By Jessica • 14 years ago

50% of Americans think women should be forced to take husbands’ last names


A new study presented at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco today shows that about 70% of Americans believe that women should take their husband’s last names when they get married and 50% think it should be a legal requirement.* Say what?
I knew that the majority of American women who marry men take their husbands last names – but shit is just shocking. Not to mention depressing.
Now as many of you know, I’m getting hitched (in like 7 weeks, craziness). The thought of taking Andrew’s last name never even occurred to me – not once. Why not? Because it’s not my name. Why would I change it? It’s not like it’s easier – it’s actively going out of my way to adopt someone else’s identity. (To be clear, I’m not hating on women who do decide to go this route – it’s just not for me, and I don’t get it.)
What’s really distressing about this news – Laura Hamilton, the study’s lead author says that when respondents were asked why they thought women should change their last names, “they told us that women should lose their own identity when they marry and become a part of the man and his family.”
“This was a reason given by many,” Hamilton said. Really? Things like this – deeply ingrained sexism – rarely shock me. But I am actually astounded that such an antiquated notion could be held onto by so many. (Though I’m still holding out hope that this study is proven to be bunk. Sigh.)
*And for those of you think the legal requirement thing is too out there to worry about, consider that it was not so long ago that a couple in Washington, DC was denied a birth certificate for their child because they wanted to give the baby the mother’s last name. Also, in 2004 a Pennsylvania court denied a petition from a woman who wanted her daughter to have a hyphenated last name; they said it was “in the best interests of the child” to have only her father’s last name.
Related: Two years and a lawsuit later, CA man gets his wife’s last name
What’s in a name?
Via Broadsheet.

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