After our class discussion on Tuesday, all I kept thinking
about was marriage. I thought about how common it is becoming for a woman to
not take a man’s last name when they get married. It is common for her to hyphen
her name. I’ve been noticing it more and more. Therefore, I have noticed that many
people give woman who hyphen their last name a dirty look or a snooty comment
under their breath. People come up with a bunch of goofy reasons why a woman hyphen’s
her name, things like she doesn’t really love the man, isn’t ready for the commitment,
or she wants her old name still so old
boyfriends can find her. It’s sad to think that just because you don’t want to
change your name completely people look down on you and say “oh you don’t like
the traditional gender roles.” I think that women should have the choice and
they shouldn’t feel socially pressured to change her name. So what if she
decides to not follow the norm, why do people have to automatically put a
negative association with it? Why do the women who decide to hyphen their name
feel the need to explain themselves? Does anyone else see hyphenated names
after marriage becoming more common or no? What are people’s thought about this
subject?
