When I was teaching, I expected my students to call me Dr. Jennings because the alternative was usually "Miss," as in, "Miss, when's the essay due again?"
I do not insist that other people call me Dr. Jennings, although Dr. Skull does. I do put "Doctor" as the choice on those internet forms, because honestly it's the only gender neutral form of address listed, though if "Comrade" was available I'd go for that.
Anyway, I did earn that doctorate, and I do prefer that to "Miss" or "Mrs." or even "Ms." However, I don't correct people who call me "Ms Jennings," or (worse) "Mrs. Jennings."
Why do I bring this up?
Because the Right is having yet another tantrum over Jill Biden being called Dr. Biden. How dare anyone address her as anything other than Mrs. Biden, I guess? I don't know. It's not misogyny, they insist. It's because she's not a "real" doctor, by which they seem to mean medical doctor. (Notably, none of them seem to have doctorates.)
It's got nothing to do with her being a woman, they insist. Or Joe Biden's wife. NOTHING AT ALL. It's just the principle they care about.
God.
2 comments:
Which is bizarre because if they went to college in the South they KNOW they're supposed to call people with PhDs doctor (as opposed to Professor which is common in the Midwest or first name which is common in some elite west-coast schools). Actually it's not bizarre because they also know it's a huge sign of disrespect not to. - N&M
Yep. They're not fooling anyone.
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