(no subject)

[wildestranger]

Newly married Ashlee Simpson is changing her name to Ashlee Wentz in honor of her husband, Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz.

"I think that that's something that a woman should do when they're marrying a man," she tells PEOPLE. "It's a tradition that I think is a great tradition."

Seriously? A great tradition? You mean the tradition which declares that a woman who has been her father's property now becomes her husbands' property, that tradition? The one that says a woman's identity should depend on her husband?

I just lost what little respect I had for Ashlee Simpson. And the fact that Pete Wentz seems to think it's a great idea, something that gratifies him, makes me think a lot less of him as well.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I always hated my original last name, so when I was 30 I changed it to a middle name some members of my mother's family used. Then when I was 35, I got married, and I took his last name and used the other one as a middle name. I don't feel like I gave up any identity, but that I added bonus identity.

[wildestranger.livejournal.com]

My objection is more to her doing it because she feels this is something that women should do. Your choice to change your name is absolutely your choice, and there are a number of good reasons to do that - I just don't think that being part of a 'great tradition' is one. I'm very keen on the right of any individual to choose how they are called (while I disapprove of Ashlee Simpson's reasons for doing this I would defend her right to do so), but there's a difference between making that choice because you feel that in your individual circumstances this is the best thing for you, and doing so because there's a normative practice that decrees how you should define yourself on gendered terms.

Um. Hope that makes sense?