The name's the thing

A question:  Will the rise of social media mean fewer women change their names on marriage?

Finding people on Facebook relies largely on knowing their name, or recognising it in someone else's friend list.  And usernames for Twitter are often based on a person's name.  In some social media cases you can't even change the username at all after you've set up your account.  Your username, and thus your real life name if they're related, becomes a marker of your presence and a trace of your wise (or not) thoughts. 

Not changing your name when you marry* has been stereotyped as the preserve of the professional middle class woman, who is possibly motivated by feminism, but more likely seeking to continue her "brand" in her chosen career.  I suspect there are in fact quite a few cultures where keeping your name is more common than changing it, but in Aotearoa New Zealand I still get called Mrs more often than Ms. 

Your thoughts, dear readers? 


*  Does anyone know if there's any data yet on name changes with civil unions?

Sexual assault victim speaks out on name suppression

In a meta moment, the Herald reports on an interview in the NZ Women's Weekly:

The teenage girl indecently assaulted by a prominent musician has broken her silence, saying that even police tried to dissuade her from pursuing charges against him.

In an exclusive interview in this week's New Zealand Woman's Weekly, Brittany Cancian, 17, demanded that the prominent entertainer be named. She said the case had left her wanting justice.

Brittany, of Lower Hutt, revealed that police advised her that the musician was offering $200 to charity and told her that she should have "some compassion" towards him. "My dad went berserk about that."

Brittany told the Woman's Weekly that she had been treated like a "dog". "I felt like crap.

"I'm angry that he got name suppression. I think if he was a normal person, it would be different. I want people to know his name and I feel like the court has taken his side."

Click through for the rest of the article.

Will be interesting to see if the police do comment on the allegations that they basically tried to make this go away. Probably though they will just take Judy Callingham's advice about just saying no. I'm sure many many police do good work in the area of sexual violence, especially since the Louise Nicholas cases, however on the face of it looks like they are not there yet.

On this topic, readers may be interested in this post at Kiwiblog (and actually you need to read the comments to get the full tenor of it, they are nowhere near as bad as usual), in which David Farrar talks about his experience participating in a panel discussion on name suppression and the internet, and inadvertently lets the cat out of the bag. It's a good example of just how tricky this stuff is in the days of Web 2.0.

International Museum of Women

In their own words, the International Museum of Women

is a groundbreaking social change museum that inspires global action, connects people across borders and transforms hearts and minds by amplifying the voices of women worldwide through global online exhibitions, history, the arts and cultural programs that educate, create dialogue and build community. With its unique focus on cultural change, I.M.O.W. advances the human right to gender equity worldwide.

It's an on-line museum, and currently it has an exhibition about Women, Power and Politics. Worth a look, and a bookmark.

The International Museum is on Facebook, and MySpace, and they run a community forum, with members from all over the world. It's another great way for women to connect on-line.