Given the interest that everyone suddenly has in the vacancy rate of your uterus, it should come as no surprise that in 2011 (that’s 2011, not 1911), 50% of Americans still believe that a woman should be legally required to take her husband’s last name after marriage. And because of this, our collective inability to mind our own damn business, it’s still an issue that we continually revisit. Should married women change their names? Should they not change their names? Should America get a hobby? Hope you’ve got your Judgepants on, because it’s time for some judging!
The tradition of changing one’s name, as you’ve been told a bazillion times, has its roots in the idea that women give up their rights to own property and exist as a separate entity from their husbands when they marry. According to NBC, crappy little reminders of this law existed into the 1960’s and 70’s, when women weren’t allowed to get their own credit cards or open their own bank accounts without their husbands’ permission. Women who don’t change their names often cite the tradition’s sexist past as justification for bucking it. There’s also the issue of identity; because women are getting married later, being known as Jane Smith for the first 28 or so years of your life and then expecting everyone to start calling you Jane Walsingham can be a daunting task, especially if you work an academic or artistic field.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
