The term spinster is in reference to a woman beyond child-bearing age who has not married. Sometimes, in early 1800s literature, it is only in reference to a woman beyond marriageable age. In layman terms, it is a woman beyond the ideal age for marriage to a man. “Old Maid” is a common synonym for spinster. It was used by society in the early 1800s all the way through to the early 1900s to comment on a woman’s lack of marriage to a suitable man, in essence to pro-create and provide a good, sound home for her husband.
Any woman who was not married beyond the appropriate age was labeled a spinster, for reasons that usually included lack of moral virtue, infertility (a barren womb, if I pull from Margaret Atwood), or frigidity in emotional and sexual situations.
Some women chose to remain spinsters, as they believed that they were to marry someone who suited them, instead of a man that they were best suited for. The lack of intention to get married was a step in the direction of women’s rights, women’s suffrage, for these women wanted a chance at equal choices about their futures, whether it be who they married, how they dressed, if they worked or not, and how they maintained the home (in accordance with both societal standards and their husbands’ standards).
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The term spinster is in reference to a woman beyond child-bearing age who has not married. Sometimes, in early 1800s literature, it is only in reference to a woman beyond marriageable age. In layman terms, it is a woman beyond the ideal age for marriage to a man. “Old Maid” is a common synonym for spinster. It was used by society in the early 1800s all the way through to the early 1900s to comment on a woman’s lack of marriage to a suitable man, in essence to pro-create and provide a good, sound home for her husband.
Any woman who was not married beyond the appropriate age was labeled a spinster, for reasons that usually included lack of moral virtue, infertility (a barren womb, if I pull from Margaret Atwood), or frigidity in emotional and sexual situations.
Some women chose to remain spinsters, as they believed that they were to marry someone who suited them, instead of a man that they were best suited for. The lack of intention to get married was a step in the direction of women’s rights, women’s suffrage, for these women wanted a chance at equal choices about their futures, whether it be who they married, how they dressed, if they worked or not, and how they maintained the home (in accordance with both societal standards and their husbands’ standards).
That was me above!
Stephanie Lestelle
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