Posted on 05/18/2015 1:12:05 PM PDT by presidio9
It started shortly after I had my first child.
I was leaving the building on the Upper West Side where we lived at the time and the doorman said “have a nice day, mom.”
This man was approximately my age, so I was definitively not his mom. I was very new to being anyone’s mom, actually, and hearing that was jarring.
To be fair, I’ve been called variations of “mother” well before I had children. I’ve had “hey mami” shouted at me from many a car window and more than one fine gentleman has asked me “what’s up, ma?” as a type of mating call.
But being referred to as “mom” in the most non-sexualized way imaginable — well, that was new.
-SNIP-
The real issue, though, is the modern-day position of being “mom.”
When strangers start referring to you as “mom,” it’s clear that motherhood has become an all-encompassing identity as never before.
-SNIP-
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Ok mom.
This is what happens when you throw all formality out the door. Mrs. Jones or Mr. Smith is replaced by the doorman calling you “mom” or mere acquaintances assuming its OK to just start calling you by your first name before you indicate its OK. We used to have etiquette for a reason. We are realizing, much to late now that its been mocked and destroyed, that it was a good reason.
Ugh, can someone please put a bag over that?
Guilty.
Just call her ‘Senator’.
Precisely.
Is this a form of “Micro-Aggresson”?
If so does it warrant “Macro-Violence” like in Baltimore?
/sarc
Lighten up mom.
Must be nice not to have any real problems in your life.
Bless her heart.
“When strangers start referring to you as “mom,” it’s clear that motherhood has become an all-encompassing identity as never before.”
So what!?
I’t’ll clear up. You’re not going to live for ever.
Enjoy what you have when you have it because the only constant in life is change.
Here I'm trying to be all uptown, and you go make me laugh.
She's so-o-o-o-o judgmental and intolerant of the doorman's culture!
And definitely not a MILF.
For most of the 20th Century, youth was idolized and adulthood was disparaged. And not just the US, but in much of the world. So much so that adults started to reject the labels of adulthood, pretending to a youthfulness that was no longer theirs.
The deception is comprehensive. Ask someone in their fifties “How old do you feel?”, and they will probably say “Like I did in my 30s or 40s”, or something like that. They cannot imagine that people in their 50s can still feel “good”, because they were long told that “50s is old”.
Be that as it may, many men and women are somewhat frightened of being recognized for their age. And ironically, while rejecting the adult labels, they are also resentful of children’s labels.
In German, “Frau” means something today like “middle aged housewife”, though before it was closer to “woman”, possibly “married woman”. And “Fraulein” used to mean girl children from toddlers to teenagers, but has mutated into something like “older girls with loose morals”. So it is not complementary, either.
You see the problem for the American woman is that she would *love* to be confused with a younger woman. But it’s not happening. Total strangers take one look at her and think “Frau”. And she really resents it.
I honestly think she misheard “Ma’am”... which she probably doesn’t like, either.
It seems she also has a problem with Miss and Ma’am.
Basically she doesn’t wish to be referred to as anything apparently.
+1
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