragile，” Paul told Quartz. Worse， being afraid is understood to be a cute， girly trait， so “women learn that it is feminine to act scared.”

Paul had a different experience. Her mother， who had been discouraged from seeking adventures， made it a point to raise fearless daughters （she has a twin sister）， and supported her thirst for physical challenges. Paul thought sharing some of her adventures and inspiration with young women would help them get gutsier. The result， part-memoir and part manual， The Gutsy Girl： Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure， is a book for girls which every grown woman should read， too.

She outlines the attempts， successes， and failures of her adventures. She was one of San Franciscos 15 female firefighters for many years， and before that， she collected seemingly impossible missions： walking up the Golden Gate Bridge （meaning： walking all the way to the top， on the suspension cables）; climbing Denali （the worst-weathered mountain of Alaska）; and rafting on improvised rafts with a group of hikers from Siberia （hint： they were much tougher than anyone you know）.

Parents be warned， most of Pauls adventures arent the kind youd want your girls to try at home—and she says so herself， over and over warning： safety first. What， however， you should hope they try is to dream big， forget fear and， if anything， get scared by the sheer size of their ambitions.

“I think the pressure that girls face at puberty to be pretty， perfect and liked is enormous，” she explained to Quartz， saying that a familiarity with the kind of outdoor adventure that she encourages works as an antidote to that. Being pretty and perfect in the outdoors doesnt happen and doesnt help the fun—which makes for real-life training. Plus， not all of Pauls adventures end in success， which is great： daring means daring to fail， too—something girls and women are particularly scared of.

Like Paul， there have been women to buck the trend： Fanny Workman climbed the Himalayas in the 1890s; Roberta Gibb ran the Boston marathon in 1966， despite it being a male-only event; Mae Jemison， who traveled the world as a physician before she became the first African American woman in space.

Pauls book will convince any woman that she， too， is destined for a life of epic adventure—whether its in the woods or in the boardroom2.

如果從事极限运动的女性人数可以作为评判指标，那么，至少在体育运动方面，女性似乎远没有男性勇敢。

这是资深冒险家卡罗琳·保罗在朋友女儿身上的发现。她注意到与男孩子相比，女孩子表现得不那么勇敢，她们更倾向于避免追求刺激——即便在青春期到来前，她们的身体和同龄男孩子没有多大差别时，也是如此。

保罗告诉美国石英财经网，她开始思考“是什么原因让女性似乎比男性胆小很多”。她发现答案在于抚养女孩子的方式。保罗最近在《纽约时报》的一篇专栏文章中引用了一份研究。这份研究显示，同对待男孩相比，父母更倾向于告诫女孩子危险的存在，要她们小心。在户外游戏玩耍时，父母通常不让女儿冒险，喜欢给她们帮助，就好像她们太脆弱，不能独自玩耍。但同时，父母鼓励儿子要积极主动，允许他们突破界限，挑战自我。

孩童时期在游戏中所学到的东西会体现在成年后的生活中——胆怯的小女孩长成了缺乏勇气的女性。保罗告诉石英财经网，“女孩子被看作需要帮助、脆弱不堪的。”更糟糕的是，胆怯在人们看来是一种可爱的女孩特质。因此，“女性自然而然地认为表现得胆怯就是有女人味”。

保罗的经历则不同。她的母亲因自身曾被阻止追求冒险，决意要把一对孪生女儿培养成无所畏惧的女性，支持保罗挑战身体极限的渴望。保罗认为同年轻女性分享自己的一些冒险经历和灵感会帮助她们变得更勇敢。于是，就有了《勇敢女孩：为传奇生活而冒险》一书。这本书部分是冒险经历回忆，部分是冒险行动指南。这本写给女孩的书也值得每个成年女性去阅读。

保罗在书中概述了自己的冒险经历，有尝试，有成功，也有失败。多年以来，她一直是旧金山15位女消防队员中的一员。在这之前，她还完成了许多貌似不可能的壮举：走上金门大桥（沿着大桥悬索一路走上大桥顶端）;登上迪纳利峰（美国阿拉斯加州气候条件最为恶劣的山峰）;与来自西伯利亚的一队徒步旅行者一起乘坐临时搭建的木筏漂流（提示：这些旅行者比你认识的任何人都强壮）。

家长们要注意：保罗的大部分冒险并不是你想让女儿在家里尝试的那种——她自己也这样说，同时一遍遍地告诫提醒：安全第一。不过，你应该希望她们敢于梦想，忘记恐惧。如果有什么害怕的，那也应该是被她们自己的雄心壮志所吓到。

“我认为青春期的女孩承受着要漂亮、完美、讨人喜欢的巨大压力。”她对石英财经网解释说，经常进行她提倡的户外冒险运动可以消解这些压力。户外活动无法让人保持漂亮和完美形象，也无助于享受乐趣——真实生活的历练就是这样的。再者，保罗的冒险也并非次次成功，这一事实意义非凡：勇敢也意味着要敢于面对失败——失败是女孩子和女人尤其害怕的。

和保罗一样，也有其他女性逆势而为：范妮·沃克曼早在19世纪90年代就登上了喜马拉雅山;罗伯塔·吉布1966年参加了当时只许男性参赛的波士顿马拉松;梅·杰米森成为第一位登上太空的非裔美国女性，此前，她还作为医生周游世界。

保罗的书会让任何一位女性相信，自己命中注定会有史诗般冒险的一生——无论是探秘丛林，还是博弈职场。     □

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖选手）