Japan's Cultural Code Words, 「素直さ」の項の英語タイトル "The Meek Survive" で日本人の素直な性格について述べていますが、日本人女性についての個所から抜粋します。
Women, regardless of their class, were in an especially sensitive position where their relationships with men were concerned. For more than a thousand years of Japan's most recent history--from around 900 to 1945--women were conditioned to be passive and subservient to men. From the sexist male viewpoint, this cultural conditioning made Japanese women into paragons of feminine virtue,instilling in them traits that early Western male visitors found totally captivating.
...
And Japanese women are no longer the pushovers for men that they once were. By most criteria, Japanese women are smarter, more flexible, more durable, and often more talented, than Japanese men, and slowly but surely they are getting on top.
日本人女性はもう "pushovers" では無いと著者はいっていますが、 "pushover" とは何でしょうか？
・Macmillan Dictionary: someone who is easy to influence or persuade, or an opponent who is easy to defeat: Colonel Moore was a kind and sympathetic man, but no pushover.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
* an opponent who is easy to defeat or a victim who is capable of no effective resistance: They thought the first team they played would be a pushover.
* someone unable to resist an attraction or appeal: Dad's a pushover. He'll let me do anything I want.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: something that is easy to do or to win, or someone who is easily persuaded or influenced or defeated: The interview was an absolute pushover. Jean will look after Harry, I'm quite sure - she's a pushover for babies (= will do anything for them).
昔の日本人女性がどうだったかは知りませんが、現在の日本人女性が決して "pushovers" では無い ことは確かです。
Women, regardless of their class, were in an especially sensitive position where their relationships with men were concerned. For more than a thousand years of Japan's most recent history--from around 900 to 1945--women were conditioned to be passive and subservient to men. From the sexist male viewpoint, this cultural conditioning made Japanese women into paragons of feminine virtue,instilling in them traits that early Western male visitors found totally captivating.
...
And Japanese women are no longer the pushovers for men that they once were. By most criteria, Japanese women are smarter, more flexible, more durable, and often more talented, than Japanese men, and slowly but surely they are getting on top.
日本人女性はもう "pushovers" では無いと著者はいっていますが、 "pushover" とは何でしょうか？
・Macmillan Dictionary: someone who is easy to influence or persuade, or an opponent who is easy to defeat: Colonel Moore was a kind and sympathetic man, but no pushover.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
* an opponent who is easy to defeat or a victim who is capable of no effective resistance: They thought the first team they played would be a pushover.
* someone unable to resist an attraction or appeal: Dad's a pushover. He'll let me do anything I want.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: something that is easy to do or to win, or someone who is easily persuaded or influenced or defeated: The interview was an absolute pushover. Jean will look after Harry, I'm quite sure - she's a pushover for babies (= will do anything for them).
昔の日本人女性がどうだったかは知りませんが、現在の日本人女性が決して "pushovers" では無い ことは確かです。
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