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我曾害怕女性特質，現在依舊如此，但我學會了假裝，學會了靈活，事實上，我發展出一些有趣的工具幫我處理這個恐懼，我來解釋一下，回到 50 和 60 年代，我成長的年代，小女生被期待要善良、體貼、秀麗、溫順且輕柔，我們理應調適成類似幽靈般的角色，真不清楚我們該當哪個角色？！（螢幕：淑女或浪女）（笑聲）。
我們周遭多的是典範，母親、姑姨、堂表和姐妹等，當然，無所不在的媒體以影像和文字不斷轟炸我們，告訴我們該如何做，我媽和別人家不一樣，她是家庭主婦，但我們不會一起出門做一些女人家的事，她也不給我買粉紅色的衣服，相反地，她知道我需要什麼，買漫畫書給我，我整本給它吞下去，不斷不斷地的畫，也因為我清楚家人具有幽默感，我可以只管畫畫，做我想做的事，不用表現，不用說半句話，我當時很害羞，但家人讓我恣意而為，我的首份工作即是卡漫家，當我們年輕時，我們並不總是知道，雖然我們知道有規則存在，但我們不見得總是知道我們沒有表現得當，就算我們在出生即被貼上標籤，所有這些女性的詞彙（見螢幕畫作），我們還被告知，全世界最重要的顏色、該有的體態（笑聲）、衣著選擇（笑聲）、髮型（我要莎拉·佩林的髮型，但不要像她）（笑聲），還有舉止，我講的這堆規則持續地受到文化的監控，我們會受到修正，而基層警察也是女人，因為我們是傳統的傳承者，我們代代相傳，我們不只永遠都背著這朦朧的定義，關於他人對我們的特定期待，更甚之的是，這些期待不斷地改變（笑聲），我們大半時間不知道是怎麼一回事，所以，我們常是非常無力的角色（笑聲）。
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以下為系統擷取之英文原文
I was afraid of womanhood. Not that I'm not afraid now, but I've learned to pretend. I've learned to be flexible. In fact, I've developed some interesting tools to help me deal with this fear. Let me explain. Back in the '50s and '60s, when I was growing up, little girls were supposed to be kind and thoughtful and pretty and gentle and soft. And we were supposed to fit into roles that were sort of shadowy. Really not quite clear what we were supposed to be.
(Laughter)
There were plenty of role models all around us. We had our mothers, our aunts, our cousins, our sisters, and of course, the ever-present media bombarding us with images and words, telling us how to be. Now my mother was different. She was a homemaker, but she and I didn't go out and do girlie things together. And she didn't buy me pink outfits. Instead, she knew what I needed, and she bought me a book of cartoons. And I just ate it up. I drew, and I drew, and since I knew that humor was acceptable in my family, I could draw, do what I wanted to do, and not have to perform, not have to speak -- I was very shy -- and I could still get approval. I was launched as a cartoonist. Now when we're young, we don't always know -- we know there are rules out there, but we don't always know -- we don't perform them right, even though we are imprinted at birth with these things, and we're told what the most important color in the world is. We're told what shape we're supposed to be in. (Laughter) We're told what to wear -- (Laughter) -- and how to do our hair -- (Laughter) -- and how to behave.
Now the rules that I'm talking about are constantly being monitored by the culture. We're being corrected. And the primary policemen are women, because we are the carriers of the tradition. We pass it down from generation to generation. Not only, we always have this vague notion that something's expected of us. And on top of all off these rules, they keep changing. (Laughter) We don't know what's going on half the time, so it puts us in a very tenuous position.
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如果各位不喜歡這些規則，在場很多人不喜歡，我也不曾喜歡，現在仍不喜歡，雖然，大半的時間我都照辦，不自覺的遵循常規，但還有比用幽默感加以改變更好的方式嗎？幽默感因一個社會的傳統而生，衍生自我們所知，再加以轉變而成，幽默感有賴行為和衣著準則而定，使其產生意外效果，從而引出笑點，如果將幽默感與女人加在一起呢？我認為，那可以導致改變，因為女人處於最基層，我們太瞭解傳統，可以貢獻出不同的聲音，我開始畫畫的年代甚為動盪，我的成長地點離華盛頓特區這裡不遠，當時有民權運動、暗殺、水門案聽審及女權運動，我想要畫畫，是想試圖理解到底發生了什麼事，我家也不寧靜，所以，我想用畫畫來凝聚家人（笑聲），試圖讓家人團結並享歡笑，事與願違，我父母還是離婚，我姐被捕，但我找到我的角落，我發現，我不用穿高跟鞋或粉紅衣著，仍可自覺身為女人。
當我 20 幾歲時，我瞭解到卡漫界沒有太多女性，於是心想，「好吧，也許我可以打破卡漫界的小框框」，我做到了，我成為一位卡漫家，當我 40 出頭時，我開始思考，「好，為何不做些改變呢？我一向喜愛政治時漫，那何不改變一下我畫的內容？！讓人們思考我們所遵循的呆瓜規則，而且還能會心一笑」，我的觀點是典型的（笑聲），我的觀點是典型的美國人觀點，沒辨法，我住在美國，就算我常旅遊，我仍擁有美國女人的思想，但我相信，我所談的規則具普遍性，當然，每個文化有其不同的行為準則和衣著及傳統，每位女人都要面對相同的問題，就像我們在美國所要面對的，結果是，我們有女人，因為我們總處在基層，我們也通曉傳統，我們驚人的直覺，我近期的工作是要與國際卡漫家們合作，我十分怡然自得，這讓我更加能欣賞到卡漫的力量，無論是獲致真理或是快速、簡潔地點出議題，此外，卡漫還能直達觀者，不只是傳達知識，也能深入人心，我的工作也讓我能和全球各地的女性卡漫家合作，像是沙烏地阿拉伯、伊朗、土耳其、阿根廷和法國，我們坐在一起歡笑，談論並分享碰到的難處，這些女性很努力才得以發聲，而且是在很艱難的情況之下，但我覺得很榮幸能和她們共事，我們談到女人何以有這等強勁的感受力，其實是因為我們的薄弱地位及捍衛傳統的角色，這讓我們擁有更大的潛能可以成為改變的媒介，我認為，我真心相信，我們可以改變，每次一個微笑足矣，感謝聆聽。
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Now if you don't like these rules, and many of us don't -- I know I didn't, and I still don't, even though I follow them half the time, not quite aware that I'm following them -- what better way than to change them with humor? Humor relies on the traditions of a society. It takes what we know, and it twists it. It takes the codes of behavior and the codes of dress, and it makes it unexpected, and that's what elicits a laugh. Now what if you put together women and humor? I think you can get change. Because women are on the ground floor, and we know the traditions so well, we can bring a different voice to the table.
Now I started drawing in the middle of a lot of chaos. I grew up not far from here in Washington D.C. during the Civil Rights movement, the assassinations, the Watergate hearings and then the feminist movement. And I think I was drawing, trying to figure out what was going on. And then also my family was in chaos. And I drew to try to bring my family together -- (Laughter) -- try to bring my family together with laughter. It didn't work. My parents got divorced, and my sister was arrested. But I found my place. I found that I didn't have to wear high heels, I didn't have to wear pink, and I could feel like I fit in.
Now when I was a little older in my 20s, I realized there are not many women in cartooning. And I thought, "Well, maybe I can break the little glass ceiling of cartooning." And so I did; I became a cartoonist. And then I thought, in my 40s I started thinking, "Well, why don't I do something? I always loved political cartoons, so why don't I do something with the content of my cartoons to make people think about the stupid rules that we're following as well as laugh?"
Now my perspective is a particularly -- (Laughter) -- my perspective is a particularly American perspective. I can't help it. I live here. Even though I've traveled a lot, I still think like an American woman. But I believe that the rules that I'm talking about are universal, of course -- that each culture has its different codes of behavior and dress and traditions, and each woman has to deal with these same things that we do here in the U.S. Consequently, we have -- women, because we're on the ground, we know the tradition -- we have amazing antenna.
Now my work lately has been to collaborate with international cartoonists, which I so enjoy. And it's given me a greater appreciation for the power of cartoons to get at the truth, to get at the issues quickly and succinctly. And not only that, it can get to the viewer through, not only the intellect, but through the heart. My work also has allowed me to collaborate with women cartoonists from across the world -- countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Argentina, France -- and we have sat together and laughed and talked and shared our difficulties. And these women are working so hard to get their voices heard in some very difficult circumstances. But I feel blessed to be able to work with them.
And we talk about how women have such strong perceptions, because of our tenuous position and our role as tradition-keepers, that we can have the great potential to be change-agents. And I think, I truly believe, that we change this thing one laugh at a time.
Thank you.
