"I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."
I'm Australian and I think that will pretty much explain a lot of weird things that I say or do.
Why does wanting to keep my own name, my identity, if marrying seem like such ‘extreme’ thing to everyone? Why would I change it, why give up my name?
Why does no one question this either, particularly when the tradition stems from a place of misogyny and ownership over women?
How many men are expected to change their names upon marrying? How many are questioned incessantly (often by close family and friends, of all people) on why they aren’t taking their wives names, or told they are ‘ruining the family’, that they are extreme for wanting to keep their names?
Why is my name seen as inherently less important because I have a vagina????
And why can no one grasp the fact that my name is my name and I’m not changing it for anyone
