Wednesday, May 10, 2006

What's in a name?

After toying around with a few alternatives i've made my decision. As of October 21st I will become Mrs. Brandi Hasty. How permanent is this decision? After all, i've been flopping back and forth between china patterns for weeks now and i'm still not sure if i'm going to wear the gloves I bought for my dress. Well, in August I will allegedly be moving from my current office to my new office in a recently remodeled building on campus. Two weeks ago we donned hardhats and met with the architect to see our new digs among the ongoing construction. At the end of the tour he handed my boss a form to fill out for our sinage. So what would be by my new door?

I had pretty much always planned on changing my name. The hyphenation thing was just akward, and I have known so many awesome women like my mom who changed their name. Even my shero, my boss' wife changed her name. So why not me? It just feels right. I get giddy now when I use my debit card, knowing that it will be new and shiny in a few months. When I ordered the monogrammed tote bags for my bridesmaids gifts I ordered one for me too, with my married initials. I picture myself carrying it aboard our cruise ship for our honeymoon, the latest in a long line of Mrs. Hastys.

What it boils down to for me, and for the author of this article, is that if taking my husbands name is a crucial blow to feminism then we really haven't come as far as we think we have. There are so many other things to worry about and fight for. For heavens sake there is a law going through congress right now to give insurance companies the right to not have to cover mamograms or birth control pills! How fucked up is that? And someone's going to get all pissy over what's on my driver's license? Fuck that shit. Feminism was and still is about choice. And i'm choosing a new name. If you don't want to, fine. More power to you. Just don't get all up in my business when i'm in front of you at the DMV with my marriage license and a goofy grin.

(Note: you may need to watch a breif ad to read the article if you don't subscribe to Salon.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you! I always thought that hypenating stuff was a bunch of crap, myself! Brandi Hasty. Yep, that sounds fine to me! And you drop your middle name anyway and take your maiden name, so what's the big deal? Brandi Gooch Hasty. Sounds great! I love it! WooHoo! Brandi Gooch Hasty. Brandi Gooch Hasty. Brandi Gooch Hasty. Brand Rai Gooch Hasty. Brandi Hasty. Sounds and looks like a good fit! I say go with it, sweetie!
~mom~

Anonymous said...

Hey babes. I always thought that I would hyphenate my name. Depends on how much I like my husband's name. My hunneh's last name is Martin. Candice Gooch-Martin. That sounds okay. Depends on how much more time I want to spend signing my signature. I don't know. If his last name was Shalapalatatl, that would be different. Brandi Hasty sounds great to me. *hugs*

Candice :)

Anonymous said...

Your are Excellent. And so is your site! Keep up the good work. Bookmarked.
»