A woman is either referred as a "Miss" or a "Mrs" depending on her marital status.
A man is always referred as a "Mr" regardless of his marital status...
There is currently no male equivalent title for "Miss" in the English language.
This does not seem right to me...it's basically a very devious way for men to know if a woman is available or not without even asking. Victorian era left-overs of a time when men saw women merely as something which was either "available" or "not available."
The way I see it...if men want the benefit of knowing the marital status of a woman without even engaging in a conversation with them...then in a genre-equal society, women should have access to the same benefit.
Personally...I think it's time for "Miss" to go...what do you think?
So agree with you.
ReplyDeleteCan't we just ditch the Mrs which suggests a degree of "possession" by the Mr? Or better yet, use Ms.
ReplyDeleteIt does suggest a degree of possession now that you mention it...I always considered these two titles as simply the male and female version of the same marital state...but you are right, it does indicate a male dominance if you really think about it, since the "Mr" is used by men even when they are not married. The degree of possession would disappear if the title was only used by married men exclusively. Then using "Mr" and "Mrs" would actually be a sign of equality.
ReplyDeleteHehe you are right. Mr derived from Master, which indicated a level of authority. Since times have changed and women seem to have the authority in most cultures the question remains: Are men left conceptually title-less now? :) Hmm....
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if they are title-less, but they are definitely "-less" at something...I cannot find a single, logical explanation on how it's possible to be a racist for example nowadays. Science has already proven that there is absolutely no biological differentiation between two humans of different colour or ethnicity... and that all humans share 98% identical DNA with apes. Meaning that our differences between us are strictly cultural, and our differences with apes is shared by al humans. Any scientist will tell you that the concept of racism is a complete joke. And yet...just take a look at any "anti-whatever race my corporate masters want me to hate at this time" organisation and you will see that 9 out of 10 members are men. Wtf to that. Darwin must be rolling in his grave.
ReplyDeleteFor sure!
ReplyDeleteRight on. Mrs is definitely possesive. I always said I would hold onto my 'maiden' name... though, like my mom always said, "choosing between your husband's last name and your father's last name doesn't leave a woman with much of a choice" !! dammitdammitdammit !!
ReplyDelete