So Ms now means you used to be married....

[ruty]

www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2114498,00.html

I have this problem at the moment, just applied for CRB check. My passport still has my maiden name [how's that for a sexist adjective] so I asked to be called Ms on the form. They've put me as Mrs [insert Maiden name] because I'm married. In the CRB's eyes, Ms means you used to be married and now are not.
Maybe people don't care about this anymore, but I feel pretty strongly that it should be a woman's right to have a title that has no bearing on her attachment to a man, just like Mr. anyone else care?

Another Ms here and also one who has just filled in the CRB form with a Ms title but is happily married and uses whatever name suits at what time

Ms is just a rubbish word though. Agree, think just have Mrs for all adult women if people insist on a title

Tinker! Do I have a convert!? Holly, Mrs never originally meant married; it's short for mistress and was used for all adult women.

Yeah, I'm game. Let's reclaim Mrs - that'll confuse them when "they" then ask if you are married

I had a problem with the CRB over this. Before I was married I put myself down as Ms and didn't fill the section of their form for previous names. They returned the form to me asking me to fill it in, bemused, I returned it saying I had no previous names. They processed it at that point with no problems but i was furious. My check took about 6 weeks longer than everyone else in the office because of it. Now I'm married I call myself Mrs Maiden-name, that really would confuse them wouldn't it?

Ms should be as marital-status-neutral as using the title "Dr". It's ridiculous that women and not men still feel pressurised into revealing their marital status with Mrs or Miss. Having said that, I did switch to using "Mrs" as soon as I got married but that was my CHOICE.

i'm going to complain too edam and encouage others to do so too. If i put myself down as Ms i will automatically be assumed to be divorced! Even the girl on the phone said as long as i put down 'previous' names I'll be ok.
I think we should all be called Mistress. That I would like.

I had the same problem with CRB. I am Ms cos I feel a bit old to be a Miss, especially with 3 kids, not suggesting that anyone is actually too old to be Miss, just Ms sat quite well IYKWIM. I had to back down though, and be a Miss for CRB. My boss was v cross about it, but we had to do it so I can start my job! I will complain too!

I'm a Ms because I had ds1 when I was 22 and felt that having a child meant I did not feel like a miss
I am still a Ms

I stayed a Ms after my CRB check, their final report addressed me as Ms, this was probably 3 or 4 years ago though. iirc there had been a bit of a fuss kicked up about it and they'd backed down on insisting that all 'Ms' were divorced.

i just complained.

Mistress implies you're shagging someone elses' DH. Would you like that???

i used to use Ms because i felt that Miss made me sound terribly young, i might stat using Miss again.

what i dont like about Ms is that it is a bit difficult to say

well i was talking about reclaiming the word Mistress. It didn't used to mean that, Mrs, is the shortened version of Mrs. No, I wouldn't like to be thought of as someone who shags somebody else's husband for two reasons. One, i don't, and two, it means I am still defined by my attachment to a man.

[Hmm]

Mrs is the shortened version of Mistress i mean.

Oh how annoying, grrr. I am Ms and always have been. And I've never changed my name, despite having been married twice (still am).

I'm another Ms,but what I would like is a gender-neutral title. Unless I'm applying for a job as a wet nurse/sperm donor/intimate body servant or something, what relevance does my gender have? I routinely refuse to fill in that box on forms where it's not relevant. I once withdrew my business from an online printing firm as they insisted on finding out whether I was male or female before processing my order - WTF has my possession or lack of a vagina got to do with buying a set of business cards?