Joseph Epstein scores with an essay telling Jill Biden to put aside the "Dr. Jill" honorific.

Let's take a close look at this Wall Street Journal article that's causing a mini-uproar, "Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D./Jill Biden should think about dropping the honorific, which feels fraudulent, even comic." It's by Joseph Epstein. Epstein is an essayist. He's been writing essays and publishing collections of essays for many years. He's 83. And good for him, suddenly scoring so big with this one essay. It really gave people with a need to write essays and mini-essays — tweets 'n' blogposts — something to write oh so easily about. 

That fiend Epstein! He's a misogynist! Why's he a misogynist for calling bullshit on the use of "Dr." for people who are not medical doctors? I haven't read the essay yet and I've only glanced at the criticism — enough to see the charge of misogyny — and what I'm going to presume is that it's perceived as misogynist because it's women — and not men — who style themselves as "Dr." when they are not medical doctors. Why do women do it? Are they guessing they'll be thought less of because they are female? The "Dr." business might be a defense again real or imagined misogyny, but that doesn't make it misogynistic to argue that it's time to lay off the self-puffery of the non-medical "Dr." 

Now, let me read the essay:

Madame First Lady -- Mrs. Biden -- Jill -- kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the "Dr." before your name?

He's just asking. The "kiddo" might seem over-familiar, but it's in a series — from most formal to most familiar. Laying out a series of approaches to addressing the woman — Madame First Lady -- Mrs. Biden -- Jill -- kiddo — is a way to say What should I call you? He's asking.

"Dr. Jill Biden" sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.

That's phrased with some politeness — jocose politeness — but he's plainly saying it is fraudulent and comical. All right! He's got us, and those with an inclination to protect the Bidens are activated and ready to denounce old man Epstein. As a person of cruel neutrality, I am anticipating liking this essay. I'm thinking this "Dr." bullshit among women has gone on too long and is a marker of inferiority, so he's calling on Jill Biden to set a good example and drop the honorific. You don't need it, and you shouldn't want it. 

Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title "Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students' Needs."

Unpromising! That's mean. He's denouncing her dissertation without reading it. And yet, it's a bit convincing. He's saying, come on, you didn't do any serious scholarship, now, did you? 

A wise man once said that no one should call himself "Dr." unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc. I taught at Northwestern University for 30 years without a doctorate or any advanced degree....

Epstein is justly proud of how well he's done without a doctorate. He's in a good position to look down on people whose big point of pride is their degree: Show me what you've done — with or without a degree. That's why you get a degree — isn't it? — to do something with what you've learned, not to flaunt the degree per se.

In contemporary universities, in the social sciences and humanities, calling oneself Dr. is thought bush league. The Ph.D. may once have held prestige, but that has been diminished by the erosion of seriousness and the relaxation of standards in university education generally, at any rate outside the sciences... Dr. Jill, I note you acquired your Ed.D. as recently as 15 years ago at age 55, or long after the terror [or examinations] had departed....

Forget the small thrill of being Dr. Jill, and settle for the larger thrill of living for the next four years in the best public housing in the world as First Lady Jill Biden.

I've elided some of the text, but there's nothing in it that goes after women in particular. It's not misogynistic at all. Epstein is right to advise non-physicians to eschew the "Dr." honorific. He could be criticized for not showing any concern for how women in particular have used this mode of demanding respect and dignity. But in a way, he's showing respect by talking to Jill Biden the way he'd talk to a man: It's ridiculous! Cut the crap!  

ADDED: Here's my idea: Limit "Dr." — as the form of address — to the people who are inviting those who talk with them to use "Doctor" kind of like a first name. That's how "Professor" worked for me. I didn't want students to call me Ann, but they didn't have to say "Professor Althouse" or "Ms. Althouse." ("Ms. Althouse" was what it said on the nameplate they put on my office door.) They could always say "Professor." Similarly, when people are talking to their medical doctor, they often say "Doctor," not "Dr. Smith" or whatever, just "Doctor." Doctor!

 

IN THE EMAIL: A reader writes: "When I first started teaching at Stanford, someone remarked to me that he had never met a physicist who used 'Dr.,' and never met a Ph.D. from the Education school who did not. This has held true in my experience for decades now."