She Section: Not in His Name - Epiblogue

Hi, everyone and happy Monday. I've been battling a bug these past few days and am kind of half alive at the moment but I wanted to post a quick thank you for all of your amazing comments on last week's name post. Your words and stories (and ideas) inspired a full on family conversation/debate on names, last names, the possibility of changing our family name someday to include all of us. (Fable was in favor of "The Funkybunch" family because she thought Fable L. Funkybunch sounded very funny and awesome.) And then another debate over whether "a man taking his wife's name was any better than a woman taking her husband's name."

You want the answers to all of life's tough questions? Ask your kids. They will answer from a place of "fairness" more than any adult ever will. 

Anyway. We had this conversation and then, a couple days later, The Contender was on TV and I watched it and was thinking, "wow, this is a pretty great movie," right up until the ending when, after two hours of feeling empowered by feminism humanism, yeah! the film closes to a black screen with big block letters that say "FOR OUR DAUGHTERS."

Basically, the filmmakers took a great movie and then killed it with that one line. Why? Because equal rights and treatment of women isn't FOR OUR DAUGHTERS, but for EVERYONE. Because MEN and "our sons" ALSO benefit from equal rights. Because when you spend two hours telling the story of a politician who happens to be a woman and then make it all about her being a woman who also happens to be a politician you COMPLETELY undermine the entire point of your film.

Anyway, all this is to say that the last name debate is something I think is extremely important to have, no matter what choice is made on any side. Everyone is right to do what is right for them. That is what it means to be pro-choice. That is what it means to be pro-human. That is what it means to be feminist and humanist and fair.

The world is changing and I feel incredibly lucky to be raising children during this time. These conversations aren't just for our daughters but our sons, too.

Thank you, again, for your words and your stories. Much love and BRB.

GGC