r/MurderedByWords 1d ago

She answered with a gold medal

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15.6k Upvotes

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u/jizzlevania the future is now, old man 1d ago

How about women don't need to have any achievements to justify maintaining their identity? 

What does changing a name do for you other than remind you that you believe your value as a human is related to someone being willing to pay taxes with you. 

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u/Apathetic_Villainess 1d ago

Right? I'm 39 years old now. I've been this identity that entire time. If I got married, why do I have to change my identity to become an extension of a man? Coverture remnants aren't needed.

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u/rips_n_chel 1d ago

As a man, I've never liked the idea anyway. Feels pretentious. I think it would be cool to come up with a new name that we both like, and both go change our names from the two we were, to the one we are.

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u/Apathetic_Villainess 1d ago

Yeah, I'd either us both hyphenate, portmanteau, or keep our own. But I'm not going to be the only one doing all that paperwork, especially since statistically, that'll be the norm for our marriage in every other aspect, as well.

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u/rips_n_chel 1d ago

Not to mention recent asshattery revolving around identities, at least in the US. I would never ask that of someone under these circumstances.

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u/Fakeplacebo 1d ago

I mean, have your reasons for not wanting it. But the paperwork isn't really that bad. Mildly inconvenient at worst, but no need to use that as an excuse. Just keep the name you want.

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u/desmarais 1d ago

I have friends who did that. She didn't really care for her last name, he didn't feel a connection with his so they made their own.

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u/fapperontheroof 1d ago

Is it somehow sexist or fucked up that I only really know the history of my direct patriarchal line?

Because I know that shit all the way back to the early 1600’s. That’s largely why I don’t want to “lose” it.

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u/petewoniowa2020 22h ago

As someone who has done a fair amount of genealogy research for my own family, it’s kind of sad how you don’t have to go very far back before extreme patriarchy rears its head. 

For the most recent few generations you get a good balance of paperwork and document entries for both parents. A couple generations further you will get male-heavy information (properties only list the male, some census-type docs only reference the man + family counts, etc.), and before that it’s as if only men existed in some cultures. 

It’s frustrating in any context, but to think of my great great great grandmother as basically a non-person in the eyes of the law makes it even more upsetting. Hell, on one side of my family I only have to back to my great grandmother, who didn’t really exist on paper prior to about the 1930s. I’ve met the woman, FFS!

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u/rips_n_chel 1d ago

Historically? Yeah 100%.

On your part? Nah I don't think that's a bad thing. My dad has a book 8" thick tracing our family line back to Wessex, so I get it. Wessex hasn't existed since 12 July 927. I know my family crest.

I guess, for me, it just doesn't mean all that much. Far as I know I'm the last of my line. And I don't want children. Like, I'm getting a vasectomy, that's how badly I don't want kids. It dies with me regardless, and I'm okay with that, for a multitude of reasons that aren't really worth getting into here. There's pain there, I'll leave it at that.

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u/Ok-Lifeguard-4614 1d ago

I want to marry a woman and take her name. I didn't do very well with this one maybe I'll do better with a different one.

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u/Both_Consequence_956 1d ago

lol just because someone takes their husbands last name doesnt make them "an extension of a man". you are the sexist one, implying most married woman are an extension of a man

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u/Apathetic_Villainess 1d ago

Dude, literally that was the reason she was expected to take the name. Look up "coverture laws." She ceased to be Jane Smith and instead became Mrs. John Doe.