Hi,

I am a high school student who has just barley gotten into feminism. I read an article about how feminist don't like to be called Miss they prefer Ms. I was wondering if you can tell me why.

Thank you,

Josie

Dear Josie,

Feminists popularized the use of "Ms." in direct reaction to not being identified by their marital status, just like men are "Mr." without any reference to their marital status. Men got to be Mr. their whole adult life, whereas women evolved from Miss -- indicating they were single -- to Mrs. indicating they were married, which to me does look like the possessive of Mr. minus the apostrophe.

—Amy