(Photo courtesy pexels.com)
RENO, Nevada — What’s in a last name? Muscle, apparently. Men married to women who opt to keep their maiden names after tying the knot are often viewed as less masculine and lacking pants in the relationship, according to researchers.
The 2017 study out of the University of Nevada involved three related studies in the United States and United Kingdom. Study authors were hoping to learn how a woman’s decision to keep her last name affected how others perceived her husband.
The researchers’ first two studies found that whenever a husband’s last name differed from that of his wife’s, he was frequently described in ways that both deemphasized his masculinity and overemphasized any feminine characteristics.
Meanwhile, previous research has shown that wives who shun the time-tested naming tradition enjoy a number of benefits, including higher social status and perception of power, along with increased self-focus, ambition, and assertiveness.
These qualities run counter to older, rigid portrayals of women, which depict them as kind and nurturing, yet powerless, the researchers note.
“A woman’s marital surname choice therefore has implications for perceptions of her husband’s instrumentality, expressivity, and the distribution of power in the relationship,” says Rachael Robnett, the study’s lead author, in a journal release. “Our findings indicate that people extrapolate from marital surname choices to make more general inferences about a couple’s gender-typed personality traits.”
Robnett’s third study showed that men who held steadfast beliefs on traditional gender roles showed increased prejudice against husbands who didn’t share their last name with their spouse, seeing him as disempowered.
“We know from prior research that people high in hostile sexism respond negatively to women who violate traditional gender roles,” she explains. “Our findings show that they also apply stereotypes to nontraditional women’s husbands.”
While societal change benefiting women has continued at a steady pace, many feminists still wonder when women will no longer be expected to take on their husband’s surname, which they regard as an obsolete practice.
“The marital surname tradition is more than just a tradition,” Robnett argues. “It reflects subtle gender-role norms and ideologies that often remain unquestioned despite privileging men.”
The study’s findings are published in the journal Sex Roles.
Paper Summary
Methodology Breakdown
The researchers conducted three interconnected studies to explore their hypotheses. In the first study, 139 U.S. college students were asked to describe a man whose wife kept her surname after marriage, with their responses coded into various categories. The second study involved 72 adults in the UK who were randomly assigned to read about a couple where the wife either changed her name or kept her own, then rated the husband on masculine/feminine traits and relationship power. The third study followed a similar experimental design with 144 U.S. college students, but also included a measure of hostile sexism to examine how participants’ attitudes influenced their ratings.
Results
The studies consistently showed that when a wife kept her own name, her husband was perceived as less masculine/instrumental, more feminine/expressive, and as having less power in the relationship. These effects were most pronounced among participants with more sexist attitudes. In the first study, about half of the participants described the husband using feminine traits. The second and third studies demonstrated statistically significant differences in how the husband was perceived based on his wife’s surname choice.
Limitations
While insightful, the studies had several limitations. They relied on hypothetical scenarios rather than real couples, and participants had limited information about the couples beyond the name choice. The samples were not fully representative of the general population, and the research focused only on heterosexual couples. Additionally, the complex, multifaceted nature of power in relationships was measured using a simplified approach.
Key Takeaways
The research suggests that marital naming traditions both reflect and potentially reinforce traditional gender roles and power dynamics. Breaking with the surname tradition can lead to stereotyping of both women and men, with sexist attitudes amplifying negative perceptions of men whose wives keep their names. The pressure to conform to masculine norms may help explain the persistence of the surname tradition. These findings have implications for couples making surname decisions and reveal subtle mechanisms through which gender inequality is maintained in society.
Funding/Disclosures
The researchers did not report any specific funding sources for this study. They acknowledged Paul Nelson for providing feedback on an earlier draft and Desiree Melton for assistance with coding. No conflicts of interest were disclosed in relation to the research.
Note: This article was first published November 27, 2017.
Every 17 seconds an antiquated thinker gets dropped in their forever box. My eyes (and mind) are forward.
I’d advise any woman who thinks she needs to get married to run like hell from any insecure piece of shit that needs to own another person and tries to change who you are – down to your very name. In fact, there is no reason for marriage what so ever. Women your uterus works without a piece of paper and a man trying to own you like property. Buy your own home, pay your own way, make you own babies, and when men realize the fantasy of a “man’s world” is a bag of bull shit they can cry alone or get their shit together and start treating women with the respect we deserve. The author of this article, the study, the morons who think you’re less of a man for ‘allowing’ a woman to be herself, all of them are in for a big surprise. Women don’t need men. Men need women. Reality check bitches – this is a WOMAN’S WORLD Deal with it.
To the future we go! Antiquated thinkers are just that!
This is only a perception, a general viewpoint of majority. I never view men as less masculine solely for this. Being masculine for me, is able to respect, god-fearing, disciplined, humble, etc. His main responsibility in marriage is to LOVE his wife. Though, men and women differ in roles. EACH role is EQUALLY important. Men and Women complement, each should work for each other NOT against. Marriage is not a liability, ONLY, if you fear God and keep his commandments. Marriage is a GIFT, but only few sees it so.
Surprised this was the “published” conclusion of the study, considering most studies of this nature are conducted by liberals for liberal publications. Liberals, being inherently dishonest will always skew results to favor their desired outcome, position, or opinion. In a liberals mind, the end always justifies the means. As for men marrying a woman who insists on keeping her name, or worse, hyphenating his name, or WORSE – taking his wife’s name…. all are pu$$ies – the lot of ’em.
When a woman doesn’t take her husband’s name they are both participating in the Marxist deconstruction of the family.
“wives who shun the time-tested naming tradition enjoy a number of benefits, including higher social status and perception of power, along with increased self-focus, ambition, and assertiveness.” Yeah. They are the new feminist power-brokers in top positions in academia and government, whose maiden names attest to their Liberal bona fidees.
I wouldn’t marry a woman that insisted on keeping her last name. Women’s liberation and the Gloria Steinem’s of this world has ruined marriage and the stupid women have fallen for it. She’s a nasty woman.