Language, including names, is as important to feminism as it is to anything

As those who have read this blog for years know, I am continually irritated by listening to the Senate and House roll calls and being constantly reminded that the married female Senators and Congresswomen have chosen--I'm sure, for the sake of their C-Span profiles--to be called "Mrs. Senator" rather than "Ms. Senator." Even Barbara Boxer is called "Mrs. Boxer" when asked for a vote. The unmarried women are referred to as "Ms." which does absolutely nothing to make marital status irrelevant--it only changes the honorific of the unmarried from "Miss" to "Ms.", subverts the entire point of the "Ms." honorific, and slaps feminism in the face. The only married woman in the Senate who is referred to as "Ms." is Mary Landrieu, who--quick, get the smelling salts!--does not use her husband's name.

This may seem like an insignificant thing to many people, but I was one of the women who fought hard to eliminate marital status from a woman's honorific, and while there is nothing we can do about non-feminist women who still choose to announce their marital status to the world (many of them incorrectly, I might add: "Mrs. Mary Smith" has always been incorrect; only "Mrs. John Smith" is correct, repulsive though it might be), we have a right to be upset over so-called feminist women who believe they have to literally broadcast their marital status in order to please constituents. Sorry, but as far as I am concerned, no true feminist would sell out like that.

Then there is the matter of the disappearing name. Hillary Rodham became Hillary Rodham Clinton, which meant she would, of course, become Hillary Clinton. Teresa Heinz became Teresa Heinz Kerry (granted, Heinz was a husband's name, too, but it was the name she was using). Elizabeth Anania became Elizabeth Edwards after her son died and she retired from her legal practice. It is said, in fact, that Edwards used her "maiden name" (don't even get me started again on how offensive that term is) "professionally," which means that when she was not at work, she was Mrs. John Edwards, anyway.

Can anyone imagine Bill Clinton deciding to call himself "Bill Rodham" in order to further his wife's career? Or John Kerry calling himself "John Heinz" or "John Thierstein Simões-Ferreira" because his wife had political ambitions?