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Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones-Smith. Which is more likely to be the feminist? Tannen points out that "all married women's surnames are marked," and these labels become a factor for judgment, while a male will never be judged for being a Mr. This struck me as the only indisputable form of being "marked" as a woman, yet I soon came to realize that even this may be flawed.

In many Asian cultures, particularly Chinese, women tend to keep their surnames as they get married. And to be perfectly candid, I didn't attribute this to an act of female empowerment, as I would have in Western culture. (Unfortunately, this is where my racial fixedness comes in, but that discussion is for another time.) I assumed this tendency was a tradition and simply a norm in society, making me doubt the validity of using surnames to measure being "marked."

From what I've found, like most cultures, the Chinese have a deeply patriarchal society where the family one is born into is heavily emphasized. In this sense, females keep their maiden names because they "belong to their father" ("Why I'm Keeping My Vietnamese Surname When I Marry"). Not only that, but the New York Times indicates that this difference in the last name also keeps her "an outsider in her husband's family." In fact, the Chinese would think, "doesn't letting a woman take your surname raise her status?"

Although this practice-- or lack of practice, in this case-- doesn't necessarily call for explicit judgments of character, the surname retention may subconsciously lead to sentiments of inferiority as a female. All names indicate something about a person--presumably, their race--but females are further marked for their status.

Comments

  1. LanceFebruary 2, 2020 at 8:22 AM

    Though names usually have 3 Chinese characters, but they also at times have 4, 1st one being their husband's. As like in other oriental cultures, only males, can formally carry on the family name. I think the retention of her own's, is to mark her side of the family's name, in her own personal way out of recognition and respect, more than any other grounds, it's like Hillary Rodham Clinton.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Abby RizkFebruary 2, 2020 at 9:08 AM

    I love how you did research and applied the text to your own culture. I do find it interesting that only some parts of the world change their surnames, and I agree that Tannen's argument is flawed in this way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julia StarrFebruary 2, 2020 at 11:11 AM

    I liked how you incorporated research in your post, I wasn't really aware that other cultures didn't even change their surnames which I found interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ben prydeFebruary 2, 2020 at 11:44 AM

    I think you did a really good job on teaching the reader about Chinese characters and what they mean. Good job

    ReplyDelete

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