To think its time to get rid of personal titles ie. Miss, Mrs, Ms?

[jumpingbean1810]

I was ordering something in a shop the other day and the assistant, in her 20s, was putting my details into their system. She said, I hate asking this, I find it so embarrassing but are you Miss, Ms or Mrs? I replied I'm Miss. I was there with my daughter so in that one exchange I'd divulged I was a single, unmarried parent. It's not information the shop needs for me to order a lamp. And if I was a man, they'd be Mr and none the wiser as to marital status. I know I could say Ms but does any married woman really use Ms? So Ms just ends up sounding like a Miss with issues. It got me thinking why do we need personal titles, how often are they really used anyway? Can they not just be scrapped from form filling? With the increasing desire by the younger generation to not even be defined by gender, identifying women by their marital status feels so outdated. It's international women's day tomorrow and in the spirit of embracing equity, isn't it time we abolished women being defined by marital status?

Not really. Because it makes a statement about your marital status nontheless. You are saying you don't want to say whether you are married or not. Why should it be involved in your identity at all in the first place?

It's not perfect, as people assume you are not married.

I’m a married woman who uses Ms. The tone of your question about that suggests you think it’s weird/embarrassing in some way, which I find odd given the general feminist stance of your post. I’d have thought you’d be all for encouraging more women to use Ms.

I don’t think we’re close to getting rid of titles and I don’t think we should. Some situations demand the formality eg the courtroom (I’m a barrister so that springs to mind, but there will be loads of others).

No idea what that comment means? I don’t care either!

In terms of the ‘old days’. No idea of the dates, i’ve not a historian. Google it?
I thought it was widely known Ms meant spinster, especially in the past. Apparently not.
Call yourselves what you want idc, thanks for proving my aggressive theory tho 😉

So Ms just ends up sounding like a Miss with issues.

Cheers, @jumpingbean1810 . Am now fixin' to change my username to MissWithIssues.

Completely agree. Absolutely hate it and always have. Its time it was dropped.

It doesn't matter what my husband does or doesn't do to advertise it, some people like to use Mrs and some people don't. Fair enough if you do and fair enough if you don't. Personally I like to use it

@Arapawa yes the DD does know MX is non binary. She couldn't care less. She isn't gay but hates feminine style.
The young seem to be non fazed by titles.

How ironic. Non fazed by titles but completely enslaved by erroneous gender identity labels… 🙄

Call yourselves what you want idc, thanks for proving my aggressive theory tho

Lol an aggressive response totally missing the point, whilst accusing other people of being aggressive. Only on Mumsnet...

If I was asked to make any overall observation about the younger generation it would almost certainly be, well they do like their labels..😂

"Ms" has never been associated with "spinsters". My never-married Great Aunt was "Miss" until she died at 90 (about 20 years ago) and that was quite common among her generation.

Got there before you, sorry.

nothing at all aggressive about what i said, I think you’ll find you were the one attacking people

I think this poster is either very arrogant or very bad at reading and understanding nuance. Perhaps both. Either way, the winner's determination not to be perceived as winning is always unbecoming.

I’m a married Ms who didn’t change my name on marriage. I know loads others like me. As well as some single Ms.

After living in the UK for 30+ years I have never once been understood when I pronounced it "Mizz".

Ok, dear.

Ms since 18. Married, kept my name. Marital status nobody's business but mine and only issues are that others think I'm weird for saying Ms. But I don't give a fuck

I didn't mean you - I meant the poster you were responding to. Apologies for any confusion.

🔫🔫🔫

Awa' wi' ye, young pretender.

I'm a Ms.

I probably do have issues, but I feel like everyone develops a few issues by middle age anyway.

Why would anyone want to be addressed as 'Mrs' ???!!! Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Doyle etc - connotations of old ladies with tea trays and wrinkled nylons .......

I actually DO correct anyone that calls me that, it's hideous.

I have and always will be Ms. Ms. for all women . Mr. for all men . Anything else is sexist, antiquated nonsense.

I like being Mrs - it matters to me - but I don’t feel that there is something negative about being married or people knowing I am. But equally I can see your point, @jumpingbean1810 - you shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable announcing your title or marital status - so as a compromise, I’d suggest that no title should be an option alongsideMrs/Miss/Ms.

I suspect that, if that happened, it would gradually become the favoured option as people like me die out, and the titles you dislike would fade into obscurity. I think it would be better to let them die out over time than to impose a decision on everyone.

It has. It was even talked about by the lecturer during one of my A level English literature lessons many years ago when we were reading something from the 19th century. Just because you aren’t aware of it, doesn’t make me wrong.