Before the Senate ridiculously tabled the vote on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minor (DREAM) Act, I contacted my Senator to ask if she would please support it.
In filling out the form, I went to chose my “title” and found that I could chose either Dr., or, Dr. and Mrs.
Is this because the only women who get doctoral degrees are married to other women?
Do male doctorates never, ever consider partnering with others in doctoral degree programs?
Or is it because the women who marry men with doctoral degrees always take their husbands’ last names?
Or it is simply so emasculating for a man to be married to a woman with a doctoral degree that it just isn’t right even to consider the rules of how that particular title would play out?
Is Dr. another choice men get for a title, where women can either be Mrs. (“look bitches, I married a doctor!”), Miss. (“under 18”), or Ms. (“old maid”).
Just wondering.
kitty | 10-Dec-10 at 12:37 am | Permalink
Oh, yeah. Louisiana. I hope you sent your senator aanother letter about the drop down needing some changes.
Krysti | 10-Dec-10 at 6:57 am | Permalink
Looks like you now have two things to bring to your Senator’s attention. I hope you do!
laloca | 10-Dec-10 at 7:45 am | Permalink
that drop-down doesn’t make sense to me. my parents are dr. and dr. for chrissake (mom having earned her degree a full decade before dad, if I’m not mistaken). shortly after my dad got his doctorate, someone called the house asking to speak to “dr. F.” i still remember my nine-year-old glee in asking, “which one?”
pooks | 10-Dec-10 at 7:59 am | Permalink
Am I the only married woman who uses Ms? When I choose Ms, does that imply I’m an old maid? Huh. Well, it’s my title and I’m sticking to it!
You know, I saw a dropdown recently that offered Mr and Mr and Mrs and Mrs and that rocked.
And like Kitty, I hope you let the powers that be know they need to update their dropdown.
chrissieroux | 10-Dec-10 at 9:03 am | Permalink
It reminds me of that old riddle that most people still stumble over–the one where they bring a kid into the trauma operating room and the doctor says “this is my son!” and then you’re told that the doctor isn’t the child’s father…and people STILL don’t come up with the right answer: that the doctor is, in fact, the boy’s MOTHER.
Mary Lynn | 10-Dec-10 at 11:42 am | Permalink
I’d be looking for Mr. and Ms. Or Ms. and Mr. would be fine, too. No such luck for me.
Sue Rowland | 10-Dec-10 at 6:19 pm | Permalink
I use Ms. now because after my husband passed using Mrs. suggested that there was still a Mr.
In other words (as you said) androcentric “society” has no place for a grown female not attached to a male.
nonlineargirl | 10-Dec-10 at 11:02 pm | Permalink
That’s funny – at first I thought “Dr and Mrs” meant that these both described you (which they do, of course). My grandfather used to sometimes send letters to my parents addressed to Dr and Dr Leibowitz. (He was very proud of his daughter.)