i was recently in colorado visiting family. i asked my parents, who speak spanish, for the male equivalent of "senorita." my dad said "there isn't one, there is only senor." i asked for an explanation and my mother said, "it's like english where there is miss, ms., and mrs." at first i thought nothing of it.
then something clicked in me. why is it that men have the luxury of always being "mr." from the time of birth till the time of death, while women's titles change depending on marital status (and sometimes age)? this doesn't seem fair.
to me, this implies that woman exists only in relation to a partner. she is defined by her marital status and values placed upon her accordingly. a woman can't just be a woman throughout her life. yet another label putting women into narrowly defined boxes.
no me gusta senor, no me gusta
2 comments:
Because in Western society (as in any other patriarchal society), that was where a female's value was placed. Look around and find out if the equivalent of Mr., Miss, Mrs., and Ms. exists in some other form in matriarchal societies. Track down a cultural anthropologist and pose the question.
A meaning that's a little bit older and a little more Castilian is that a señora is not a married woman, but rather a woman who's had sex. A señorita would be someone who has remained a virgin, regardless of age or marital status.
Of course, that usage has fallen away because it's easier and more polite to hang it on marital status.
Oh, and by the way, it's not that there's no such thing as a señorito (masculine), it's just that it has also fallen into disuse. The -ito/-ita suffix is merely a diminutive form and señorito has several accepted uses in formal (and legal) Spanish, though it's much like calling a young man Master in English.
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