Joseph McMillan;90405 wrote:

51%, huh? Is this because every single female in the population objects to male line descent of arms, or because—by a coincidence that staggers belief—the number of women who don’t have a problem with it is exactly offset by the number of men who do?

I have no idea - but one could project that women who don’t have an issue with it will "leave it to the men" and women that do will move on to something else, with just a few exceptions. :rolleyes:

And those few exceptions are offset by the number of men who do…  :D

Family history and heritage has never, in my experience at least, been tied to gender; a woman is likely to treasure her spouse’s family heritage as highly as her own, and vice-versa.

The focus on male-line descent of arms is IMO merely an accident of history, not especially relevant—& certainly not controlling—in a society which nowadays allows spouses of both genders considerable flexibility in picking which surname to bear.

Rather than presenting heraldry as a closed system operating independently of the rest of everyday life, we should IMO present it as it now actually is (or should be) in this time & place—as a reflection, and merely a reflection, of individual & familial identity.  That’s one of the main themes in our Guidelines, and one that we should keep in the forefront of our discussions with newbies as well as veterans of our treasured art & science.