LANGUAGE IS CRUCIAL TO CLEAR COMMUNICATION. IT MAKES distinctions. We can hardly express ourselves without it. Our very thoughts can either be brought forth, or not, depending upon whether we have sufficient verbiage with which to attain this end. If the pen is mightier than the sword because it can determine the direction in which this weapon is aimed, then words are even mightier than the pen, for without the former, the latter is useless.
Which words have we lost? Which have been thrust down our throats by the forces of socialism, statist feminism, and political correctness? What changes are imperative, if we are to even have a chance to turn things around in a more freedom-oriented direction?
Mrs. and Miss have been all but taken from us, and we have been given the execrable Ms. in their place. This is a crucial loss, for the modern language in this regard papers over, nay, obliterates, the distinction between the married and unmarried state for women, while the “archaic” words positively exult in this distinction. This alteration has become so well entrenched by the “inclusive” language movement that even some ostensibly conservative writers and periodicals have adopted it.
Why is this a tragedy? Because it is a disguised attack on the family. Whether the feminists accept this or not, virtually all heterosexual bondings are initiated by the male of the species. (There are good and sufficient sociobiological reasons why this should be the case.) Anything that promotes this healthy and life-affirming trend must be counted as a good; anything that impedes it as a bad. If it is easy to distinguish between married and unmarried females, male initiative is to that extent supported; if not, then the opposite.
If unmarried males are given incentive to approach unmarried females, this supports the institution of marriage and heterosexuality. To the extent they approach married women, this not only undermines marriage, one of the main bulwarks of society, but directly attacks civilization by exacerbating jealousy and intra-male hostility.
Why have the feminists urged Ms. upon us? Ostensibly, because it is “unfair” to distinguish between women on the basis of marital status, but not men. If so, then far better to urge the analogous distinction Mister and Master for married and unmarried men, than to lose that for women. We live in a complex age; surely any institution which simplifies it, by costlessly giving us more information, not less, is to be applauded.
But the softening of this distinction between Mrs. and Miss has implications far removed from any questions of “fairness.” This can be seen by asking “Cui bono” from Ms.? Those who benefit from making single women less available to heterosexual men are homosexual women, plus all those concerned with the so-called overpopulation problem. In economics, when there are large numbers of people or anything else involved, it is commonly assumed that at least some are on the margin.
In this case, there are males on the margin between approaching a female or not, and females on the margin between hetero- and homosexuality. Ms. moves society in the diametric opposite direction from the desirable in both these dimensions.
One argument against refusing to adopt to this modern consensus is that people should have the right to choose their own names. If someone wants to change from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, or from Don McCloskey to Dierdre McCloskey, that is their business. Polite people will refer to them by their chosen not their given names.
But this does not at all apply to titles. If I call myself King Block or Emperor Block, no one need follow suit on this out of considerations of etiquette. Ms. is a title, not the name of any person. When in doubt, always use Miss, not Mrs. The latter is, or at least should be, an honorific, not lightly to be bestowed in ignorance.
And the same analysis applies to using “he” to stand for “he” or “she,” or “him” for “him” or “her.” Our writing has become convoluted, and singular and plural no longer match, in an attempt to defer to the sensibilities of self-styled feminists. There is nothing more pathetic than a conservative magazine attempting to score points against a feminist idea, and yet feeling constrained to use such “inclusive” language.
Could we have as successfully criticized Marxism had we felt constrained to couch our attacks in Marxist language?
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Original article appeared on mises.org.