#spinsterhood

[tathrin]

I remember being a kid and reading historical fiction/old books and encountering the exciting concept of a spinster for the first time.

And immediately being very #life_goals about it.

So in honor of hitting another "milestone birthday" today as an utterly unmarried and unattached single person, I would like to celebrate my having achieved that goal by any and all imaginable metrics.

Hell yeah, you aro-ace spinster, you (me). You did it.

[haggishlyhagging]

One of the most basic reversals of double-double think is the common contemptuous and pitying attitude toward "spinsters." We have seen that the first meaning given for spinster in Merriam-Webster is "a woman whose occupation is to spin." Another definition is "an unmarried woman—often used as a legal term." Moving on, we read that the term means "a woman past the common age for marrying or one who seems unlikely to marry—called also old maid." Next comes the term spinsterhood, whose definition comes right to the point: "the state or condition of being a spinster: OLD MAIDHOOD." Following this comes the term spinsterish, which is churlishly defined as "having the habits, appearance, or traits of a spinster: OLD-MAIDISH." In case anything should be left to the imagination, it is possible to look up old maid. We are informed that it means "a prim nervous person of either sex who frets over inconsequential details: FUSSBUDGET." The mendacious use of the expression "of either sex" is obvious, especially if one looks up bachelor and finds, of course, no reference to old maid, old-maidishness, or anything of the kind.

The functioning of the word spinster to contort women's minds into double-double think is clear. It has been a powerful weapon of intimidation and deception, driving women into the "respectable" alternative of marriage, forcing them to believe, against all evidence to the contrary, that wedlock will be salvation from a fate worse than death, that it will inevitably mean fulfillment. The alternatives, traditionally, have been the roles of prostitute, nun, or mistress. In more recent times, another alternative is the life-style of "swinging single," euphemistically called "bachelor girl." The process of re-claiming the meaning of spinster does not follow the route of affirming the "freedom" of the "swinging" bachelor girl, which is simply a variation on the theme of prostitute/mistress/wife. Instead it begins with reversing the reversal, seeing the basic unfreedom in all these feminine roles.

Like the women in Les Guérilleres, Spinsters proclaim:

The summer day is brilliant but more brilliant still is the fate of the young girl. Iron plunged into ice is cold but colder still is the lot of the young girl who has given herself in marriage. The young girl in the house of her mother is like seed in fertile ground. The woman under the roof of her husband is like a chained dog.

In essence, the Spinster is a witch. She is derided because she is free and therefore feared. Since derision is not powerful enough to stop her spinning, she is the object of attack by propaganda. Any cursory reading of a typical children's fairy tale book gives overwhelming evidence of the campaign against witches, which includes mothers, stepmothers, wicked queens, ogresses. It is not accidental that in the story of Sleeping Beauty, the princess is cursed to prick her finger on a spindle which causes her to fall asleep for one hundred years, until she is awakened by her prince. More adept Spinsters are not falling asleep, not waiting to be awakened, but awakening and waking each other by our Presence.

-Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology

[indizombie]

At twenty-five, girls begin to talk about being old maids, but secretly resolve that they never will be. At thirty they say nothing about it, but quietly accept the fact, and if sensible, console themselves by remembering that they have twenty more useful, happy years, in which they may be learning to grow old gracefully. Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason. And looking at them with compassion, not contempt, girls in their bloom should remember that they too may miss the blossom time. That rosy cheeks don't last forever, that silver threads will come in the bonnie brown hair, and that, by-and-by, kindness and respect will be as sweet as love and admiration now.

Louisa May Alcott, 'Little Women'

[spinster-society]

Historical Spinsters

[adhd-hippie]

Two of my friends just announced they’re pregnant...the bitter disappointment of watching a friend do the expected thing has hit me again.

I experience this feeling whenever anyone I know decides to get married and/or have children.  

I stand alone a spinster auntie, I wish someone would join me here. 

[girlsofcomics]

Persephone

-Real name:-

-A.k.a.:-

-Publisher: Marvel

-Type: Alien

-Afilliations: Spinsterhood

-Powers: Super strength, super speed, super durability, power item (Bo Staff), energy projection, agility, flight, invulnerability, unarmed combat, weapon master.

[domesticated-witch]

Something you guys may not know about me is that I can be crafty. I broke out my sewing machine tonight and whipped up some pillows. They turned out pretty well.

[haleyincarnate]

Excerpt from This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike. by Augusten Burroughs