Editing Ms. (section)

== Historical development and revival of the term ==
[[Miss]] and [[Mrs.]], both derived from the then formal Mistress, like Mister did not originally indicate marital status.<ref>{{cite book|last=Spender|first=Dale|title=Man Made Language|year=1981|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=978-0-7100-0675-2|author-link=Dale Spender}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stannard|first=Una|title=Mrs Man|year=1977|publisher=Germainbooks|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0-914142-02-7|url=https://archive.org/details/mrsman0000stan}}</ref> Ms. was another acceptable, but rarely used, abbreviation for Mistress in England in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref name=Buxton>{{cite web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/cultural-capital/2014/09/mistress-miss-mrs-or-ms-untangling-shifting-history-women-s-titles|title=Mistress, Miss, Mrs or Ms: untangling the shifting history of women's titles|first=Alexandra|last=Buxton|date=September 12, 2014|access-date=May 15, 2019|work=New Statesman America}}</ref> During the 19th century, however, Mrs. and Miss came to be associated almost exclusively with marital status.<ref name=Luu>{{cite web|url=https://daily.jstor.org/from-the-mixed-up-history-of-mrs-miss-and-ms/|first=Chi|last=Luu |title=From the Mixed-Up History of Mrs., Miss, and Ms. |work=JSTOR Daily|date=November 8, 2017|access-date=May 15, 2019}}</ref> Ms. was popularized as an alternative in the late 20th century.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/columns/missmanners/story/824581.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091014151111/http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/columns/missmanners/story/824581.html | archive-date = 2009-10-14 | title = What's in a name? | date = October 11, 2009 | author-link = Judith Martin | last = Martin | first = Judith | work = [[Buffalo News]] | department = Miss Manners }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author-link = Judith Martin | last = Martin | first = Judith | title = Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn of the Millennium | page = [https://archive.org/details/missmannersguide00mart_0/page/10 10] | publisher = [[Simon & Schuster]] | location = New York, New York | isbn = 0-671-72228-X | url = https://archive.org/details/missmannersguide00mart_0/page/10 | date = 1990-11-15 }}</ref>

The earliest known proposal for the modern revival of Ms. as a title appeared in ''[[The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts)|The Republican]]'' of [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], on November 10, 1901:

{{blockquote|There is a void in the English language which, with some diffidence, we undertake to fill. Every one has been put in an embarrassing position by ignorance of the status of some woman. To call a maiden Mrs is only a shade worse than to insult a matron with the inferior title Miss. Yet it is not always easy to know the facts...
Now, clearly, what is needed is a more comprehensive term which does homage to the sex without expressing any views as to their domestic situation, and what could be simpler or more logical than the retention of what the two doubtful terms have in common. The abbreviation Ms is simple, it is easy to write, and the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances. For oral use it might be rendered as "Mizz," which would be a close parallel to the practice long universal in many [[bucolic]] regions, where a slurred Mis' does duty for Miss and Mrs alike.<ref name=Zimmer />}}

The term was again suggested as a convenience to writers of business letters by such publications as the ''Bulletin of the American Business Writing Association'' (1951) and ''The Simplified Letter'', issued by the National Office Management Association (1952).<ref>{{cite web|title=Ms.|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ms+%28title%29|work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=2009}}</ref>

In 1961, [[Sheila Michaels]] attempted to put the term into use when she saw what she thought was a typographical error on the address label of a copy of ''[[News & Letters]]'' sent to her roommate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Missing piece of puzzle in story of 'Ms.' |author=Jeffs, Angela |newspaper=[[The Japan Times]] Online |date=November 5, 2000 |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20001105a1.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1399 |title=Forty Years of Defying the Odds |author=Michaels, Sheila |date=March–April 2008 |work=Solidarity Webzine |publisher=[[Solidarity (U.S.)|Solidarity]] |access-date=November 9, 2009}}</ref> Michaels "was looking for a title for a woman who did not 'belong' to a man."<ref>{{cite web | last = Kay | first = Eve | date = 28 June 2007 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/gender/story/0,,2114612,00.html | title = Call Me Ms | work = [[The Guardian]] | access-date = August 20, 2007 }}</ref> She knew the separation of the now common terms ''Miss'' and ''Mrs.'' had derived from ''Mistress'', but one could not suggest that women use the original title with its now louche connotations. Her efforts to promote use of a new honorific were at first ignored.<ref>{{cite web|author=Fishko, Sara |url=http://www.wnyc.org/shows/fishko/2012/jun/28/ |title=Fishko Files: Ms. |publisher=WNYC |date=June 28, 2012 |access-date=2013-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312061805/http://www.wnyc.org/shows/fishko/2012/jun/28/ |archive-date=2013-03-12 }}</ref>

[[File:Gloria_Steinam_Endorsement_(3838080804).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Gloria Steinem, who founded the magazine Ms., popularising the term|Gloria Steinem, who founded the magazine Ms., popularising the term.]]
In 1969, during a lull in an interview with ''The Feminists'' group on [[WBAI]]-FM radio in New York City, Michaels suggested the use of ''Ms.'' A friend of [[Gloria Steinem]] heard the interview and suggested it as a title for her new magazine. The magazine ''[[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]]'' debuted on newsstands in January 1972, and its much-publicized name quickly led to widespread usage.<ref>{{cite news |title=On Language: Ms. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/magazine/25FOB-onlanguage-t.html |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |author-link=Ben Zimmer |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2009-10-25 |access-date=2009-11-16}}</ref> In February 1972, the US Government Printing Office approved using ''Ms.'' in official government documents.<ref name="'70s 246">{{cite book|title= How We Got Here: The '70s|last= Frum|first= David|author-link= David Frum|year= 2000|publisher= Basic Books|location= New York, New York|isbn= 0-465-04195-7|page= [https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/246 246]|url= https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/246}}</ref> In 1976, [[Marvel Comics]] introduced a new [[superhero]] named [[Ms. Marvel]], billing her as the "first feminist superhero."{{Citation needed|reason=No source for the quotation, and no such statement from Marvel during her creation can be easily found.|date=May 2024}}

[[File:Geraldine_Ferraro,_first_female_Vice_Presidential_candidate_running_with_Presidential_candidate_Walter_Mondale,_visits_University_of_Texas_at_Arlington_campus_(10006337).jpg|thumb|right|alt=Geraldine Ferraro, who argued the case for recognition of "Ms"|Geraldine Ferraro, whose case encouraged the recognition of "Ms."]]
Even several public opponents of such usage, including [[William Safire]], were finally convinced that ''Ms.'' had earned a place in English by the case of [[US Congresswoman]] [[Geraldine Ferraro]]. Ferraro, a United States vice-presidential candidate in 1984, was a married woman who used her birth surname professionally rather than her husband's (Zaccaro). Safire, though saying "it breaks my heart," admitted in 1984 that it would be equally incorrect to call her "Miss Ferraro" (as she was married) or "Mrs. Ferraro" (as her husband was not "Mr. Ferraro")—and that calling her "Mrs. Zaccaro" would confuse the reader.<ref>Safire, William. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/05/magazine/on-language-goodbye-sex-hello-gender.html?pagewanted=1 On Language: Goodbye Sex, Hello Gender]", ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 5, 1984, Section 6 p. 8.</ref>