软妹风”风潮袭来——为自己而活。

In the 1960s there were the mods and rockers. The 70s saw the disco and flower power eras, while in the 80s, new romantic style had its heyday. Fast forward to the present however, and if you have succumbed to the escapist realms of TikTok, your evening scroll through will have likely exposed you to a whole new world of subcultures. Today, there is the Soft Girl trend.

20世纪60年代出现了摩登派和摇滚乐手，70年代见证了迪斯科和“权利归花儿”*运动，而在80年代，新浪漫主义进入全盛期。快进到现在，如果你已屈服于用TikTok逃避现实，那么你应该会在某个晚上刷到一个全新的亚文化世界。如今，“软妹风”正在盛行。

译注：flower power, 即“权力归花儿”。它源于反越战运动，是20世纪60年代末至20世纪70年代初美国反主流文化活动的口号，标志着消极抵抗和非暴力思想，主张以和平方式反对战争。活动参与者身穿绣花和色彩鲜明的衣服，头上戴花，并且向市民派发鲜花，因而被称为花的孩子（Flower children)。

Soft girl describes a youth subculture that emerged among teenagers around mid-to late-2019. It is a fashion style, popular among some young women on social media, based on a deliberately cutesy, feminine look with girly girl attitude.

“软妹”形容的是2019年下半年在年轻人中兴起的一种亚文化。这是一种时尚风潮，以可爱、女性化的外表和“少女感”为基调，活跃于一些年轻女子的社交媒体上。

Being a soft girl may involve a tender, sweet and vulnerable personality. The soft girl aesthetic is a subculture that found predominant popularity through the TikTok. The trend consists mainly of pastel colors, Y2K, anime, K-pop, and 90s-inspired clothing, as well as cute and nostalgic prints.

成为“软妹”似乎需要拥有温柔、甜美、脆弱的性格。“软妹风”审美作为一种亚文化，在TikTok上备受追捧。这种风潮主要包括小清新色系、Y2K（千禧辣妹风）、动漫风、K-pop（韩国流行音乐）、90秒创意换装，以及怀旧可爱风的印花。

As a mode of existing in the world, soft girl has been described as infantilizing, the Gen Z version of the girl next door, subversive, and empowering. It is most often used as a way for women and girls to explore that part of their identity and the things that bring them joy.

软妹的形象一般是幼龄化的，就像邻家的Z世代女孩，而且颠覆了传统认知、较为独立。女性常借此来探索自我身份，了解如何取悦自己。

So, what’s the deep implication of soft girl phenomenon? It can be viewed as a derivative of “soft life”. Before migrating to Western consciousness by way of social media, the concept of a soft life originated in the Nigerian black women influencer community. It describes living a life of enjoyment and comfort, while limiting stress. Used by advocates who are putting themselves first–and for good reason–in response to the hustle and “girl boss” culture of the 2010s, it is about Black women no longer accepting strength and work ethic as their sole identities.

那么，软妹现象反映了哪些深层的含义？它可以被看作是“软生活”的衍生产物。“软生活”的概念起源于尼日利亚的黑人女网红群体，随后通过社交媒体传播到西方世界。它是一种自得其乐、压力较小的舒适生活。倡导者们把自己的诉求放在第一位——有充分的理由——以应对21世纪10年代的喧嚣浮躁和“女老板”文化*。在这种理念下，黑人女性不再把个人能力和职业道德作为唯一的价值取向。

译注："girl boss" culture，即“女老板”文化。该词因为2014年出版的《女老板》一书而走红，用来形容“在男性主导的商业界逆流而上、取得成功“的女性。这种文化主张女性爬到职场中更高的位置，取代男性的权威地位。但近年来也有人指责这种风气助长了女性的焦虑，不利于形成多元化的评价体系。

What’s more, in a context where Nigeria is experiencing its own cost of living crisis, a soft life was never about the flamboyant expressions of materialism or wealth that we'd normally associate with a life of leisure. It doesn't mean expensive spa days or luxury travel. Rather, it asks us to don our most comfortable outfit and consider what a day-to-day life of ease would look like for ourselves.

此外，在当时尼日利亚生活成本高企的背景下，软生活并不推崇物质主义和拜金主义的雍容华贵，而后者是我们通常认为的幸福生活。软生活绝不意味着昂贵的spa、奢华的旅行，相反，它主张穿上舒服的衣服，思索什么样的生活才是最舒适的、最适合我们自己的。

So, it’s not difficult to understand the emergence of soft black girl is a backlash against the persistent "strong black woman" trope in our culture, which, alongside the "girl boss" ideal, can feel like a burden, continuously demanding our energy, whether at work or in relationships with others. The 'Soft Life' offers us an alternative, and makes it okay to expend energy on ourselves instead.

因此，不难理解“黑人软妹”的出现是对文化中持续存在的“强大黑人女性”比喻的反驳。这种比喻和“女老板”的“完美典范“一样，会让人觉得是一种负担，无论是在工作还是人际关系中，都持续耗费着我们的精力。而”软生活”为我们提供了另一种选择，让我们可以把精力花在自己身上。

译注：strong black woman，即“强大黑人女性”。这种女性形象拥有超人般的能力，冷静克制到几乎没有情感，能独立解决所有问题，以作为对种族歧视的回应。

For a long time, teen girls have been trivialized and undermined for loving traditionally girly things. The overt and extreme vulnerability of being soft and openly loving is like a retaliation against the forces that make women feel ashamed. It mocks this by crafting different personas and performing different modes of womanhood.

长期以来，少女因为喜欢传统的女性化事物而被轻视，甚至被伤害。而软妹们公开展示自己柔软脆弱的一面，大胆追求心之所向，就像是对那些要让女性感到羞耻的规训的反叛。她们正是通过塑造不同的女性形象、展现不同的女性风采，来讽刺这一点。

For a social media trend to have nurtured a movement of black women-pioneers leading the way in redefining strength as softness, and reclaiming a life of joy and healing – is something of a quiet revolution. So, snuggle up in your comfiest outfit, take yourself on a walk, or curl up by the fire, and be prepared to allow yourself vulnerability. Be gentle with yourself as you battle with an internal dialogue that requires repetitive self-talk, self-questioning and ultimately, self-love. Feel the liberating sense of freedom as habits, patterns and expectations are discarded, then melt into the creative, imaginative, possibilities of what a soft life could look like, for you.

在这场引发黑人女性运动的社交媒体浪潮中，先驱们将“力量”重新定义为“以柔克刚”和“快乐、治愈的生活方式”，这是一场平静的革命。所以，你可以穿上最舒适的衣服，出去散散步，或蜷缩在炉火旁，坦然接纳自己脆弱的一面。在反复进行自我对话和自我质疑时，永远对自己保持温柔，在与内心对话的斗争中找到自爱的真谛。主动抛弃顽固的习惯、固定的模式和过高的期待，尽情享受自由的感觉，然后融入充满创造性、想象力和可能性的“软生活”，你可以为自己而活。

succumb

to not be able to fight an attack, an illness, a temptation , etc. 屈服；屈从；抵挡不住（攻击、疾病、诱惑等）

【例句】The town succumbed after a short siege. 该城被围困不久即告失守。

pastel

soft coloured chalk , used for drawing  pictures 彩色粉笔；蜡笔

【例句】She's always in perfect suits, you know, pastel colors, all matching. 

她总是穿着完美的套装，柔和的颜色，搭配绝佳。

subversive

trying or likely to destroy or damage a government or political system by attacking it secretly or indirectly 颠覆性的；暗中起破坏作用的

【例句】He was a known political subversive. 他是一个有名的政治颠覆分子。