“Shengnu”,the Epithet Suggests the Prejudice and Out-of-Date Mind of the General Public

评论：“剩女”标签是偏见 系落伍的大众心理作怪

他，年过四十，有房有车，企业高管，薪水丰厚，长相一般，未婚，人们把他称呼为“钻石王老五”。女孩子的妈妈看到这样的单身男人，会对自家女儿循循善诱：“这是理想的结婚对象，一定要抓住。”

她，年过三十五，有房有车，企业高管，薪水丰厚，长相姣好，未婚，人们把她称为“剩女”。周围很多人(包括她的妈妈)都会对她叨叨：“这个年纪了，眼光不要太高，凑合嫁个人好了。”

这种现象随处可见，却也着实吊诡：两人各方面条件都不相伯仲，可一个在“婚姻市场”奇货可居，另一个被逼着要“打折”，原因只是性别不同，并无其他。

我有些惶惑了，不是说男女平等吗？可在发达的都市社会，“婚姻市场”上“重男轻女”的倾向如此明显，以至可以毫不掩饰对大龄单身女性的歧视，原因何在？

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英译文（个人练笔）：“Shengnu”,the Epithet Suggests the Prejudice and Out-of-Date Mind of the General Public

He ,who is unmarried in his forties with a plain face,owns a house and a car with the identity of a well-paid executive. Therefor, he is called “Zuan Shi Wang Lao Wu”-A bachelor,who has usually passed the optimum marriage years,but is much valued because he is successful in his career and has status in society.Many women desire such bachelors.Once the girl’s mother knows that there is such a bachelor around her,she would always persuade her daughter with patience and skill:“The  man is very suitable for you ,and you must seize the chance of marrying him.”

She ,who is good-looking over the age of 35, has the same conditions as the mam previously mentioned.However,she is called “Shengnu”-A woman,who has usually passed the optimum marriage years with superior conditions,has been waiting for the will of God to be done instead of rushing into marriage because of her comparatively high standard of spouse-selecting. Many people around her ，including her mother，would always prate on to her:”Well,as the saying goes,time and tide wait for no woman.I think that it’s the time when you must marry beneath you for family comfort; otherwise,it will be inconvenient for your life in the future.”

The social phenomenon actually exists everywhere, which is also indeed a curious paradox:Although they have almost the same conditions with each other in all aspects, one is much valued as “precious goods”, and the other is forced to “discount” in “the market of marriage”, which is all just due to gender differences with no reason whatsoever.

 I’m sort of perplexed by the question - whether gender equality is still out of reach nowadays? Anyway,the practice of favoring men over women prevails in “the marriage market ”of a developed urban society so that the discrimination against older single women is openly performed.What is the reason for it?

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