De’erhe: The Seventies

　The Seventies
　　　　by De’erhe　 tr. FAN Jinghua

Women’s trousers then
Opened on one side

　七十年代
　　　　得儿喝
那会儿的女裤
是旁开门

　　This is a very cute two-line poem from a series of two-line poems by the author, born in 1976, who is often associated with the Lower-Body Poetry and Colloquial Style Poetry and usually publishes his poems in his own blog or associated websites. This poem lends to interpretations to several dimensions, if the socio-cultural background of contemporary China is taken into full consideration. In the late seventies, Mao died (in 1976) and the Cultural Revolution ended; but the state economy system was still in full swing. Mao’s era was a time when the differences between the sexes were consciously removed or suppressed. Women did not wear skirts but trousers. However, men’s trousers with fly-fronts were obviously not catering for the female, therefore the side-opening was adapted into the female style. This both enforces and weakens the visual perception of the sexual identity of the wearer. The alternative interpretation of this then would be about sex or sexuality and their use. Compared with contemporary lower-riders and such, which overtly expose the body, trousers fully cover the women’s body, which went together with the conservatism about sex at that time. However, behind this sexual conservatism was the tension about voyeurism and economical use of sex or sexual appeal. In a time when everyday consumption products were not plenty, there was so called “under-counter” market or exchange. The side-opening of the trousers might lend to this interpretation. Therefore, this two-line poem may be read as a critique of contemporary sexual morality, which might be summarized as a Cash-and-Carry act.

　　这首小诗的作者通常和所谓的下半身以及口语诗联系在一起，主要发表在个人博客或网络论坛上。这首诗可以指向多个层面的阐释。熟悉中国当代社会文化背景的人自然知道，七十年代末毛去世了，同时文革也结束了，诗人就是出生于这一年。在文革中，性别差异被人为地抹消，女人大都穿上裤子；然而，男裤的门襟显然不合适女性，因此女式裤子便在一侧打开。这实际上既是降低女性的性特征，又是增强了女性的性特征。由此，这样的式样便和性的使用有关。由于国家计划经济的严格，日用消费品比较贫乏。于是，有了一个术语叫做：走后门；也就是以某种关系或者私下的交换获取紧俏的日用品。保守的意识形态当然迫使任何女人都不可能公然以性作为交换条件，因此就是走侧面的（旁门左道）。这与当代的女性裤子式样形成截然对比，例如正面开口的、低腰露脐的裤子等等。因此，这首诗可以说不仅仅是对于七十年代政治、文化的回顾，还是对于当代中国的性道德的一种潜性批判。