Now Romany - stop being such a bully!

Happy New Year to you, wherever you end up.

This is not all that trivial an issue. Names carry immense symbolic and practical importance.

Under the traditional surname system, a family name can die out in as little as one generation due to the lack of sons. For example, despite my mother being one of 12 children, her family's name is now lost. Out of her 5 brothers, one died young, one never married, one married but died childless, and the others had daughters only. I know from general conversation with my extended family that many of us feel a small but significant sense of grief at the name loss - especially as this was the generation that first came to Australia as migrants.

From a practical point of view, and for anyone who has ever organised a school reunion or tried to trace their family tree, the name-change factor means that tracking down females after a period of time has elapsed takes a lot more time, effort and money than tracking down males. One simple and practical solution to this would be for the government to introduce a name-change Registry that is readily available to the public.

While less can be done to practically address the symbolic loss of family names, it is heartening to know that more people are now taking alternative options - e.g. some men assuming their wives' names, some children assuming their mothers' maiden names. I do believe that this is a positive trend and an important by-product of feminism.

[PS Has anyone ever noticed that some US TV shows like Law and Order still refer to a married woman by her husband's surname AND common name - e.g. Mrs John Smith, Dr and Mrs Michael Jones? Yuk! How can a supposedly liberal TV show, produced in a country that sees itself as the moral leader of the world, still uphold such an archaic and demeaning gender practice?)

Ah CJ -

Reckon I should put "Stop bullying" on my Resolution list, huh?

Thanks for the seasonal wishes - might be hard to believe, but until you wrote that and I looked at the calender, I had no idea it was New Years Eve. The whole Uni is quiet and still under the spell of exams and I'm surrounded by stacks of end-of-term papers - not a drunken yobbo in sight. Doesn't feel like New Year's Eve at all.

May 2009 bring you all that you wish from it.

Romany

I might be able to answer your query re what constitutes an 'aggressive feminist'.

After thinking at length on the issue, I would say that the term applies to those feminists who do one or more of the following on a semi-regular basis:

- invade a country
- blow up a crowded marketplace (along with themselves)
- hijack an aeroplane
- lynch innocent men within the glow of a burning cross
- use incendiary wording such as 'patriarchy', 'male privilege' or even 'feminism'
- make provocative claims about gender inequality, e.g. that more women get raped by men than vice versa
- apply for a grant to research anything at all about women.

Hope this is of some help...

Happy New Year to you and to everyone.

I had to suppress a giggle as I read your article Nina, as the words, "chlamydia" went through my mind.

Romany: re what constitutes an 'aggressive feminist'.

SJF's list is a start; but I think it needs also to include such unacceptable behaviour as:

- thinking they can think for themselves
- failing to kow-tow to men's sexual urges on demand
- falling over at the first blow from their man and running off to a woman's shelter
- refusing to have the tea on the table promptly at 6 o'clock and failing to keep the beer at the right temperature
- considering they are fit to stand for Parliament.

Happy New Year to you all.