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While doing some research on Gloria Steinem, I
came across your website. Something has been bugging
me for some years now. I remember when the term
Ms. first became widely recognized in the late
60s and I recall that it was intended to replace
both Miss and Mrs. so that a woman's marital status
was not indicated as has always been the case for
men.
However, even today some 40 years on, I notice
that on most forms that require you to check a
form of address, I see Mr., Mrs., Miss and Ms.
This is totally against the original intent of
the use of Ms. I usually cross out the Miss and
Mrs. I have written letters to the editors of several
papers and I rant about this practice whenever
I can.
What else can I do??? Can your organization
launch or help to launch a huge public service
campaign to educate the general populace about
how to use proper forms of address? And don't fall
for that argument that courtesy requires us to
allow a woman to be addressed as Miss or Mrs. if
she prefers. That is nonsense. Language changes.
Once and for all, it is Mr. for a male and Ms.
for a female. Thank you. |
