Men viewed as more feminine, lacking pants if wives keep last name, study finds

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, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of Nevada conducted three related studies in the United States and United Kingdom, hoping to learn how a woman’s decision to keep her last name affected how others perceived her husband.

Bride holding wedding rings
A new study finds that a man is viewed as less masculine and disempowered when his wife keeps her maiden name after marriage.

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 researchers published their findings last week in the journal Sex Roles.

Comments

      1. it’s not like your wife allows you to do much, is this all you have after you wash her feet when she gets home?

    1. Always “new”? Don’t you mean “knew”? English is not your first language?
      What are conservative males? Child molesters? Alabama just rejected a crazy conservative freak.

    1. The left needs a study to figure itself out. The left even did a study couple of years back where they were surprised to learn that men and women are different after all. What a shocker it must have been to them.

    1. Hilarious, what BS. Never changed my name and have been married almost 36 years. Men who make an issue of this are insecure.

      1. Wow…it is truly like you live under a rock. Thanks for making me laugh today though..ha

  1. Even worse when they keep their previous married name. Best to just screw them and leave them alongside the road. Otherwise you will find yourself the subject of #metoo. Cows on stampede. Never before have so many ugly to the bone angry women been given a platform to bitch. They hurt all the normals.

    1. If there are children involved with the ex, that I can start to understand why keeping their previous last name. Other then that, I agree with you.

  2. Are you surprised? Any man who marries a woman who insists on keeping her maiden name is pretty much pussified anyway.

      1. Why is Open Borders and “diversity” demanded in All and ONLY white populations?

        is Open Borders a white ‘privilege’?

        That’s why we say #Anti White

    1. BS. If you believe this as a man you are very insecure in your masculinity and are a control freak. Name changing for marriage is becoming obsolete.

      1. Whose name do the children use if their parents have different names? Or do they use both? Names would never end if they did that. The man is the king of the castle. Women respect the alpha male. Men and women are obviously very very different.

      2. Alpha male? What are we -dogs? Do you call women bitches as well? If my husband ever spoke the way you have here, I would have zero respect for him. King of the castle? Women respect the alpha male? No… I’m sorry. Women do not respect men who view themselves this way; they fear or tolerate them.

        A true man loves his wife as himself, serves her with his strength, and submits himself before God. He’s a leader by example. He is the kind of man that good people love and evil people fear. He is the kind of man that doesn’t demand respect but understands that respect has been given to him because of the way he lives his life. A good man doesn’t need to demand anything – people want to serve and love him.

      3. They’re both. I agree with you but I also agree with John G. Accept it. it’s the way it is.

      4. Your second paragraph is 100% true. Why are you being double minded???? Sounds like you have been in an abusive relationship. When paragraph 2 is true it shows that the man is the Alpha. When he is loving, his wife WANTs to take his name. He does not demand respect, he commands respect. The Bible is clear that the man is the Alpha and the female is to submit to him. She was created for HIM. Of course, he is commanded to love her as Christ loves the Church.

      5. Alpha is a term used to signify dominance. In the wild, this means the strongest dog which fights it’s way to the top. So yeah… I have beef with the term. I’ve met “alpha” males. They are a*holes. My husband is my leader and head of house, sure, and I married him because I respect his gentle and quiet spirit. Not because he was strong enough to fight me into submission.

      6. You have a hang up on the word “Alpha male” and now it’s the whole forums problem.

      7. you dont understand ‘ alpha’……….alphas just ‘ do’, they dont ask permission and the dont need or want female input. Im betting you think your opinion influences his decisions???

        t

      8. We’re primates. And you can lie to yourself all you want about our tribal primate nature, but it is innate and doesn’t give two S88ts about your Marxist programming.

      9. Ummmm… Do you actually know who Carl Marx was? Marx was an atheist. Please refrain from using historical figures when you don’t actually know what they stood for. It’s intellectually dishonest.

        If we are given in to our primal nature, women would be all for rape culture, since the strongest dog is the one who gets to mate. That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

      10. Marx believed in the state not in the individual. Marx was a perverted human being. Men do not need women, women MUST have men to survive.

      11. give it a rest, Amy. you are woefully ignorant. your second paragraph is good, but the first is really stupid.

      12. ask any female……….alpha or beta/omega…………women want bad boys. Good men dont give the time of day to females like you

      13. Ephesians: 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

        25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

        This country was founded on those beliefs. It’s what makes our country great. Unfortunately liberal domineering women are trying to be men. And that is helping to destroy our society. They’re turning young men into women. Promoting homosexuality. Destroying our society. The most important thing in any society is raising children properly. God and nature designated women to do that job. Not men. Women should take the name of their husband. The name gets passed down to the children. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it should remain.

      14. The man in the king of that castle, the alpha male? HAHAHAHAAAA!!!!
        That is ridiculously funny!

      15. That’s what “alpha male” makes me think of. A Neanderthal. A guy who dominates through force.

      16. that’s because you don’t even know what neanderthals were, and because that’s not what neanderthals did. Gosh, you are uneducated, but you spout your sophomoric “opinions” everywhere.

      17. wow, what naiveté. Alphas dont care about you……they dont dominate or control……they do what they want, regardless of your opinion. Alphas built this modern world we live in.

      18. This becomes complicated if the couple get divorced and the woman wants to change back to her maiden name or a previous husband’s name.

      19. I’m a conservative, don’t pretend to guess what or who I am from one or two comments on an anonymous comment section. So all the offended males attacking me think I’m a liberal or a man because I didn’t change my maiden name when I got married. Hilarious. I rest my case, insecure males can’t handle it.

      20. and women wonder where all the good men have gone. I feel sorry for your ‘boy’ of a husband.

      21. Ah, that’s cute. Easy to be manly in your mommy’s basement. All your rage because you don’t like a woman not taking her husbands name. Entertaining.

      22. Man shaming?Hilarious. Men come out of the woodwork to defend themselves over women not wanting to change their name? Holy crap, it’s worse than I ever imagined. You poor men.

      23. Why should a man get married in the first place, there is no advantage in it. Marriage is a liability for men, only the insane do it. You can have a child out of wedlock and still be treated exactly the same by the woman, courts, DSS, and CPS as if you were married. The advantage is you don’t lose half your stuff and get kicked out of your house because she says “I’m not happy.”

      24. Those men who marry women who do not name-change in their first marriage are pretty likely (100% in my experience) after they divorce to marry a woman who does name-change in their second marriage – which will usually occur in five to ten years and almost always before their hyphenated-named children graduate high school.

      25. In the many examples I know of, I have not seen that happen. There are millions of humans so I suppose anything can happen. But it is in general a low probability event in part because by the time of a second marriage more men and women are living rationally rather than ideologically – the advantage of experience. Having no experience I cannot comment on the divorce rate in the case you specify – could guess – but while I have knowledge of the case I spoke of, the case you speak of has been sufficiently rare that I have no knowledge to speak of other than that it is rare as hen’s teeth.

      26. The fact that he gets married twice, says it all. I can understand a guy getting married once, but twice is just pure stupidity.

      27. Thank you Mr Cuckhold. Expecting some BBC action tonight?? Please drink more soy to ensure your testosterone never rises above that of a newborn baby girl.

      28. So is Bruce Jenner. That’s tells me nothing about you. Get it??? You liberal morons need men like me to tell you what reality looks like.

      29. Really? Let us think practically for a moment. Gen one kid: 2 last names, gen two kids: 4 last name or just pick your favorite 2-3 last names,…. starting to see why you are idiot yet?

        Every half-wit lefty cannot manage to think 10 seconds down the road of inevitability.

      30. You make a lot of assumptions and judgements. No facts. It’s impossible to reason with the knuckle draggers like you. I bet you like little boys.

      31. knuckle draggers, faggots….who is making the judgements and assumptions? Ad Hom speaks volumes for your limited debate.

      32. There is no debate.Men who insist women be subserviant to them feel threatened and are insecure about themselves. Otherwise there would be no article and a bunch of outraged men commenting on it.

      33. Or you have a simple respect for tradition and the obvious practicality of an over 1000 year old tradition. Now which argument sounds more reasonable, mine or yours?

      34. Do you work outside the home for income? No kids, married about 6 years ………. why did you marry?

      35. I do have kids, did work, been married nearly 36 years. Reading comprehension seems to be a problem with a lot of the men coming after me.

    2. My wife kept her full maiden name and I’m still a shaved head, tattooed, cigar smoking, bourbon swilling, beer drinking, Harley riding, United States Marine Corp veteran. Recon BTW. You can kiss my ass. Punk!

      1. Could be a poser. A real tough guy doesn’t talk about being a “shaved head, tattooed, cigar smoking, bourbon swilling, beer drinking, Harley riding, old United States Marine Corp veteran”. There’s too much self-awareness in all that. It’s like the file clerk who shows a Purple Heart and brags about all the dudes he killed, while the retired Green Beret says nothing.

      2. Relax, tough guy. I’m sure you’re the most interesting man in the world. Cheers. 👴💔🚬🍷🍺⚓

      3. Bob G–I was married twice–the first time to an extremely–too extreme–manly man and the second time to a former Marine who was also all man, but confident enough to be kind and gentle with me. Both times I retained my maiden name because it was quite cool and along with my first name very unique. I offered both husbands my last name, but neither would take it. Maybe that’s the difference between being confident enough to marry a woman that could can keep her own name and not being so pussified as to take your wife’s name or hyphenate (although my last name is so cool, some men have legally changed their names to it–I call them wanna be).

      4. You are simply and totally insane if you think that any normal man is ever going to take the name of his wife or girlfriend – unless perhaps he is hiding out from the Yakuza! But even that seems far-fetched.

        And whatever your name last name might be, I can guarantee you that it is not all that magical and special. You sound wildly delusional – like a little girl enamoured with a special edition My Pretty Pony!

      5. twice? Why on earth would a man marry a divorced woman………you already showed you cannot keep your word……….a man doesnt need a woman with no morals/ethics but divorce lawyers need to eat too.

      6. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry. I’m proud of her. I thinking that most of these jack holes posting here are LGBTXYZ people.

      7. Huntington Learning Center tutoring high school kids in math and chemistry. With your attitude I’m betting you’re still dating Rosy Palm.

    3. Wow. Old stupid caveman stereotypes are alive and well. I guess a man is supposed to marry a little mousy thing who will stay quiet in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, and say “Yes, sir” to her lord and master. There is no practical reason why a woman should give up her own name in favor of the man’s since his name is no better, no more important, than hers. I would have NEVER married a man whose fragile ego insisted I take his name. A marriage license is not a receipt, a man doesn’t own a woman, for heaven’s sake, nor should he dictate every detail of her life. In full disclosure: I kept my maiden name after my husband and I married. I love it. It is much easier to spell than his and reflects my pride in my Scottish heritage. I have no connection to his name. We just celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary two weeks ago. It’s past time men stopped worrying about being “macho” and “manly” — most look silly acting like that, anyway — but rather concentrate on being better people who respect women and their rights.

      1. Thank you. Besides, how does all this account for the Quakers? Women in the Quaker religion (as well as some others) do not take their husband’s names and there is never any question about it. The children take their father’s name. NBD. Anyone can change his/her name at any time to whatever they want–what’s the difference. Look at Sean Combs–what number name is he up to at this point? I’m thinking of offering him my name next, although at a price…

      2. ” I guess a man is supposed to marry a little mousy thing who will stay
        quiet in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, and say “Yes, sir” to her
        lord ………..”

        This fictional woman would live like a queen………..

      3. It’s about traditional values. In civilized western society, there are some, and there are also some people who think they have a better idea, and have no respect for them. **I** personally have no respect for those people – far as I’m concerned, if they don’t want to be part of our society, and respect its values, they can go live in some other one, where values don’t exist, and people can do anything they want. If anarchy’s your thing, go for it. I want no part of it.

  3. Women who don’t take their husband’s name are more masculine, er, less feminine, if you know what I mean.

    1. That’s probably going to be the next trend, reverting back to their mother’s maiden name. Then they’ll be doing genealogies to find the earliest maiden name in their family line. Then, they’ll finally move to ban evil last names, altogether. First predicted here.

      1. Perhaps they’ll just all regress back to being called Eve as their last name? Or Budicca? Gaia? Or other such nonsense?

  4. Not surprising, I broke off a long term relationship after she refused to take my name. Just a sign of more insanity to come. Not only was she ultra liberal but turns out she was cheating. I’m all for strong women but some women think feminism is acting like pigs, stay away.

  5. The traditional institution of marriage has been replaced with what is often called Marriage 2.0. Marriage 2.0 was claimed to level the player it field in marriage between the husband and wife. What it does, instead, is put most women in a much superior legal position if the marriage falls apart.

    In most states, a non-working mother who cheats on her husband will be awarded primary custody of the children and is entitled to half his property (including things like 401Ks and pensions), child support and alimony. Depending on the length of the marriage, the husband may even be required to pay alimony for life. The fact that she is the one who cheated does not affect the outcome.

    Frankly, given the law today, men should think very hard before committing to marriage and, if they can afford it, consult with a good family lawyer about a prenuptial agreement to protect themselves as much as the law allows.

    1. The pendulum has swung….for a long time, the husband was everything and the wife was crap. Then, it swung…the wife is everything and the husband is crap. Hopefully, it’ll start swinging to the middle in my lifetime. But I doubt it.

      1. An astounding rebuttal. You got anything that even remotely resembles an arguement that disproves my statement?

  6. This is more of that special kind of research that EVERYONE already knows the answer to before there are millions in Federal grant money flushed down the toilet.

  7. Who would want a American bride ? Asian , Russian, Uranium even a plug a play doll would be better . US women are like a Rolls Royce auto , all sealed up under the hood.

  8. If they’d bothered asking they’d find that men who put up with this were considered less masculine long before they married a bossy-pants woman.


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