French Feminists Launch Campaign

French feminists are launching a campaign to end the use of the word mademoiselle. In France, women typically choose to be addressed as madame or mademoiselle, a distinction feminists say is unnecessary and irrelevant. The president of the feminist group Watchdog says, “In old days, women went from the domination of their father to the domination of their husband. They were mademoiselle when they were girls and madame when they were married. For the men, there is no two states, only monsieur from the youth to the elder.” Feminists also think that this is the best time to launch the campaign. A spokeswoman for Dare Feminism says, “People have really woken up about inequalities and sexism since the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair. And we think these issues will be a part of the presidential debate leading up to next May’s election.”