French 'sexism' you can't miss

Alejandra Hayes wrote:


As far as I know, the same applies to Spanish, i.e. 'Señor, señora o señorita' (or Dr, etc.) is the first question on all official forms. Not sure about it ever being denounced as an example of sex discrimination, though.

From a 21st Century perspective, it seems so unfair that there should be different title options based on sex... I just can't imagine what I'd do without 'Ms'. It's one of those things you just take for granted. What do others think?

[Edited at 2006-04-13 08:16]

Andy Watkinson wrote:

There is, actually, one exception to Lia's rule that the use of Señora o Señorita depends on age in Spain, and that's school teachers.

A school teacher can be married, in her sixties ahd have half a dozen children, and she will still be addressed as "Señorita" by pupils.

Andy

Pina Nunes wrote:

In Quebec, "Mlle" is pretty much eradicated as a form of address, especially in business. If you're old enough to bear children, you're "Mme". I remember being called "Madame" by an employee at a clothing store when I was a teenager (oh so many moons ago)!

In the 1970s, the term "Madelle" was introduced as a translation to "Ms" but that didn't quite take off!

"Herrlein" is the masculine form of "Fräulein". It's quite archaic and would only be used humorously.

Lisello Owlmoss is the teacher in a high school in Egalsund. In one class, he declares that biologically speaking the wom is weaker than the menwom. If the book is a total reversal, women are supposed to be stronger than men.

Imagine a world where wim (women) rule the business and the political aspects of society, and their menwim (men) stay at home and take care of the household, the children, and make themselves look pretty by curling their beards. In this world the menwim are the ones responsible for raising children after the wim give birth to them. After all, it is the menwim who beget children. In Gerd Brantenberg's book, Egalia's Daughter's, the menwim and children take on the wim's last name, but the wim after giving birth are free to do as they please, and even receive a bonus for giving birth. If a wom wanted, she could claim the child is not hers, or deny the manwom fatherhood protection, and the mafele (male) would be held responsible by law for bringing up the bastard child. If the menwim of this society do not like the arrangement, well then that's too bad because the rules are made to benefit only the wim and serve to keep the menwim in their place (at home) where they belong.

Does this world seem laughable? Ridiculous, perhaps? Well, in Egalia's Daughters this is how the world works. The wim have the power and the menwim are only housebounds needing fatherhood protection to survive since they cannot make enough money on their own. In this society the menwim, like the women of our world, are not equal because they have no say concerning their assigned roles, or their own bodies.

In Egaila's Daughters we meet Petronius a young manwom growing up and understanding that his fate is dubious in a world that does not respect him as a person. In this novel, menwim are inferior to wim because that's just the way of nature. Menwim cannot give birth because they do not have a vagina and a uterus. Therefore it is justified to treat the menwim as less than wim. In this society the wim have all the say.

Petronius wants to be a seawom (a diver), but unfortunately for him he cannot be one. He does not have the right equipment. Being a seawom is a wom's job, and Petronius shouldn't worry his pretty head so with ardous work. Instead he should be excited about his new peho (a device worn on the penis, much like a jockstrap),the male equivalent to a bra. Petronius' mother Ba, the director of the family, condescends to poor Petronius that he cannot raise children on a ship.

The chaos of identification in Egalia’s Daughters is not simply a reversal of the two sexes. Brantenberg wittily deconstructs the linguistic usage and makes it evident that language is not neutral at all. It’s often gender inclusive and representative of a certain ideology and power politics. The same observation has been made by psychology and sociology; languages are known to have power in shaping people’s mind and ideas. For instance, jobs written with male labels are more likely to be open only to male applicants while gender-neutral job titles are equally open to either male or female applicants. In Egalia’s Daughters, Gerd Brantenberg makes full use of this linguistic finding to prove that a certain ideology is inscribed on people even before they know it. For example, when we refer to anything associated with men, usually the term is the infix while a certain prefix has to be added on the infix when the term is associated with women. Linguists argue that this convention of adding feminine prefixes proves a male egoistic identification and places women as subalterns. Below is a simple comparison5:

manwom, menwim= man, men

wom,wim= woman, women

mafele=male

fele=female

gentlewim=ladies

lordies=gentlemen

Lady God=God/Father

Mother God in heaven=Our Father in heaven

maidmanhood=maidenhood

angioletta garbarino wrote:

... and also we do not use our husband's surname but our maiden name forever.



[Edited at 2006-04-13 14:27]