The Guardian are getting their feministy knickers in a twist. Again. This time they're having a pop at Rebekah Wade for choosing to take her husband's name when she got married. She's Rebekah Brooks now, but according to Michele Hanson, she's "letting down thousands of women". Er, why exactly? What's wrong with taking your husband's name when you get married?
I'm nowhere near getting married, so I can't say for sure whether or not I would take my husband's name. Honestly, I think I would. But even if I did, that doesn't make me any less of an independent woman (jeez, I feel like I need Destiny's Child playing in the background). Even if I didn't take my husband's name, that doesn't change things either. You know when married people say that they don't feel very different after getting married? I believe them. It doesn't matter if they've changed their name or not.
But you know what? It's no one's business but my own. If I choose to take someone's name, it's my choice. Just like it's my choice to get married in the first place. And it's my choice to walk down the aisle in a pair of trainers if I feel like it. I don't care who you are, you don't deserve to be challenged in a national newspaper for falling in love and making a personal decision. If we're talking about this being anti-feminist (and Hanson apparently is) then to me that's a pretty poor form of feminism in itself. The feminism I know is about agreeing that other women might do things you don't agree with, but that's pretty damn cool because at least we have the choice to do something different. Women didn't fight to "retain their own names and independence". We fought for our independence. She's still got her own name. It's Rebekah.
Why didn't Wade take Ross Kemp's name? Maybe she just didn't feel like it then. Women change. I didn't ever want to get married or have kids not long ago. You change your mind. You grow. And sometimes you make decisions that when you look back on them you wouldn't dream of doing now. Even at 26 I can see that. You're all sorts of things in your lifetime, and Rebekah Brooks isn't just an editor, she's a wife, a daughter, a friend and everything else in between.
I don't believe that a person changes whether they take their husband's name or not. Just like taking someone's name doesn't mean you're more in love than someone who didn't. As for professionally? Rebekah's reputation in the industry goes a lot further than her name on a bit of paper. People know who she is. Now she's Rebekah Brooks. She doesn't stop being good at her job because she changed her name. That's ridiculous.
She didn't become less of a woman for doing something that made her happy. You aren't any less independent for falling in love and sharing your life with someone. Doesn't matter what your name is, it's just about one of the bravest things you can do.
Flickr image from re-ality's photostream.