On Tuesday of this week (1/15), National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation broadcast a five-minute segment called, “First-Name Basis?”. Here’s the teaser:
Listeners comment on the implications of calling women by their first names and men by their surnames, and NPR Ombudsman Lisa Shepard talks about gender references and reporting.
Shepard and host, Neal Conan, review how, when Hillary Clinton was more or less “just” Bill’s wife, reporters called her “Mrs. Clinton.” Then, when she became a U.S. Senator from New York, reporters referred to her as “Senator Clinton.” Now, in her bid for the White House, her candidate materials typically refer to her as “Hillary.”
Yet, during the Democratic presidential candidate debates, the fact that some of the candidates are being called by their surnames only, as in “Edwards” or “Obama,” while Clinton is called “Hillary” has provoked a variety of reactions. Some NPR listeners’ letters express the feeling that calling her “Hillary” is derogatory, while others think that it’s respectful since it’s how Clinton wants to be addressed.
According to Shepard,
…the safest most correct thing is to call her Senator Clinton…Referring to her as “Mrs” I do think is denigrating. Last week she was referred to on All Things Considered as “Mrs. Clinton” and this was a story about “Mrs. Clinton will go home and huddle with her husband,” and I got a lot of e-mails about that…
Shepard says that people who have covered Clinton since the early 1990s have a hard habit to break because they called her “Mrs. Clinton” for eight years. Now, however, Shepard urges the media to be respectful and “…Call her Senator, which she is.”
This kind of name game is not new and the more permutations we develop, the more questions arise. As someone who freely uses all three of her names (Jill Miller Zimon) as well as “just plain” “Jill Zimon” (especially when it comes to signing zillions of ordinary forms, as opposed to IRS forms etc.), the last thing I am suggesting is that those of us who do what I do (use more than one form of our entire name) are unwitting contributors to the problem.
Rather, we need to get the law and common sense to come forward with us, rather than leave conventions alone and be forced to fit into a paradigm that no longer reflects the choices we make or that are available.
What do I mean? Let me give you an example:
During the 2006 election cycle, a lawyer by the name of Jennifer Martinez Atzberger, who currently works with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and using all three of her names, was thrown off a judicial candidate ballot for juvenile court judge because an opponent charged that she used her husband’s name, Atzberger, professionally, and only added “Martinez” to her campaign literature and filings in order to get Hispanic votes. However, Martinez Atzberger provided information to the hearing officers that indicated use of both her names, together and also indicated that on her driver’s license, she was forced to choose only one name because the license bureau could not fit her entire three name moniker on the license.
Imagine how this kind of scrutiny could wreak havoc in states that are cracking down without logic on voter identification practices. While I accept the burden to be as consistent as possible in terms of voter registration, driver’s license, social security and other government forms, utility bills and other secondary forms of ID may very well not have the same name, especially if your bills are in a spouse or significant other’s name. And lapses happen. When I got married, I didn’t know until about two or three years later that I lost all my frequent flier miles because I changed my name to include my spouse’s last name. There was no question that “Jill Miller” and “Jill Miller Zimon” were one and the same, but for the purposes of the miles plan, I ceased to exist between the time I got married and the time I changed my registration with the program to reflect that change – since all my travel arrangements after I married reflected my “Jill Miller Zimon” name – which isn’t what was on my frequent flier card.
Oy.
What does Former First Lady and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who is married to Bill Clinton and therefore also legally Mrs. Clinton want to be called?
I’m guessing there’s really only one answer she would give: President.