Thursday, March 19, 2009

Proud to be Mrs.

Recently, the European Parliament has issued a guide for its staff members banning words such as 'Miss' and 'Mrs' (in whatever language they exist) and the use of gender-specific terms like 'policeman' or 'businessman' because they are sexist and can be offensive.

Feminists around Europe (and the world) might be rejoicing now!

I can understand changing, or better expanding, gender specific words that refer to occupations in order to include also women [after all, I would not like to be passed for a man!], but what is the point of eliminating titles that indicate marital status? You are either married or not and if you are ashamed of showing that to the world, well my dear, you probably made the wrong choice in life! Changing a title from Mrs. to Ms. does not change the reality that a woman is not a single person any longer. And if she is married, one would assume is because she chose to, because she decided to share her life with another person, to become one. This does not mean a woman has to give up her femininity [i.e womanliness] and become subdue to the absolute power and will of a husband [if there is such a person, you probably would not want to marry him anyway!]. Quite the contrary; marriage means giving oneself up for the other and in this there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Marriage is the best thing that has happened in my life, after encountering Christ, so please call me Mrs. I am proud of it!

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