Re: CHAT: "Mister" (WAS: Re: New Lang: Igassik)

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Adam Walker wrote:

> >From: Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
> >
> >If I ever get married, I'm keeping my family name, darnit.  Women do in
> >Korea (even though Korea isn't exactly the most woman-friendly of
> >cultures), and I have no desire to have some strange last name tacked
> >onto my identity.
>
> I find the last-name-of-married-women thing very interesting.  Western
> cultures change the womans last name because historically viewed the woman
> as the property of her husband.
>
> I used to think the Eastern custom showed more respect for the woman until I
> read somewhere (now long forgotten) that the Chinese woman did not change
> her name because she was not viewed as a true part of the family.  She was
> some kind of foreign interloper in her father-in-law's house.  As proof
> examples were offered of the woman's status in the household and the fact
> that all relatives on the mother's side are prefixed with "wai" meaining
> "outside" or "foreign".
Depends on the Asian culture, but in Korean culture that is entirely
correct, at least post-Confucius.  I should ask around and find out what
the custom was *before* Confucianism arrived, when we even had reigning
queens.  I am given to understand that Korean society was rather less
chauvinist in that period.

My mom told me women were once stricken from the family records when they
were married off into another family, or something like that.  I don't
know if that's still true.  Our own family records are in a shambles from
both sides due to the Japanese occupation and Korean War.

YHL