preview

Charles Plant Sexism

Decent Essays
Open Document

Charles Plant, in his Globe and Mail essay presents this conundrum: “as a grandpa-to-be, I have opinions on what my grandchild is named – if not any influence”, writing about his own, then later his daughter’s, struggles with naming their respective children. Plant goes into detail about our decidedly patriarchal naming system, and whether or not grandparents have any influence in the all-important tradition of the naming of a child. Stripped down to its most basic concepts, this essay is about one of the most prevalent forms of sexism: the tradition of naming all of our children after their paternal surname. Plant believes that children should carry their mother’s surname, though he concedes that mothers in turn carry their own paternal surname, revolutions must start from somewhere. He also highlights the fact that male sons often carry their father’s given and surname, often stylized as “Junior” or “the Second” and so on. He believes, and I agree, that this is an inherently sexist notion, and is one more step backwards from achieving …show more content…

Why is it only boys who are named after their father and called “Senior,” “Junior” and so on? Why not girls? Couldn’t a girl be named after her father? And more oddly, why aren’t girls named after their mother?” Other than the fact that I consider naming a child after oneself slightly pretentious, I believe that it also lessens a person’s self-identity, because not only do you share something that is meant to be unique (as one can be in a world of seven billion people), but you also have to live with expectations and responsibilities that come with the name. What if the person named William Campbell Quinn the Fifth decides not to have children? You have just defied the tradition set out by four generations before you. This is not a burden someone should have to bear, the burden of expectations from the day you were

Get Access