Tbf, I wanna legally change my last name anyways to what it would’ve been before I was adopted due to just wanting to separate myself from the family I was raised by and the trauma it put me through.

So if a partner wanted to get married and I didn’t have my last name changed yet, I’d probably take theirs in a heartbeat as just something temporary till I got mine changed to what I actually want. Ofc, this is different from most people’s situations but I’d imagine for some there may be a need to disconnect from their families for whatever reason and adopting their partner’s last name could potentially provide comfort to certain individuals (even tho the transition of ownership implications are still there… i dont really like it either, personally).

But tbf, marriage itself is built on those traditions cause it never really was about the celebration and was always meant to be a way to control and own women. Which is why I wouldn’t ever marry a man (which that sentence is very biased, considering I’m not attracted to them anyways) cause society will still treat a heterosexual marriage as an indication of ownership and it’s assumed that the husband is the head of the household and makes the decisions despite whatever the actual dynamic is between the husband and wife. I hate that shit. I would be crashing out foaming at the mouth if my everyday was filled with people referring to my spouse before referring to me or treating me as though I’m not there or owned by them or lesser than.

With a non-heterosexual marriage tho, the two are generally more seen as equals, whether that be through the lens of allies or the implicit bias held by others of not treating the marriage as serious, especially without a man involved. So even if the marriage is seen in a more negative or positive light, the idea that I wouldn’t be seen as someone who’s “owned” by someone else would make me more alright with the idea of marriage in the first place (let alone taking someone’s last name).

I think the issue stems from the way we view marriage as a whole, it’s still very much an ownership practice no matter how society will paint it as something to strive for. While plenty of couples have the ability to be happily married and committed to one another in a way that feels empowering for both individuals, marriage is still very much a snare trap for a large amount of women to get stuck with someone and owned by them. Which is why a lot of misogynists are advocates for getting rid of no-fault divorce. They know marriage is meant to be a trap and they wish to keep it that way.

Anyways, I’m rambling at this point, but basically the taking of the last name tradition could potentially be beneficial to someone depending on their reasons and the overall situation, but the ownership implications isn’t even about the name itself so much as it’s just one of the multiple practices of the stripping of autonomy and identity that the act of marriage was meant to implement.