Girls and women are still under tremendous pressure to define themselves and their public identities relationally, in ways that men aren’t. Last year, after a seven-hour drive with a carful of children, I arrived at a hotel where, despite having used my credit card to secure a room, I could not check in. We were […]
While I always knew the politics of baby naming was a volatile sport, I didn’t fully understand how true that was until we shared our naming decisions with others. When I found out about my pregnancy in November—three months into what I like to call “the incubation”—my partner and I were firm on two things: […]
At 18, I added my mother’s last name to my signature. Is it worth it to me to explain to strangers where my names come from, and to suffer through bureaucratic confusion in order to feel complete when I see my name? Yes. In The Hairpin this week, Molly Caro May hopes for a “pro-choice situation for last […]
