American actress Zoe
Saldana has responded to criticism following her husband's decision to adopt
her surname after marriage. It's usually women who take their partner's name -
but are things changing?
"Why is it so surprising, shocking- eventful that a man
would take his wife's surname?," asks Zoe Saldana on her Facebook page.
"Men, you will
not cease to exist by taking your partner's surname. On the contrary you will
be remembered as a man who stood by change," she writes.
More women are keeping
their surnames, or hyphenating them with their partners', but the patriarchal
tradition of a man holding onto his prevails.
But times, and names,
are slowly changing.
Ben Martin (nee
Coghill) is one of a new breed of men, who are taking their wife's surname.
Ben Coghill changed his surname after marriage
The 32-year-old music
promoter from Glasgow, Scotland, says he didn't think anything of it.
"I really liked
the sound of my wife's name - Rowan Martin - and didn't want to spoil that with
her changing it."
At the beginning,
Ben's sister had some concerns it would be the end of the line for the family
name, but she was soon won over. "I explained to her, 'what's in a name',
it doesn't really matter. It wouldn't make a difference," he said.
"It shows I don't
buy into this idea of patriarchy, and that I'm comfortable enough with who I am
that I don't see it as anything at all."
It's difficult to know
how many other men are following Ben Martin or Marco Saldana's lead because all
of the research into married names focuses on a woman's decision.
BBC
0 comments:
Post a Comment