Lucy Stoners Don't Need Boners

A lot of women are going back to traditional roles because they don't think there's any reason to fight anymore. We take women's rights for granted and assume that society naturally accepted them.

A lot of women laughed at me, a proud Lucy Stoner, when I kept my birth name when I got married. "Why would you want to do THAT?" they mocked. I'm no less married, no less committed than they are (if not more) and with the divorce rate nearing 60%, I'd say that marriage has a lot more to do with commitment than simply changing one's last name.

I worked very hard to make my name something I could be proud of, so why wouldn't I want to keep it? And who questions Julia Roberts or Reese Witherspoon's birth names? When a doctor keeps her birth name, women excuse it by saying that she worked hard for her doctorate. But every women has worked hard at their identity, whether an actor or doctor. Why do we devalue ourselves?