Today marks one more point for women's rights in France. Women's rights that I didn't even realize was an issue.
France is beginning to phase out the need to mark your marital status in your name on official documents and forms. It was never an issue for men, as they were always Monsieur, either way. But for women, they only had the choice of "Mademoiselle" (single) or "Madame" (married). Here in the US we have the option to stay vague with our "Ms." However, on official documents, Americans still have to check the box that claims our marital status.
But honestly, I've never thought twice about it before. To me, stating that I am single has never felt like a thing to be ashamed of. Maybe if I were older and still single, it would be a different story. But especially over in France, where most people in todays younger generation are not likely to even get married because they are opposed to matrimony, why does it shame them? Or if shame isn't quite the word, why does it bother them to put mademoiselle and suggest that they are single? Is it the fact that they don't have the option to privacy? Maybe just because they aren't married, doesn't mean they aren't in long term partnership, and Mademoiselle wouldn't accurately describe their status. It also is just another way that women's choices were different from men's, and that will always stir up some sort of disdain.
I personally think Mademoiselle is a gorgeous word. Maybe I'm a traditionalist. Maybe it is just another word in French, but in French everything just sounds so damn romantic and beautiful. It feels so classic and almost, regal.
I am not one to even pose an opinion, as I DO have the option of Miss or Ms and I almost always go with Ms. - if I even bother to put a prefix down on paper.
Taking the land of the free for granted,
Mademoiselle DML
P.S. For the record - I am not against this reform. I am PRO any women's rights movement, this is more about my simple mind not even thinking about things like this, and coming across news like this and being totally surprised.
Image taken from http://realitystudio.org/texts/william-burroughs-in-january-1960-mademoiselle/
No comments:
Post a Comment