In my experience the word “wife” also came with a lot of baggage attached. María and I decided when we got married in 2017 that we would avoid using “wife.” Instead, when we introduce each other, we simply say we are married. “Wife” was a term straight people used, and it brought up ideas about what a woman should be for her husband, and how she was perceived by society. The stale taste of the comedian Henny Youngman’s “take my wife, please” jokes lingered in the air. (It was countered decades later by the then-married comedians Rhea Butcher and Cameron Esposito, whose show, “Take My Wife,” ran for two seasons.)

Source: New York Times May 15, 2020 14:02 UTC