In the News: AP Stylebook Adds Entry for ‘Husband, Wife’
Submitted by Dawn McIlvain Stahl on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 3:35pm
AP adds a new entry to its stylebook following discussion last week prompted by an internal AP memo. The memo generally indicated the use of “couples or partners to describe people in civil unions or same-sex marriages” unless “ those involved have regularly used” the terms husband or wife or could be quoted using those terms. The new entry reverses that default, preferring husband and wife and allowing spouse or partner on request.
In a Feb. 21 press release, Mike Oreskes, AP senior managing editor for U.S. news, said, "All the previous conversation was in the absence of such a formal entry. This lays down clear and simple usage. After reviewing existing practice, we are formalizing 'husband, wife' as an entry.”
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Comments
Same-sex marriage - which is which?
Anonymous
I see the guidance of the AP Style Guide on using "husband" and wife" when referring to same-sex couples as ambiguous, at best. Writers and editors need more. Although the reference to a "husband" or a "wife" in a story involing a heterosexual couple is relatively easy to apply, based on the gender of the particular spouse, there is no such biologically based heuristic for a same-sex couple. In other words, in such a context (same-sex marriage) which spouse is the "husband" and which one is the "wife." It seems the previous style guidance which relied on the couple in question to voice their preference was easy to apply. The current guidance is inconclusive, hard for a writer or editor to implement on her own.
Posted on Tue, 02/26/2013 - 8:24am
Husband and wife
Dawn McIlvain Stahl
Although I understand how the entry could be seen as ambiguous, I think the terms can clear up confusion on their own: a husband is a male spouse, and a wife is a female spouse. The gender of their marriage partners doesn't need to be the determining factor. If children can have two fathers (male parents) who are married to each other, then their male parents can both be considered husbands (male spouses).
Posted on Wed, 02/27/2013 - 1:20am