I’m struggling a bit with the English need to pidgeonhole everyone, and the persistence of that quaint tradition of unmarried women being called “Miss” (even if they’re 36, like one of my colleagues!), and married women insisting on becoming “Mrs Husbandsname”. Men become “Mr” as soon as they’re adults, regardless of marital status.
Yet it’s apparently important for everyone to know whether a woman is hitched. Why? So blokes know whether they can hit on her with impunity?
It all just smacks a wee too much of patriarchy, and a tendency to still regard women as chattels and objects of desire who somehow don’t have a right of refusal. In a nation where ‘tits out for the lads’ is a national dress standard that women accept and men expect, it makes me slightly queasy. Apparently in the UK there’s even a different tax rate for married women!
I’ve been Ms Georgina Myownname since I was 16, through boyfriends singledom, marriage, separation, widowhood and engagement. The lovely Anthony is my great love in life, and he brings a million kinds of happiness into my world. But I don’t need me to give me his name in order to appreciate that.
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