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

>From: Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
>Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 13:42:16 -0400
>
>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.
>
>YHL
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".

It seems women couldn't get a decent break whichever way the cookie
crumbled.  Still don't get the best of breakes.

Adam

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