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Spinster
Spinster or old maid is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally denoted a woman whose occupation was to spin. The closest equivalent term for males is " bachelor" or "confirmed bachelor" (or, in cases of gay men, " he never married"), but this generally does not carry the same connotations in reference to age and perceived desirability in marriage. Etymology and history Long before the Industrial Age, "the art & calling of being a spinster" denoted girls and women who spun wool. According to the ''Online Etymological Dictionary'', spinning was "commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote" an unmarried woman in legal documents from the 1600s to the early 1900s, and "by 1719 was being used generically for 'woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it'". As a denotat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single (relationship)
In legal definitions for Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal status, a person who is single is an individual not in a committed relationship, married, or part of a civil union. Reasons people remain single People may be or remain single for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited to) one or several of the following: * Celibacy or sexual abstinence * Aromanticism * Asexuality * Asociality * Financial duress * Their mental health * Pursuing educational or professional advancement * Lack of suitable partners * Changes in perceptions of the necessity of marriage * In some cases, single people may be uninterested in marriage, domestic partnership, or other types of committed relationships. * Traumatic experiences including domestic violence, dysfunctional family, rape and/or sexual assault * The increasing trend of marrying later in life and cohabitation * Those with a neurodevelopmental disorder, such as those on the autism spectrum, can find it difficult to initiate, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymology A bachelor is first attested as the 12th-century ''bacheler'': a knight bachelor, a knight too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner. The Old French ' presumably derives from Italian ', but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed.bachelor, ''n.'' Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1885. The proposed Medieval Latin">linguistic reconstruction">proposed Medieval Latin * ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages, rather than from the southern French and northern Spanish Latin . Alternatively, it has been derived from Latin ' ("a stick"), in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in training. History From t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in New England by her Transcendentalism, transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Encouraged by her family, Louisa began writing from an early age. Louisa's family experienced financial hardship, and while Louisa took on various jobs to help support the family from an early age, she also sought to earn money by writing. In the 1860s she began to achieve critical success for her writing with the publication of ''Hospital Sketches'', a book based on her service as a nurse in the American Civil War. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality. Jeffreys' argument that the " sexual revolution" on men's terms contributed less to women's freedom than to their continued oppression has both commanded respect and attracted intense criticism. She argues that women suffering pain in pursuit of beauty is a form of submission to patriarchal sadism; that transgender people reproduce oppressive gender roles and mutilate their bodies through sex reassignment surgery; and that lesbian culture has been negatively affected by emulating the sexist influence of the gay male subculture of dominant/submissive sexuality. She is the author of several books about feminism and feminist history, including ''The Spinster and Her Enemies'' (1985), ''The Sexuality Debates'' (1987), ''Anticlimax'' (1990), ''Unpacking Queer Polit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bachelorette
''Bachelorette'' (/ˌbætʃələˈrɛt/) is a term used in American English for a Single person, single, unmarried woman. The term is derived from the word ''bachelor'', and is often used by journalists, editors of popular magazines, and some individuals. "Bachelorette" was famously the term used to refer to female contestants on the old ''The Dating Game'' TV show and, more recently, ''The Bachelorette (American TV series), The Bachelorette''. In older English, the female counterpart term to "bachelor" was "spinster". However, this has acquired negative connotations and, when used now, tends to imply that the unmarried woman is too old to find a husband and have children. A bachelorette may have previously been in a relationship. In Canada, the term ''bachelorette'' also refers to a small bachelor apartment (an apartment with only one large room serving as a bedroom and living room plus a separate bathroom—i.e. a studio apartment). Derivation The more proper neologism w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cat Lady
A cat lady is a cultural archetype or stock character, most often depicted as a middle-aged or elderly spinster or widow, who has many cats. The term may be pejorative, or it may be affectionately embraced. Usage and association Women who have cats have long been associated with the concept of spinsterhood, widowhood or even witchcraft. In more recent decades, the concept of a cat lady has been associated with "romance-challenged (often career-oriented) women". The term "cat lady" has also been used as a pejorative term towards women without children, regardless of if they actually own cats. Depending on context, the ordinarily pejorative word "crazy" may be prepended to "cat lady" to indicate either a pejorative or a humorous and affectionate label. Some writers, celebrities, and artists have challenged the gender-based "Crazy Cat Lady" stereotype, and embraced the term to mean an animal lover or rescuer who cares for one or multiple cats, and who is psychologically healt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kate Bolick
Kate Bolick (born 1972) is the author of New York Times bestseller ''Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own''. She is also a contributing editor for ''The Atlantic,'' and host of "Touchstones at The Mount," an annual literary interview series at Edith Wharton’s country estate in the Berkshires Bolick attended Colby College and New York University. Career Kate Bolick is most well known as the author of New York Times bestseller ''Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own''. In addition to her work with ''The Atlantic'', Bolick contributes writing to ''Elle'', ''Cosmopolitan'', ''Vogue'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The Wall Street Journal'', among other publications. Previously, Bolick was the executive editor of ''Domino'', as well as a columnist for ''The Boston Globe's'' Ideas Section. Bolick's appearances include ''The Today Show'', CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR programs around the country. She teaches at Yale University. ''Spinster: Making a Life of O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherinette
Catherinette was a traditional French label for a woman of twenty-five years who was still unmarried by the Feast of Saint Catherine (25 November). A special celebration was offered to them on this day and everyone wished them a swift end to their single status. Although the term has become rather old-fashioned in France, it is still sometimes used to refer to 25-year-old single women. The derogatory terms ''spinster'' and ''old maid'' were used in a similar context in the English-speaking world. In modern China, the slang term sheng nu describes "leftover women". Origin Since the Middle Ages, women had been under the protection of Saint Catherine (whilst Saint Nicholas cared for men). Women who participated in the group devoted to their saint were responsible for the confection of a beautiful headdress to "cap" her statue each year on 25 November. Young women left the group when marrying, hence "capping Saint Catherine" became synonymous with "still being a single woman at/ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hand Spinning
Spinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibres are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fibre was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff. After the introduction of the spinning wheel in the 13th century, the output of individual spinners increased dramatically. Mass production later arose in the 18th century with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Hand-spinning remains a popular handicraft. Characteristics of spun yarn vary according to the material used, fibre length and alignment, quantity of fibre used, and degree of twist. History The origins of spinning fibre to make string or yarn are lost in time, but archaeological evidence in the form of representation of string skirts has been dated to the Upper Paleolithic era some 20,000 years ago. There has also been recent discovery of plied cord spun by Neanderthals and dating back 41,000-52,000 years. In the earliest type of spinning, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banns Of Marriage
The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town council, of an impending marriage between two specified persons. It is commonly associated with the Catholic Church, the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), the Church of England (Anglican), and with other Christian denominations whose traditions are similar. In 1983, the Catholic Church removed the requirement for banns and left it to individual national bishops' conferences to decide whether to continue the practice, but in most Catholic countries the banns are still published. The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise any canonical or civil legal impediments to the marriage, so as to prevent invalid marriages. Impediments vary between legal jurisdictions, but would normally include a pre-existing marriage that has been neither dissolve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Stigma
Stigma, originally referring to the visible marking of people considered inferior, has evolved to mean a negative perception or sense of disapproval that a society places on a group or individual based on certain characteristics such as their socioeconomic status, gender, race, religion, appearance, upbringing, origin, or health status. Social stigma can take different forms and depends on the specific time and place in which it arises. Once a person is stigmatized, they are often associated with stereotypes that lead to discrimination, marginalization, and psychological problems. This process of stigmatization not only affects the social status and behavior of stigmatized persons, but also shapes their own self-perception, which can lead to psychological problems such as depression and low self-esteem. Stigmatized people are often aware that they are perceived and treated differently, which can start at an early age. Research shows that children are aware of cultural stereotyp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
He Never Married
"He never married" or "she never married" was a phrase used by British obituary writers as a litote for the deceased having been homosexual. Its use has been dated to the second half of the 20th century; it may also be found in coded and uncoded forms, such as when the subject never married but was not homosexual. A similar phrase is "confirmed bachelor". Usage Conventional obituaries concluded with a summary of the members of the immediate family of the deceased, typically the spouse, if surviving, and children. The phrase "He never married" thus became a staple euphemism of obituary writers used to imply that the subject was homosexual. Sex between men in England and Wales was illegal until 1967, so few men were openly gay. The ambiguity of the phrase has been commented on, however, by a number of sources. In 1999, James Fergusson, writing in ''Secrets of the Press'' about the coded language of obituaries that he compared with the clues in a cryptic crossword, commented, He n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
