Posted on 05/06/2006 12:22:17 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
PARIS -- "Bonjour, mademoiselle" -- is that a sexist insult? A classic pickup line? Or just a friendly greeting for millions of Frenchwomen every day?
Whatever it is, it could become a thing of the past.
A group of French feminists wants to get rid of the word "mademoiselle," or "miss," saying the term turns a female into an inferior being defined by her marital status.
"When you get letters, the postman or anyone passing by your mailbox can see whether you are married or not. It's nobody's business," said Mathilde, an unmarried 40-year-old, who has started a petition for the government to abolish the term.
Mathilde, who runs a small consulting firm and wants to stay anonymous because she fears reprisal from critical clients, said "mademoiselle" turned women into sex objects clearly marked as unmarried and thus available.
"The term 'mademoiselle' puts a diminutive view on our girls. It turns them into incomplete 'little things,' never really autonomous, who will not become real adults unless they find a husband or become mothers," says her petition, which has been signed by about 4,200 people.
Mademoiselle derives from the medieval term damoiselle -- depicting a young girl of nobility. The equivalent male term 'damoisel' has disappeared from the language.
Feminists say a term distinguishing an unmarried woman is outdated in a country where almost 50 percent of children were born to unmarried parents in 2005.
Mathilde said she decided enough was enough when a lawyer told her to sign a contract for an apartment as "mademoiselle."
"I didn't want to continue to have this label of a minor," she said in her small Paris office.
(Excerpt) Read more at insider.washingtontimes.com ...
Gee, I wonder why?
lets just change it to "skanky hag",.. try that one on for size for 10 years and the french women can vote weather to go back to " mademoiselle" or keep " Skanky hag"
there will be no other choices....
"Bonjouir! "Skanky Hag!".....
We tried to change the lexicon by using the generic word Ms. As much as it was hyped, it has still to take hold.
Ironically the same groups also want us to acknowedge every single cultural group based on the smallest little criteria (go figure this is one of the most useless classes we've taken in med school so far). You gotta love Having it Both Ways Syndrome.
Not surprising. The feminists convinced Germans decades ago to stop using "fraeulein" to refer to an unmarried woman.
The English equivalent in olden times was "damsel" -- "a damsel in distress" -- but we stopped using it long before the french did.
"A group of French feminists wants to get rid of the word "mademoiselle," or "miss," saying the term turns a female into an inferior being defined by her marital status"
--- Thats ok, in a few years, they will be inferior defined by their dhimmi status
They better change the word illegitimate while their at it.
Who's the dude?
I have never liked the term "Ms." and never use it. I am proud to be a "Miss".
This is just more ridiculosity. One can keep one's marital status and gender a secret on the mailbox by using a first initial and a last name. Many women list themselves in the phone directory the same way.
I think s/he would take that as a compliment.
At the same moment when an aggressive imperialistic religion is loudly proclaiming women should be slaves hidden under shapeless cloth, this brilliant French woman is agitated by... the horrible bigotry of Western culture! Maybe this genius should venture into the North African communities living in the suburbs around Paris and take up this issue with the imams at the local mosque. C'est la vie.
Ugly women upset that people may know they are unselected for marriage.
Too bad the french don't have the stones to take on ugly women.
I don't remember where I saw it but someone didn't like Ms. because it was a fake abbreviation -- thought that Mme. (Madame) was a preferable designation -- not sure what the convention is in French but in English, "Madame" can refer to either a married or unmarried woman.
I am a solid conservative, but in my business life I was a Ms. before I was married, after I was married, and after I was divorced. It's neat and clean. Marital status has nothing to do with my profession, and using Ms. does not make me a femi-nazi.
Younger generations naturally assume the title Ms. and it will grow in acceptance until it's universal, and not because of politics. Most 20-somethings don't even know who Gloria Steinem is and don't care. Younger women think that "miss" makes them sound immature and "lightweight." Mr. means male and Ms. means female, plain and simple. If we could skip titles altogether it would be more simple. Compounding the whole title issue is the gender ambiguity of some first names, and often you can't even tell if the client is Mr. or Ms., much less Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms.
Our office has only had two complaints about the use of Ms., one from knee jerk politically motivated husband of one addressee who assumed that we thought his wife was a lesbian and called to correct it, and the other from an airhead who wrote a two-page letter on her happy married life and how she "earned" her Mrs. title. I wanted to reply, yada, yada, just pay your bill and keep your marital status rants for your private life. The whole silly thing took up about 20 valuable minutes of a workday.
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