A Leer for Ms.

Since Women's Liberation introduced "Ms." as a substitute for Miss or Mrs., the prefix (pronounced Miz) has been working its way steadily into the American vocabulary. There is, of course, institutional resistance. In California, for example, Sacramento County Clerk William Durley reports he has had to reject at least 20 voter registration applications because women have insisted on using Ms. instead of giving their marital-status designation as state law requires. Now two bills have been introduced in the state legislature to allow the liberated Ms. designation, or none at all, when women desire to register that way. Some federal agencies and congressmen's offices now routinely address their correspondence to "Ms." in reply to letters signed that way.

Such barriers may fall, but the marquee of a Manhattan pornography house last week offered a sublime example of the chauvinist pig's gift for accommodating himself to the changing times. The current attraction is Ms. Erotica U.S.A.

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