Gender roles and traditions

This is interesting...

"Men Enter the Name Game"

I've always wondered about the likelihood of a man taking his wife's last name, but I've never really had the opportunity to get much feedback on it. I once asked a friend what he thought, and his words were something like, "Any man to do that would prove that he was whipped, and not a man." Maybe it wasn't that strong, but it sure wasn't a positive response. (I ought to take a survey to get responses from various people---men and women.) I'm not yet certain what I think... perhaps my nontraditional views stem from the influence of my former-hippie parents (yes, they have butterfly tattoos for wedding rings), and from their insistence that men and women are created equal (with important and beneficial differences, obviously). I wonder at the traditions and intitial reasons associated with surnames, and at the history of a woman being incorporated into a man's family, under his name. I think intention and rationale are key in issues like this....

Thoughts?

Comments

[Linda]

I think the man who was so strongly opposed to a man taking his wife's name and made the "whipped" comment, is identical in attitude to feminists who are equally vehemently opposed to women taking their husband's name, and look down on women who do so in the same way.

Another thing that strikes me about the "name game" is that the only way this question can ever arise is if you get married. So it's worthy of note that despite all the talk of marriage as an outdated institution, and women's economic independence making them less in need of husbands, and all the talk of blurring of gender roles, we still feel the need to form a pair with a person of the opposite gender.