See update at the end
Oh good grief. Unconscious sexism – it gets in everywhere.
A BBC story about the finding of a medieval ring in Norfolk.
The ring, found by a metal detectorist in South Creake, Norfolk, dates from between 1350 and 1430.
Dr Jonathan Good, author of The Cult of St George, said the ring “attests to the popularity of St George” and may be linked to a guild devoted to the saint.
…
Dr Good, who is associate professor of history at Reinhardt University, in Georgia in the US, said the ring “could have have owned by a guild member. It could have been a way of them showing their dedication”.
…
“It is in these pre-reformation times that St George came into his own in England,” said Dr Good.
Kathleen Kennedy, an expert in medieval rings and associate professor at Penn State-Brandywine University in the US, said it was “a wonderful find for Norwich”.
She said the ring was “originally enameled, so like so much of the medieval statuary remaining to us today, what we see as one colour would have originally been brightly variegated”.
Dr Adrian Marsden, a coin expert based at Norwich Castle Museum, said: “The ring has on it St George spearing a dragon. That is unusual and interesting because St George was a very popular saint in Norwich.”
A tweet from DOCTOR Kathleen Kennedy:
Kathleen E. Kennedy @TheMedievalDrK 2 hours ago
hey @BBCNews If the 2 men quoted get to be called “Dr” why don’t I? http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-33427306 … #medievaltwitter
Was it because they couldn’t remember if it was Doctoress or Doctorette?
Update: It’s been fixed. Chris Cook of the BBC did the fix. He says using “Doctor” for academics is not BBC house style, so it may be amended again later such that no one is called Doctor; meanwhile all three of them are. Supa.
Dr. Kennedy has a good point. I hope she e-mails BBC and complains.
No, it wouldn’t be “Doctoress Kennedy” or “Doctorette Kennedy.” That’s silly. Obviously it should be “Nurse Kennedy.”
I was going to suggest “Doctorella”, but “Nurse Kennedy” wins this round of Misogyny Trivia.
Doctrix?
Hey, back off. They called her an expert. Isn’t that enough? (jk)
Looks like it’s been quietly fixed.
Fixed. I know that we all commit little oversights like this, our brains expressing our cultural biases, not out of malice, just mental shortcuts that are the product of a long lifetime of 24/7 enculturation, so I am inclined to give the author a break; on the other hand, editors exist to be the force that see a piece of writing in its larger context, and to ensure that little unconscious slights like this are caught and rectified. But the BBC is better than most news outfits in that its articles are almost always lacking in such biased perspectives (both intentional and unintentional), and because they will act to change any piece where sexism, racism, able-ism, etc. slipped through the cracks.
“Nurse Kennedy.” Oh that made my day lol.
If it’s a matter of house style, none of the people mentioned should have been called “Dr.” in the first place; it’s obvious sexism any which way.
Definitely; that’s why he fixed it. It was a big boo-boo.