Sunday, February 19, 2012

French council bans French word for 'Miss' from official documents because it is 'sexist'

I am no expert on French sociology but from what I gather the transition from "Mam'selle" to "Madame" has always been an important one in France. Broadly speaking, "Mam'selle" is young and "Madame" is old. So even married Frenchwomen are pleased to be addressed as "Mam'selle", as it shows they are perceived as young. So I think that it is the feminist ban on considering women's looks that is mainly at work here. A more pointless ban it would be hard to imagine. They might as well order water to flow uphill.
"A council in France has abolished the word 'Mademoiselle' from all official documents because it is 'condescending and sexist'.

The Paris suburb of Fontenay-sous-Bois said the term - the French equivalent of 'miss' - discriminates against women by asking them to reveal if they are married. From now on, men and women will only have to tick boxes asking if they are male or female, council bosses said.

Officials in the borough have also banned the term 'nom de jeune fille' meaning 'maiden name' from all paperwork, because it is 'archaic' and has 'connotations of virginity'.

Instead, women who have changed their surname will be asked only for their 'birth name' on documents.

A council spokesman said: 'There is no good reason why women should have to reveal their marital status while men don't. It's is simply outdated and unfair.'

The Brittany town of Cesson-Sevigne also banned the term 'mademoiselle' two months ago after pressure from a local women's group.

Source

10 comments:

Bird on a Wire said...

"They might as well order water to flow uphill."

All it takes to do that is a pump, silly boy.

Janet said...

To start with, the abbreviated title for Mademoiselle: 'Mam'selle' was already greatly out of date when I first arrived in France almost forty years ago. It's an Anglo-Saxon notion of the way Fr. people speak (dating from Maurice Chevalier movies and things like that.)

Even the full term 'Mademoiselle' was already sounding 'old-world' back in the 70's .. And today you never hear it. (I don't think 'older' women today would get any sort of buzz out of being addressed quirkily as 'Mademoiselle'.)

It simply does not correspond to today's world, where women are no longer obliged to 'define' themselves principally as someone's wife!

There has been a complete change over the last two generations (Strange! Some people don't seem to have noticed! ): women have been liberated by the contraceptive pill ; people don't marry systematically any more when they want to live together ; and many that DO marry end up divorced anyway ; there are also newer ways (In Fr.at least) of only 'half-committing' yourself to a partner ie: 'PACS' ..

In short, the title for unmarried women: 'Mademoiselle' has become meaningless and superfluous; as has the term 'nom de jeune fille'(maiden name); appertaining to the non-married 'virgin' state.

The French term 'Madame' is the obvious, neutral way of addressing a woman, in the same way that 'Monsieur' is the obvious, neutral way of addressing a man.

The law and legal documents are just catching up with today's world.

So is there a problem here? I can't see it..

The person (with the great courage to remain 'Anonymous') professing his delicate and insightful view of 'feminism' as being proper to 'smelly,ugly,dykey boot-wearers' reveals the weakness and lack of intelligence of all men who have not yet 'tweaked' that the liberation of women is also their own liberation.

Vive la vie, vive l'égalité, vive les hommes, vives les femmes, vive l'amour ..

Et surtout (and above all) Vive l'intelligence !

Signed by Janet. Australian-born French citizen.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, not really even about political correctness but just about how liberalism is destroying society.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/us/for-women-under-30-most-births-occur-outside-marriage.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

notice that it says liberal researches said that there are fewer marriageable men because their incomes have been declining. No clearer statement that women marry up and that men are considered walking ATMs

Janet said...

Bird on a wire and Bird of Paradise .. birds everywhere around here ..

There's an expression in French : 'Ca ne vole pas très haut'; meaning literally : these people don't fly very high ; and figuratively : 'the debate is not of a very high level ..'

Anonymous said...

It doesn’t matter. Soon the word will be replaced with whatever the Arabic word is for unmarried women. Likely it’ll start in certain suburbs and be backed by the EU council on human rights. That is, of course, if the EU hasn’t collapsed under its own economic dysfunction. Likely Sharia law will start to sneak into certain locations and segments of French society. While one part of France attempts to turn women into men, the other segment will show them what true oppression actually looks like.

Anonymous said...

leave it to the people in francestan for comedy and assinine laws.

jonjayray said...

Thank you Janet!

(I asked for her comment on the matter)

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, i mean, it's France. Does anyone really care what they think, say, or do? When was the last time they did something relevant, or even logical? Let them drown in their beloved socialism.

Go Away Bird said...

Franch has become so pathetic these days their not what they used to be

Anonymous said...

Janet,

Did you actually expected a high level of discourse on a right wing blog?

Naivety , ORIGIN late 17th cent.: from French naïveté, from naïf, -ive (see naive) .