兩個婦女團體的「談心」聚會：挑戰男性霸權的儀式表演

HEART TALK (T'AN-HSIN): Ritual Performance of Female Autonomy in Taiwan

本文以離婚和喪偶婦女組成的「婦女展業中心」和「晚晴協會」為研究對象，探討其如何透過「談心」聚會－－一種親密談話的形式，鼓勵支持彼此克服社會歧視和生活壓力等困難，追求生活上的獨立自主，進而抵制挑戰父權/男權家庭體制對女性的壓迫和不平等待遇。本文分析聚會的陳述內容和形式指出，從資深會員在奮鬥有成的現身說法中，帶頭反覆強調「自我」、「自助」、「自立」、「走出來」、「成長」等語言象徵觀念，加上女性互相的情緒感染，新舊會員集體投入一種肯定自我尊嚴和價值，貶低丈夫或婚姻對女性的重要性，凸顯女性自主的能力和需求的「儀式表演」過程，此過程有助於孕育與男性中心思想對立的女性觀點。本研究將顯示，「談心」聚會的女性陳述提供許多女性改變性別觀念和生活方式的選擇參考，在個人實踐層次上發揮使男性中心社會分殊化異質化的作用，進而削弱父系社會下男性霸權的影響力。

This paper examines how many divorced and widowed women in two women's groups support one another through 'Heart Talk' meetings as a defence against social discrimination and a search for personal autonomy. 'Heart Talk' is analyzed as a ritual performance where women use linguistic symbols, emotional idioms, and certain shared cultural values to reconstruct their subjectivities and by so doing deconstruct male-dominant ideologies. By sharing experiences in these meetings, many women who suffer from patriarchal suppression learn that there are altematives in their lives and that they can become independent of men. Their narratives tend to subvert male prerogatives and downplay the importance of men and remarriage in their lives. Participation in the talks also nurtures a sense of solidarity between the women that often differentiates women's views and interests from those of men. These two groups are not purported to be feminist groups. Still, they are feminist in that the talks highlight a tendency of many Taiwanese women to resist and challenge patriarchal control of the family system. Thus, 'Heart Talk' is a powerful means for many Taiwanese women to reshape their social reality.