EU bans use of 'Miss' and 'Mrs'

EU bans use of 'Miss' and 'Mrs'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Using 'Miss' and 'Mrs' has been banned by leaders of the European Union because they are not considered politically correct.

Brussels bureaucrats have decided the words are sexist and issued new guidelines in its bid to create 'gender-neutral' language.

The booklet warns European politicians they must avoid referring to a woman's marital status.

This also means Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Fraulein and Senora and Senorita are banned.

(visit the link for the full news article)

pleae read the whole article.

I live in EU and this is something I thought will not happen here. I know that in States there are some crazy laws regarding sexuality or race issues but I did not think it will come to Europe in the same absurde way.

I am not going even to make a comment on it. I think most of you can also find it as pretty insane.

greetings to all most respected girls (hope it is still not forbiden yet) on ATS

www.dailymail.co.uk (visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by czacza1


Are we supposed to call the women , Mr ?

Is this somethind women asked for , or about?

WOW! is all I have to say.
I can not believe something like this would actually be considered seriously.
Its like a short from SSL !

WTH is going on!

[edit on 16-3-2009 by R3KR]

This is absolutely ridiculous. Time to think something out.

Pretty ridiculous from a continent where 'gender' is built into the very structure of several languages found in Europe.

Perhaps this is a conspiracy perpetrated by English speaking students who no longer wish to memorize the gender of endless strings of nouns.



I guess until French, German, Spanish and Italian (among others) are thoroughly revamped, we wont have to hear from the Europeans for quite some time on any subject.




[edit on 16-3-2009 by loam]

If they've done this, according to the article, while a man may be addressed as Mr. which gives him some politeness and respect, a woman should only be addressed by her name, which in itself is sexist.

They probably will just all use Ms. now, instead. Because there aren't 3 different forms of Mr. relating to marital status. And sometimes it's too personal to ask Miss vs Mrs. As long as Ms is still okay, I think that's fine, and probably a good idea.

I don't know if half my teachers prefer Ms. vs Miss or Mrs. vs Ms.

It is amazing with the world economy going down in flames, that this is what the leaders of the EU spend their time on. No wonder things aren't getting any better.

I thought that is what they would do, however in the article they said they have yet to create the correct terms and that one must just address a woman by her name. Of course, no mention was made of dropping the Mr. so a couple would now be Mr. Adams and Jane, or a man would have the distinction of a honorary term used, but women would receive none. This makes them second class citizens.

Somehow, addressing someone by "Señor María" doesn't have quite a nice ring to it.

"Señor Socorro," on the other hand, kinda does.

I wonder how they would address people in English. Would they just call everybody "mister" like how they use the word "actor" nowadays? Of course it's easy for the British; they have all those fancy titles of nobility.

reply to post by czacza1


Typical Daily Mail bollocks. The EU parliament publishes a booklet and suddenly it's "EU Bans Miss and Mrs". Honestly, it's just a booklet that some idiot put together. It's not legally binding and carries zero weight whatsoever. And as Loam said, the majority of european languages have gender built into them. This is not something that would ever take hold out of sheer impraticallity.

I'm surprised that the article posted didn't go on to blame a billion AIDs ridden immigrants claiming benefits forced the EU Parliament into doing this... That's the usual Daily Mail line, isn't it?

[edit on 16/3/09 by stumason]

Instead of using the standard titles, it is asking MEPs to address women by their names. And the rules have not stopped there - they also ban MEPs saying sportsmen and statesmen, advising athletes and political leaders should be used instead. Man-made is also taboo - it should be artificial or synthetic, firemen is disallowed and air hostesses should be called flight attendants. Headmasters and headmistresses must be heads or head teachers, laymen becomes layperson, and manageress or mayoress should be manager or mayor.

source

I agree.

Masculine and Feminine are for certain occasions. Employment and employment titles do not fulfil requirements for such occasions. That is when they can be used as discriminatory. The above titles happen to coincide with job titles and like responsibilities.

I.e. I was a 'Manageress' for a small manufacturing Company.
Or. I was a 'Manager' for a small manufacturing Company.
Eliminate the sexist element rather than make the female the object of sexism!

See the mind set change with those statements?

My opinion.

I understand what they're getting at with this.
The differences between the titles is a way to prejudice the status of a woman.
For a man it is Mr.
For a woman it is either Miss, Ms or Mrs.

Too much personal information in the titles.

I don't understand the outrage.

PS - In fact, I've never put enough importance in it to even memorize the titles.
It isn't right to know what a woman's marrital status is. I'd rather get to know her first.



[edit on 16-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

[edit on 16-3-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

Sounds like somebody doesn't want women to have a title they don't want.

Um, what?

Oh, it's so confusing I have to say again.

Um, what?

Have they somehow claimed to do this on my behalf? I am supposed to be outraged, I suppose, that someone might dare to call me Mrs ********* rather than Miss ******. This is supposed to enrage me somehow?

Hell, I'm more concerned about the fact that I get a letter every year from the revenue service who don't know my national insurance number in spite of the many times I have told them it.

Yes, the Miss/Mrs/Ms issue is more important than whether all the years I have worked are attributed to me or some random person... Of course.

The people who made this up obviously don't have a firm grasp on feminism. It's not about the names, its how they're perceived.

Stupid, stupid political correctness...

This is what isolates people.

Stupid people.

I suspect these 'leaders' are attempting to 'create' a problem where they may have been none. I wonder why?

Perhaps they'll do away with Mr. so the only people who can have a title are of a certain...., class? Nah..., that's silly.

reply to post by Maxmars


I don't think it goes that far. As I said, I understand the logic here.

The LAST thing I want to know about a woman when I meet her is if she is married or not. Or her divorce status.

It is removing prejudice.

A good idea.