Que Fait?

. . . French feminists who have persuaded a town to drop the honorific "mademoiselle" on official forms.

From now on, the women of Cesson-Sevigne, population 16,000, will be addressed as "madame" regardless of age or marital status.

Exactly when a woman reaches the age when she becomes a "madame," married or otherwise, is not only a matter of debate but a social minefield; women of a certain age will often ask themselves whether the waiter who calls them "mademoiselle" is being gallant or sarcastic.


From this I glean that French women in Cesson-Sevigne are slow on the uptake and the feminists cannot trust them to inform the other speaker as to by which form of address they would prefer to be called.  Because, comme tu sais, you could just leave it up to the woman-addressee.  S'il vous plait, appellez-moi "madame."