The equivalent of “Miss” for boys was “Master”, and that fell out of common use for obvious reasons.
Once boys became men and “Master” was off the table we had to call them something so we just default to “Mr”.
Once girls became women who were unmarried (and therefore not “Mrs”) it was considered by some a bit demeaning to address them as “Miss” (the child title), so the new term “Ms” was introduced.
Master was an old title (equivalent to Miss) which the working classes clearly thought was shit. Ms, meanwhile, exists for women who don’t (or, historically, didn’t) want to let their marriage status be public. Men, rightly or wrongly, were less likely to care
I would surmise that a Man’s social position or status rarely changed with as much frequency as did women’s.
You could also conclude part of this may also be designating a level of Marital Availability that can answer that particular question simply through introduction.
As for Men’s marital position a Quick Look to his finger would fulfill that curiosity.
• Final Answer: To denote marriageability or marital history when selecting a partner.
It has traditionally been more important to know if a woman is married, because “traditionally” again, a woman would derive much of her value and personhood from having a husband. It’s only relatively recently that women were allowed to be actual independent people who had some degree of self-determination.
That’s why “Miss” and “Mrs.” existed. Miss meant you weren’t married and were eligible. Mrs. meant you were married.
However, some people don’t like having their title be determined by whether or not they’re married to a man. They didn’t like someone knowing immediately that they were married just by seeing their name, for a host of reasons. Whether privacy, or because people then treated you differently (because you had a husband backing you, so either you had a little more authority, or on the flipside, people might rather speak with him), or just out of fairness.They want just a consistent title, like men have. So feminists came up with “Ms.”
There’s more historical aspects too, this is just kinda why it’s the way it is today.
As many others have pointed out, women have historically used multiple honourifics (titles) to distinguish between their married and unmarried status. That is, Miss being the honorific for girls and unmarried women and Mrs. being the honorific for married women. We don’t do this for men because men’s power/status/rights haven’t been linked to their marital status thus they have just been Mr (or Master for boys but this is now antiquated).
In the 20th century, advocates (mostly feminist) began campaigning for the establishment of a neutral honorific for women that would not tie their identity to marital status. This honorific was Ms.
It gained massive popularity after Gloria Steinem (feminist leader of the 60s-70s) named her feminist magazine Ms. Magazine in 1972. This helped lead to more mainstream popularity and use and was eventually adopted as an official honorific in many English-speaking countries.
Nowadays, it’s typical to refer to girls (U18) as Miss, and women as Ms UNLESS you are told/see their honorific somewhere, then you address them however they want (Miss, Mrs, Ms).
Master and Miss were used for children. When boys became MEN, that is, reached adulthood (18 or 21), they became Mister, abbreviated to Mr.
The correct equivalence for females is Mistress – that is, Mister with the feminine ending -ess. BUT women didn’t become adults, they changed ownership from Daddy to Husband upon marriage. At that point, they became Mistress.
In upper class circles, staff would have called the bosses Master and Mistress. In any situation, the lower class used Master and Mistress to refer to their ‘betters’. Most likely, the lower classes saw that shortened to Missus.
Strictly, the modern-day equivalent abbreviation should be Mr and Ms for all adults regardless of marital status.
Unfortunately for all, Ladies (married or not) who took lovers stole the word Mistress. The modern day equivalent might be Affair partner or Workwife.
Unfortunately, at 82, having been married for almost 60 years and now widowed, I am stuck with Mrs because of the norms of my day.
While I support the feminists who pushed for Ms, I wish it had become automatic at 21.
And I want my original title, Mistress, back, please!
Because back in the day it was a man’s world and someone decided they needed a quick and dirty way to know who was hard to fuck, who was easy to fuck, and with whom they needed to hide when they fucked.
Master is also a title for a male. It is not used as much anymore and is/was mainly a UK thing. It was for a child before he was old enough to be Mr. I remember my brothers getting letter address as Master first name, last name when they were children.
Because in our society a man is considered whole as an individual, where women aren’t seen as a whole human being and must be referenced based on her status of being tied to a man.
Traditionally, boys (i.e., minor males) were addressed as “Master” and girls (i.e., minor females) as “Miss”. Once they became of age, men were addressed as Mister regardless of marital status but women got separate titles depending on marital status. I always figured it was done to keep men from pursuing married women and the presumption was that you didn’t need separate titles for married versus unmarried men because women weren’t the horndogs men were. Of course, it’s easy to come up with less charitable explanations for that difference.
In many cultures, a woman’s status is determined by her relationship to a man, generally her father, followed by her husband.
This is why some languages have separate words or titles for younger/older women and/or married/unmarried women.
In the United States, women couldn’t even open their own bank accounts until the 1960’s, and it was still legal to rape your wife in some states until the 90’s.
If you’re ever asking yourself why some aspect of society is the way it is, the answer is usually going to be either misogyny, racism, or both.
Technically Men have two titles (outside of earned titles like Dr anyway) in the UK. It’s rarely used but technically correct to refer to a Bachelor as “Master” who becomes “Mister” when he’s wed. I don’t know if this is a thing outside the UK but it’s my personal headcanon that it’s the reason Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman cartoon called every other male Master unless he knew them to be married or possess some other title, like “Commissioner.” Not out of subservience, but out of habit.
There were quite a lot of oother male titles that havve been lost as exclusivly male. It’s not very long ago that Dr, Rev, Prof, etc were just for men. They became unisex but were reserved for men when those professions were reserved for men.
Historically also the titles of Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle (in French) were not used with everyone. Becoming a Monsieur was a step forward in the society’s hierarchy. The French approach influenced everyone in Europe including England. The difference between Madame/Mrs and Mademoiselle/Miss was important to distinguish a married woman from an unmarried one.
bec society been obsessed w women’s marital status like it’s our whole identity or smth. men just get to be “Mr” while we gotta broadcast if we single or married like tf is that.
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Because women’s value and place in society was once upon a time determined by whether they were married or not.
The equivalent of “Miss” for boys was “Master”, and that fell out of common use for obvious reasons.
Once boys became men and “Master” was off the table we had to call them something so we just default to “Mr”.
Once girls became women who were unmarried (and therefore not “Mrs”) it was considered by some a bit demeaning to address them as “Miss” (the child title), so the new term “Ms” was introduced.
We also have Master, a title used for young men.
Miss essentially means “daughter of” while Mrs means wife of. For men Mr means son of and that does not change after marriage.
Master was an old title (equivalent to Miss) which the working classes clearly thought was shit. Ms, meanwhile, exists for women who don’t (or, historically, didn’t) want to let their marriage status be public. Men, rightly or wrongly, were less likely to care
Miss and Mrs were intended to be replaced by Ms.
Because men aren’t defined by their marital status..
✨sexism✨
Because a woman’s identity is first and foremost determined by her relationship to men. Unfortunately.
because we live in a patriarchal society where men are not classified based on their proximity to the opposite sex
Sexism
Because a woman’s worth used to be determined by her marital status
I would surmise that a Man’s social position or status rarely changed with as much frequency as did women’s.
You could also conclude part of this may also be designating a level of Marital Availability that can answer that particular question simply through introduction.
As for Men’s marital position a Quick Look to his finger would fulfill that curiosity.
• Final Answer: To denote marriageability or marital history when selecting a partner.
Ms was meant to replace the “need” to label yourself as married or single.
I’m old enough to have had mail addressed to Master Powdered_Dognut.
It has traditionally been more important to know if a woman is married, because “traditionally” again, a woman would derive much of her value and personhood from having a husband. It’s only relatively recently that women were allowed to be actual independent people who had some degree of self-determination.
That’s why “Miss” and “Mrs.” existed. Miss meant you weren’t married and were eligible. Mrs. meant you were married.
However, some people don’t like having their title be determined by whether or not they’re married to a man. They didn’t like someone knowing immediately that they were married just by seeing their name, for a host of reasons. Whether privacy, or because people then treated you differently (because you had a husband backing you, so either you had a little more authority, or on the flipside, people might rather speak with him), or just out of fairness.They want just a consistent title, like men have. So feminists came up with “Ms.”
There’s more historical aspects too, this is just kinda why it’s the way it is today.
Patriarchy.
Misogyny.
As many others have pointed out, women have historically used multiple honourifics (titles) to distinguish between their married and unmarried status. That is, Miss being the honorific for girls and unmarried women and Mrs. being the honorific for married women. We don’t do this for men because men’s power/status/rights haven’t been linked to their marital status thus they have just been Mr (or Master for boys but this is now antiquated).
In the 20th century, advocates (mostly feminist) began campaigning for the establishment of a neutral honorific for women that would not tie their identity to marital status. This honorific was Ms.
It gained massive popularity after Gloria Steinem (feminist leader of the 60s-70s) named her feminist magazine Ms. Magazine in 1972. This helped lead to more mainstream popularity and use and was eventually adopted as an official honorific in many English-speaking countries.
Nowadays, it’s typical to refer to girls (U18) as Miss, and women as Ms UNLESS you are told/see their honorific somewhere, then you address them however they want (Miss, Mrs, Ms).
Sexism, easy display of marital status… Ms is an attempt to correct that by being equivalent to Mr
Because men are generally not considered property. The extra titles for women is so you know who owns her.
Women used to be and to some extent still are defined by their marital status. Men weren’t.
It used to be mister and master but Master fell out of use. That’s why Alfred is always calling Bruce Wayne Master bruce. Because he’s not married.
Patriarchy
Because women are defined in relation to men. Read The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir and you’ll understand.
The patriarchy.
Because women were treated as things to be traded by fathers for marriage.
Women were once property. Those titles are a method to notify men of the property status of a woman.
Because a man is always defined as himself, while a woman’s identity changes based on her relationship to a man. It’s messed up, but there it is.
Master is still used for under 18s and anybody with the surname ‘Bate’
Are miss and Ms pronounced the same?
gotta have the ownership tag (i hate this world)
When my son was under 18 his bank statements and dentist reminders were addressed to Master xxx xxx. He loved it.
Master and Miss were used for children. When boys became MEN, that is, reached adulthood (18 or 21), they became Mister, abbreviated to Mr.
The correct equivalence for females is Mistress – that is, Mister with the feminine ending -ess. BUT women didn’t become adults, they changed ownership from Daddy to Husband upon marriage. At that point, they became Mistress.
In upper class circles, staff would have called the bosses Master and Mistress. In any situation, the lower class used Master and Mistress to refer to their ‘betters’. Most likely, the lower classes saw that shortened to Missus.
Strictly, the modern-day equivalent abbreviation should be Mr and Ms for all adults regardless of marital status.
Unfortunately for all, Ladies (married or not) who took lovers stole the word Mistress. The modern day equivalent might be Affair partner or Workwife.
Unfortunately, at 82, having been married for almost 60 years and now widowed, I am stuck with Mrs because of the norms of my day.
While I support the feminists who pushed for Ms, I wish it had become automatic at 21.
And I want my original title, Mistress, back, please!
Because man are historicaly judged by who they are and women are historical judged by how they relate to men.
Because back in the day it was a man’s world and someone decided they needed a quick and dirty way to know who was hard to fuck, who was easy to fuck, and with whom they needed to hide when they fucked.
Master was used to refer to male children.
Steinem came up with Ms and it probably should only be that
by now.
People still use master for young men and unwed bachelors.
Because men aren’t defined by having a partner like women are.
Men also have ‘Duder”, or, “Your Dudeness’, or ‘El Duderino” if your not into the brevity thing
Formally, young men are “Master”.
“Ms” is a fairly recent, 1960s or 70s creation.
Because back in the day women were property
sexism
Because a woman’s marital status is a true indicator of her worth.
Because women’s value in society is (unjustly) defined by their relationship to men
Because women are defined by their relationship to men. Men don’t have that particular burden.
Master is also a title for a male. It is not used as much anymore and is/was mainly a UK thing. It was for a child before he was old enough to be Mr. I remember my brothers getting letter address as Master first name, last name when they were children.
There’s also ‘Master’ for male youths.
There’s lots more historically for men but they’ve fallen out of use; squire, master, sir etc.
Because in our society a man is considered whole as an individual, where women aren’t seen as a whole human being and must be referenced based on her status of being tied to a man.
Because men were never forced to identify themselves by their marital status.
Traditionally, boys (i.e., minor males) were addressed as “Master” and girls (i.e., minor females) as “Miss”. Once they became of age, men were addressed as Mister regardless of marital status but women got separate titles depending on marital status. I always figured it was done to keep men from pursuing married women and the presumption was that you didn’t need separate titles for married versus unmarried men because women weren’t the horndogs men were. Of course, it’s easy to come up with less charitable explanations for that difference.
Patriarchy. The answer to most questions like this is almost always patriarchy, racism, or colonialism. The three are inextricably intertwined
The answer is: Misogyny.
In many cultures, a woman’s status is determined by her relationship to a man, generally her father, followed by her husband.
This is why some languages have separate words or titles for younger/older women and/or married/unmarried women.
In the United States, women couldn’t even open their own bank accounts until the 1960’s, and it was still legal to rape your wife in some states until the 90’s.
If you’re ever asking yourself why some aspect of society is the way it is, the answer is usually going to be either misogyny, racism, or both.
It’s sad, but it’s also true.
Technically Men have two titles (outside of earned titles like Dr anyway) in the UK. It’s rarely used but technically correct to refer to a Bachelor as “Master” who becomes “Mister” when he’s wed. I don’t know if this is a thing outside the UK but it’s my personal headcanon that it’s the reason Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman cartoon called every other male Master unless he knew them to be married or possess some other title, like “Commissioner.” Not out of subservience, but out of habit.
Because historically women are defined by whether or not they are married… pretty gross, right!?
Young men technically have the term “master,” but you rarely see it used. Possibly for connotation reasons.
I’m just here to say that if you are addressing a letter to multiple men, you can start with “Dear Mssrs. Smith & Doe,”
Because the plural of “Mister” is “Messieurs” when it comes to honorifics.
There is a ” miss ” title equality for men and it’s called ” master ” formally always said as young master ” insert name “
So “good” men know who to send unwanted dick pics
Master. Esquire.
There were quite a lot of oother male titles that havve been lost as exclusivly male. It’s not very long ago that Dr, Rev, Prof, etc were just for men. They became unisex but were reserved for men when those professions were reserved for men.
Don’t forget Master for young men. Not used much anymore, but I have seen my son called “master” on his flight reservation.
Misogyny
Isn’t there only two each? ‘Mr’ and ‘sir’ for me and ‘ms’ and ‘mrs’ for women, since ‘ms’ is just a shorter version ‘miss’
You know men also had master for young men but it has gone out of fashion ( except for gits)
Historically also the titles of Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle (in French) were not used with everyone. Becoming a Monsieur was a step forward in the society’s hierarchy. The French approach influenced everyone in Europe including England. The difference between Madame/Mrs and Mademoiselle/Miss was important to distinguish a married woman from an unmarried one.
bec society been obsessed w women’s marital status like it’s our whole identity or smth. men just get to be “Mr” while we gotta broadcast if we single or married like tf is that.
Much like towels, men are fine with just one…