Why did they change 'actress' to actor'?

Question

I don't think it's fair that now all of the actresses and actors are just actors. They can't change Ms. to Mr., so why did they change actress to actor?

Answer 1

Actress instead of Actor

According to the dictionary, Actor simply refers to "person" who acts, . . . etc. While Actress, specifically refers to the female side. Since when (and when is appropriate) the use of Actor to refers to BOTH male or female "action person"?

English is not a language that uses separate nouns to distinguish between sexes regularly enough for there to be strong rules regarding such usage. The mixture of linguistic roots in English makes it difficult to apply consistent suffix rules to all of the nouns involved and use of suffixes isn't strong in English for other purposes. As a result, social pressure has put pressure upon those nouns that can distinguish between sexes and has succeded in largely removing them.

During the two world wars but particularly during and after WWII, women became active in professions where men had previously filled almost all positions. There was also some expansion of women's roles in the middle-ages after plagues. Where there had previously been no need for separate masculine and feminine versions of such nouns, the lack of any consistent rules that could be applied made it difficult to find satisfactory solutions in many cases. Combined with social pressure for equality between men and women, the result has been neutralisation of nouns so that they are used non-gender specifically.

The exceptions tend to come with latinate words that remain strongly preserved and have clear modifications for gender specificity. These are the ones that still seem to hold on, but are rapidly disappearing as the language becomes more and more neuter oriented.

An example of a language with much more consistent usage of such nouns is German which consistently uses such nouns. The consistency of usage makes differentiation intrinsic to the language itself and there has been little or no social pressure to change this.

It's also noticeabe that languages that use masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns and noun endings to agree with the gender (like French) have also experienced less pressure to neutralise gender specific nouns.

There are a few gender specific nouns that remain very strongly embedded in English though: Husband and Wife being perhaps the best example. Spouse could be used here just as effectively, but despite considerable pressure on nouns defining gender roles, 'husband ande wife' seem remarkably resisilient in usage.

The roots for the changes in English lie partly in the linguistic make-up of the English language and partly in social pressures toward sexual equality.-

Answer 2

The change from Mrs./Miss to Ms. was done for women who didn't want people to focus on marital status. The addition of actor was made for women who didn't want people to focus on gender. The thinking is that unlike fireman or policeman, actor was a gender neutral word that could apply to both sexes. (Note: Plenty of women still prefer the term "actress" and that's what they are called.)

Answer 3

Changing "Ms." to "Mr." isn't the same as changing "actress" to "actor."

To give you one simple example: Ever heard of a "doctress"?

Answer 4

The first time I heard it, an actress was on a talk show and she said "Actresses are concerned with their make-up, " Actors are concerned with the craft of acting.

Answer 5

The word Act when it is used as v.t. that is one who acts is an actor whether it is a He or She, be called Actor, it is gender neutral, just as writer, driver, runner,etc, But my Dictionary says Actress is the feminine of Actor!

Answer 6

If you talk to actors (and actresses), you'll find that this really isn't as much of an issue as you're making it out to be.

Both terms are still in use.

The GREAT majority of actresses I know are perfectly content to be referred to as "actors," and often refer to themselves as such.

Answer 7

an 'actor' is "one who acts" - the definition of the word has nothing to do with the gender of the one who acts.

the term 'actress' is considered to be diminutive - sort of like patting one on the head.

I believe it was being seen as the same as using the suffix 'ette' - it just isn't considered as dignified.

Answer 8

Interesting question, Suite101 has a good discussion of the motivation in its personal ethics section:
http://personalethics.suite101.com/article.cfm/political_correctness

Answer 9

Equal opportunity laws...rights for equal pay...and discriminatory laws...(At least that is what our Govt's. tell us)...and, you ..are right...as usual political correctness is only...half done !!. Yeeaa !!
It's Xmas Eve here, so Happy Xmas to everyone from Downunder.

Answer 10

mmmmm....I know.

It's all part of political correctness, apparently. Daft, innit?

Season's greetings.