{"id":445,"date":"2025-12-12T13:18:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:18:54","slug":"is-there-a-dr-in-your-house-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There A Dr. in Your House?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Is There A Dr. in Your House?' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house\/' data-app-id-name='category_above_content'><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I recently read an article in the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0about a woman who was trolled on Twitter for making reference to her PhD. (&#8220;Women, Own Your Dr. Titles&#8221;\u00a0by Julia Baird.) The comments were so hostile she decided to add \u201cDr.\u201d to her handle. Just to rub it in. The abuse intensified. Her advice, finally, was if you\u2019ve got it, use it. In this case, use your \u201cDr.\u201d\u00a0 academic credential letters.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That got me thinking. I\u2019ve had my PhD in English literature for years. But once I stopped teaching, I pretty much stopped using it and the Dr. title outside the classroom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why? It took me awhile to sort through the reasons.<\/p>\n<ol style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<li>My academic career\u2014and title\u2014have nothing to do with my writing.<\/li>\n<li>Using titles is not only irrelevant, it\u2019s vain.<\/li>\n<li>Using a title is off-putting to potential readers.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s a needless distraction.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That about sums it up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the more I looked at my list, the more perplexed I became. Had I not worked years to add those three letters to my name? What about all those classes, the exams, the dissertation? How could I so easily dismiss them as \u201cirrelevant,\u201d \u201cvain,\u201d \u201coff-putting,\u201d a \u201cdistraction\u201d?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I had to wonder if the woman who wrote the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article was right. There is gender bias at work here. Women are not rewarded for using their titles whereas men generally are.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><em>Did I stop using my title for that reason?<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I do remember an incident that occurred shortly after I began working at a major telecommunications company. My PhD was certainly an advantage when I was hired in the education and training department, but a respected and well-established vice president soon made it clear that my PhD wouldn\u2019t help my advancement. \u201cDon\u2019t think that\u2019s going to impress anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just makes people think you don\u2019t have real world experience.\u201d I used to get that a lot in those days, a kind of education backlash. I managed to \u201cadvance\u201d in spite of my education, but I did downplay the PhD, never used Dr., and in time my advanced degree became three letters tucked away in my personnel file.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-38087 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/degree-graduation-grad-cap-pixy.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/degree-graduation-grad-cap-pixy.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/degree-graduation-grad-cap-pixy-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/degree-graduation-grad-cap-pixy-400x266.jpg 400w\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe I took that lesson with me when I began writing, publishing, and speaking. Maybe I should take those three letters out of retirement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before taking action, I decided to ask sister SWP author (and PhD), Laurie Buchanan about her experiences with her title. She began by telling me that she has never been trolled, if you discount those men who post pictures of themselves looking very reputable who may then begin asking for personal information. \u201cI block this type of activity,\u201d Laurie says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I then asked if she had ever experienced\u00a0 \u201cdoctorate shaming\u201d which apparently is \u201ca thing,\u201d directed more at women than at men, according to the\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>. Here Laurie provided some illuminating information: \u201cI have never been disparaged or belittled for using my degree. I have observed that people (both male and female) who use \u2018Dr.\u2019 at the beginning of their name, as opposed to \u2018PhD\u2019 at the end of their name, are less well received, both online and in person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hmm. I found that to be an interesting observation. According to the article, \u201cWomen regularly report being called professor, and even reverend, less than male counterparts, and research has shown that female physicians are called doctor less often than men are. A 2017 analysis of introductions of speakers at medical gatherings\u00a0found\u00a0that about half of the time a man introduced a woman to the group, he did not use her title, but used it for men more than 70 percent of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are pretty significant statistics, so I put the question to Laurie, who noted that while she has had no such personal experience, she has witnessed it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I told Laurie the author\u2019s conclusion is for women to use their hard-won titles, saying,\u00a0\u201cSometimes authority should be worn lightly. But sometimes it should be brandished like a torch,\u201d she had this response: \u201c\u2026while\u00a0I don\u2019t brandish my degree like a sword, I definitely use it. It\u2019s on the cover of my books and it\u2019s in my byline for the periodicals I write for. In my experience, credentials (for both men and women) lend credibility.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She concluded with this pearl: \u201cAside from gender, academics, race, economics, politics\u2014<em>anything<\/em>\u2014the bottom line is respect for other human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I would expect no less from Laurie Buchanan, PhD, who is a teacher and student of purposeful living and who writes about\u00a0\u201coffloading emotional baggage.\u201d It\u2019s pretty clear then that she has strategies for reclaiming your life\u2014and your title.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more, visit her at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tuesdayswithlaurie.com\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/tuesdayswithlaurie.com\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1537358933725000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvpJ3h2oFPuU29JMetdfjBWRtRPA\">&#8220;Tuesdays with Laurie&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0where you\u2019ll learn,\u00a0&#8220;Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So my conclusion? If I\u2019m carrying around baggage from a job I held years ago, it\u2019s time to unload. But do I need to \u201cbrandish my degree like a sword?\u201d Maybe not, but I can certainly use it with pride whenever the choice presents itself.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Laurie Buchanan, <em>PhD.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"># # #<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong><em>This guest post was authored by Jean P. Moore.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-38990 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"312\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/JPM-glassesjpg2-e1537385908691.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jeanpmoore.com\/\">Jean P. Moore<\/a> grew up in Miami, Florida. She began her professional career as a high school English teacher and worked for a number of years as executive director of workforce development. Jean has since returned to her first loves: the study of literature and writing. Her novel\u202fWater on the Moon\u202fwas published in June 2014 and is the winner of the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Award for contemporary fiction. Her poetry chapbook,\u202fTime\u2019s Tyranny, was published in the fall of 2017 by Finishing Line Press, and her latest novel, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2pnMWaE\">Tilda\u2019s Promise<\/a>, publishes on\u00a0Sept 25, 2018\u00a0by She Writes Press.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Is There A Dr. in Your House?' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house\/' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'><\/div>\n<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='recommendations' data-title='Is There A Dr. in Your House?' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house\/' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/is-there-a-dr-in-your-house\/\">Is There A Dr. in Your House?<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\"><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently read an article in the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0about a woman who was trolled on Twitter for making reference to her PhD. (&#8220;Women, Own Your Dr. Titles&#8221;\u00a0by Julia Baird.) The comments we<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-confessions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}