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Hello Hello?
The »Miss from the Office« sat in the switchboard for decades (photo from 1945)
Photo:
Hulton Archives/Getty Images
She has neither sense of humor nor a man, is terrified of kittens and torments poor Heidi whenever she can: the old Rottenmeier is the tight-lipped horror character in Johanna Spyri's classic children's book »Heidi«. And at the same time probably the most unsympathetic representative of a species that was formally exterminated 50 years ago - the Fräulein.
On January 16, 1972, FDP politician Hans-Dietrich Genscher, then Federal Minister of the Interior, published the circular "Use of the designation 'woman'": It was "high time, in official parlance, for equality between men and women and the contemporary self-image to take account of women's position in society". And therefore "no longer appropriate to address female adults (...) differently than has always been the case with male adults," the order said. From now on, every adult must be called a "woman" - the term "Miss" should only be used if the addressee expressly requests it.
This has been the case in official German for 50 years: A woman is a woman.
Married or single, employed or unemployed, mother or childless, 22 or 72 years old.
Why isn't that linguistic triviality, but a reason to clink glasses?
Because the term »Miss«, cute as it may sound today, contained an outrageous concept.
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Luise Pusch
(born 1944) was a professor in Hanover, Duisburg, Konstanz and Münster, among other places.
She runs the blog »Laut und Luise«.
Photo: Mario Wezel / DER SPIEGEL
"With the salutation 'Fräulein', unmarried female adults were publicly marked as fair game, stigmatized as 'still available'," says Luise F. Pusch, author of the work "Deutsch als Mannensprache" (1984) and co-founder of feminist linguistics in Germany.
While the marital status of men has always been – and rightly so – a purely private matter, everyone knew immediately: »A 'Miss' is automatically unmarried.
And must expect to be pitied, smiled at or harassed in the male world,« said linguist Pusch in a telephone interview.
That is why women rebelled against the "Miss" since the term was no longer reserved for single noblewomen around 1850, but was used to describe all unmarried female adults.
"Woman is almost never judged from an objective, purely human point of view, as an independent member of human society (...), but only in her relationship to man," the Austrian women's rights activist Franziska Essenther said indignantly in 1871. Unmarried women "remained something small , insignificant, unfinished - neutral - they are 'Miss'«.
Essenther asked the readers of the magazine »Frauen-Anwalt«: »Why are unmarried men, even young men who have barely outgrown boyhood, never called “Herrleins”«?
Yes, why actually?
»Because that corresponded to the order of the world«, says Luise Pusch.
"The subordination of woman to man was so widespread and so natural that no one gave it much thought."
Marriage and motherhood were considered the natural goals of every adolescent.
As a rule, all professional activity ended for the middle-class model wife when she entered the safe haven of marriage.
From 1880 there was even an explicit marriage ban for female teachers;
even the "Miss Sister" was fired in the early fifties as soon as she married.
On the other hand, if the man had a doctorate, she could call herself "Frau Doctor."
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However, the brides gave up most of their other rights at the altar, such as studying, working, opening an account, managing their own assets without the husband's consent.
Which is why the suffragette Anita Augspurg wrote in 1905: »In my opinion it is impossible for a self-respecting woman (...) to enter into a legitimate marriage.«
An aggravating evil
The only way in Prussia to get rid of the stigma of "Miss" without throwing yourself into marriage right away was to petition the king himself. In 1908, for example, the German-Evangelical Women's Association in Bonn asked the monarch to award the title of "woman" to the "Miss von Weitz" who worked in the moral police and in the care of female prisoners. The salutation »Miss« proved to be an »aggravating disadvantage« in her work, the historian Christine von Oertzen quotes the request - it was rejected without comment.
The Prussian Ministry of the Interior only rescinded the 1869 decree after the First World War.
"Woman" is "neither a designation of civil status, nor part of the name, nor a title that must or could be bestowed." Therefore, according to the decree of 1919, no adults should be prevented from calling themselves "woman".
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Politician Lüders in the Bundestag (1955): "Laughter" in the protocol
Photo: ullstein bild
In practice, however, things looked different: for decades, unmarried women continued to be happily referred to as "Miss".
Even after the Second World War, anyone who raised the issue on the floor still got eye rolls.
This is how Marie Elisabeth-Lüders experienced it: "The matter has been on the public agenda for about a hundred years," the FDP politician complained in a Bundestag session on December 17, 1954 - the minutes recorded several times "laughter".
Nevertheless, on February 9, 1955, the Federal Ministry of the Interior encouraged the authorities in a further decree to use the form of address »Frau«.
It is "justified and necessary" if the female persons so desire.
Miss miracle made in Germany
But even after that, the "Fräulein" persisted - and even experienced a crackling erotic appreciation: the American GIs praised the "Frollein" after 1945 in the highest tones.
And the »Miss miracle« was considered a synonym in the USA for the modern, attractive, self-confident beauty made in Germany.
In this country, however, fewer and fewer wanted to put up with the fussy, condescending "Miss".
“It is thanks to the persistence of many women that this absurd word has come under increasing criticism,” says linguist Pusch.
In 1967, Düsseldorf led the way: "North Rhine-Westphalia was the first state in the Federal Republic to cut off the 'Fräulein-Zopf'," reported the Hamburger Abendblatt.
Lower Saxony followed the example, and politicians also discussed a national order, as can be seen from the files of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Those responsible fought bitterly for details until the decree presented by FDP man Genscher in 1971 was finally published on January 16, 1972: with immediate effect, the "Miss" had to disappear from official language.
The lady is dead, long live the lady
"This honorable person was officially assassinated, simply murdered with the stroke of a pen," said the Süddeutsche Zeitung in a gloss about the long overdue act. However, this "special human species" was not destined "to die quickly and painlessly". Rather, the young lady would "slowly waste away, like an old man's life that flares up again and again and yet can no longer be saved."
Even after 1972, older people in particular continued to refer to unmarried women as "Miss," remembers linguist Pusch.
In addition, many a representative from the ranks of the first women's movement deliberately insisted on the antiquated form of address.
Pusch cites the example of the writer Annette Kolb: "It was about demonstrating her own independence from a man," says the 77-year-old.
The term had hardly died out at the end of the 20th century when its ironic revenant turned the corner: »The young lady is dead!
Long live the Fräulein!« wrote the Japanese Germanist Saburo Okamura in a 2006 essay on the renaissance of the term.
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Actress Iris Berben: "It's a compliment"
Photo: Jens Kalaene / dpa
Whether it's a vegan cupcake shop, a girlie band or a women's magazine: the »Fräulein« of the 21st century has become a marketing gimmick intended to suggest freshness, cheekiness and cheerfulness. "It's a compliment, there's something nostalgic and bold about it," says actress Iris Berben on the phone - the 71-year-old is still happy to be addressed as "Miss".
According to Berben, she also still likes to hear "Mademoiselle", which has been officially banned in France since 2012, and "Miss", which has been replaced in English by "Ms." (with a bee-like buzzed s). In the 1970s, she too rejected the sexist concept behind the "Miss" term. Nevertheless, she prefers to deal with language in a playful way. "I can't quite understand the doggedness of the current gender language debate," says Iris Berben. »We have to change content and put an end to injustices instead of fighting verbal battles.«
Linguist Pusch, a passionate advocate of the generic feminine, thinks both are necessary: the struggle for language
and
the fight against discrimination.
"Language cements power structures," she says.
In this respect, the abolition of the "Miss" 50 years ago is a milestone from which we could learn one thing above all in the current discussion: patience.
"As far as women are concerned, it always takes at least 40 years for something to change," says Pusch and laughs.
Just as the »Fräulein« became obsolete at some point, the »meaning« of women through the generic masculine has become obsolete in the 21st century.
"We have to persevere," recommends Luise Pusch.
"And don't give up the optimism that reason will eventually win."
