Mrs., Ms., or Miss

DISCLAIMER: this is a bit of a rant.

I have never had any confusion about the rules surrounding the usage of Mrs, Ms, and Miss. If you are single 0 to 18 you are a Miss. If you are single above 18 you are a Ms. and if you are married you are a Mrs. However, there is a growing trend to hyphenate, keep your maiden name, and in decreasing amounts take your husbands last name.

There used to be very little argument about Mrs, Ms, and Miss and taking a married name. What's changed? A lot apparently. So much so that Time felt the need to profile the debate in this editorial about the development of names. In summary, the article states that feminists fought for the different titles and that now women can feel free to not care which they use and that most will choose to rotate through the three on any given day.

So...the biggest achievement is that when one wants to stand alone and receive credit use Ms. as in Ms. Clinton is Secretary of State, but Mrs. Clinton threw a dinner party.

A small note in the article stated that there is a loss of entitlement when a woman is referred to by her husband's last name. That being Mrs. "somebody" shows ownership and a loss of female independence.

When did that happen?

I think most would read this article non-chalantly and agree that it makes sense. I have to disagree. Miss, Ms, and Mrs are meant to be very clear terms...not an arbitrary address women pick and choose depending on the situation.

When did the connection of marriage between man and women mean that the woman was downgraded and seen as property? Articles and debates like this give little glimmers into what has happened to marriage in the modern world and why it is falling apart.

Why does a women have any less credit due to her accomplishments if the name in the news article is Mrs.? Our society sees the name wrong. The last name isn't the husbands...it's the couple's last name,but society would argue that the woman was forced to take the husbands name...that she had her name taken from her. When a man and woman decide to get married they become one unit...physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It isn't a power struggle for attention or credit.

Our society repeatedly and consistently fails to see marriage the way it was intended. Marriage isn't about a woman belonging to a man. It is about two people belonging to each other. As long as journalists and politicians allow stupid debates like this to chip away and distort what the relationship of marriage is there is no use wasting their energies trying to fix the American family.

rant over.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Miss's, Ms.'s, Mrs', and Mr's!