Norms under construction
Social change often starts with a grassroots movement. It can promote new ways of thinking, or reveal injustices that had long been ignored. New behavioural rules may follow.But if these emerging norms are not embraced by big parts of the population, they will not become entrenched. And if transgressions are seen to go unremarked or unpunished, they will continue.
Progress is often halting. Until the past few years, when same-sex marriage became law in dozens of countries, gay-rights campaigners suffered a string of defeats. Progress can also be incomplete. The past half-century has seen the criminalisation of rape within marriage and tougher laws against domestic violence. However, both crimes are still common, and rarely punished. Some mass movements end in failure. America’s temperance campaigners achieved Prohibition in 1920. Just 13years later the bars came out of hiding and were back in business.
Ms Bicchieri emphasises how exceptional people often get the process started. They may be braver than the average person, or more motivated—or have less to lose. If there are enough of them, the trend can accelerate, because each new follower makes it easier for the next.
grassroots: the ordinary people in a society or organization: the people who do not have a lot of money and power
entrench: to place someone or something in a very strong position that cannot easily be changed
社会制度的改变都是从普通人开始的，星星之火可以燎原！
During the 1950s the number of black students on American campuses increased by a third. Students were central to the success of the civil-rights movement as they could go on marches or stage sit-ins without being sacked. In the 1970s some battered wives, fired up by second-wave feminism, left their husbands and set up refuges, making it easier for other abused women to join them. The AIDS epidemic of the 1980s galvanised gay men who had lost loved ones to come out.The fight for treatment forged a disciplined movement that won the battle for same-sex marriage three decades later.
As a trend builds, so does public awareness. Even defeats can keep campaigners’ demands in the public eye. When civil-rights marchers were arrested and beaten, it became harder to ignore discrimination against black people. Abused women in refuges were more visible than those at home, boosting support for stricter laws against domestic violence. As friends, colleagues, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters came out, the straight majority was confronted by the fact that gays were not freaks. The share of Americans who supported gay marriage grew from little over a quarter in 1996 to a majority in 2011.
battered: physically hurt by another person
黑人学生是解放运动的核心，他们可以游行、静坐而不被开除；被虐待的妇女站出来反抗，推高了第二波女权运动；1980艾滋病让那些失去伴侣的同志站出来，虽然30年后才赢来了同性合法婚姻
当时势已经酝酿好了，那些失败的呐喊与改革也会进入公众的视野，获得更多人的关注！ 这段好好背诵！
Looking back, it can be startling to see how blind people were to injustices that were kept private by custom. Domestic violence used to be a family matter. Doctors thought it was rare, and that victims had psychological problems. The Journal of Marriage and Family, founded in 1939, had no entry for violence in its index for its first 30 years. It is now widely accepted that one of the most dangerous places for women and children is the home.
For sexual harassment, this process of general enlightenment is well under way. Each new woman who shares her story, and each perpetrator who loses his job, inspires more women to come forward and more firms to revisit allegations they had long ignored.
enlightenment: the state of having knowledge or understanding
Once a new idea is in the air, it can catch on, or it can fade away. If it is to survive, society needs to form a new “normative expectation”, a shared belief about how to behave. This is a delicate moment.
Shining a light on bad behaviour may have unintended consequences. Campaigners against date rape on university campuses, for example, must take care that revealing how many women have been victims does not lead some men to conclude that, if date rape is really so common, it cannot be particularly serious. Alternatively, bystanders may conclude the problem is being exaggerated or exploited to make a political point—as a Democratic ploy to harm Mr Trump, for example. It is worth explaining that a few prolific men can leave many victims.
Or the new way of thinking may spread within certain groups, but fail to convince the public at large. The emerging norm will then be enforced patchily, if at all. Few people will intervene to stop an act they think should not merit sanction. They may even go as far as helping transgressors to evade what they see as an unfair penalty.If a law is not widely agreed to be just—harsh punishment for the possession of marijuana for personal use, say—then the authorities often turn a blind eye.
bystander: a person who is standing near but not taking part in what is happening
The main reason for the repeal of Prohibition was that the temperance movement never managed to persuade most Americans that drinking alcohol was truly wicked. Among the world’s most widely flouted laws are those against speeding. Many drivers see little harm in it: some will even flash their headlights to warn others of speed traps ahead. In most countries where female genital mutilation (FGM) is common, it is formally banned. But prosecutions are rare.
At the moment, the most egregious sexual harassers are no doubt fearful. But history suggests that, if large numbers of men feel that they are being unjustly lumped in with rapists, they will be unlikely to step in when a woman is being pestered. And if men think that the rules of workplace behaviour are being redrawn too tightly, they will not back her up if she complains. Minor transgressions will thus remain common—and, when the storm has died down, major ones could pick up again. “Women, I’m begging you: think this through,” writes Claire Berlinski in American Interest, a magazine. “We now have, in effect, a crime that comes with a swift and draconian penalty, but no proper definition.” A golden opportunity to tackle harassment could be squandered.
egregious: very bad and easily noticed
pester: to annoy or bother someone in a repeated way
squander: to use something in a foolish or wasteful way
Some women also fret that among the #MeToo stories are more than a few that stray too close to framing women as weak, helpless and lacking in sexual agency. In the Cut, an online women’s magazine, Rebecca Traister warns of a backlash: “all it will take is one particularly lame allegation…to turn the tide from deep umbrage on behalf of women to pity for the poor, bullied men.”At least two politicians accused of sexual impropriety, Carl Sargeant from Wales and Dan Johnson from Kentucky, have killed themselves.
Few men have yet dared to go public with their reservations. But plenty will say in private that some of the #MeToo stories seem to stray into revisionism. Without the full story it is hard to judge. But a man who reads that another has been sacked for putting a hand on a woman’s knee may protest, not without reason, that men have always been expected to take the sexual initiative and are now supposed to be mind-readers, too. “Affirmative consent”—the notion gaining currency on campus that explicit verbal agreement should be sought at every stage as a relationship unfolds—may be a fine idea. But any romantic film more than a few years old will confirm that it is a new and untested one.
Perhaps it is simply too bad if men feel discombobulated. Perhaps it is now women’s turn to say how the sexes should interact. But, as Prohibition shows, a new norm has little chance of becoming entrenched if it is rejected by half the population. And in the fight against sexual harassment, women need their male colleagues as allies. Ordinary people are essential for enforcing social norms—and indeed laws. Neither HR staff nor the police can be everywhere.
fret: to worry or be concerned
最后这几段都没怎么读懂，需要反复读多几遍
后面接着文章的最后一部分：part 3
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Results
Lexile®Measure: 1100L - 1200L
Mean Sentence Length: 15.26
Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.23
Word Count: 1000
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