This is my non-fiction reading-for-10-minutes-a-day-on-the-tram book for this month. It was first published in 2007 – I took a look when the author used the Susan Sarandon-Tim Robbins & Madonna-Guy Richie marriages as examples of a certain trend – and offers a peek into the world of politics/consumerism and the analysts who try their darnedest to influence people / wring as much money out of them as possible.Anyway, the reason I’m mentioning this particular book is because of a certain confluence of events today. Firstly, after reading a chapter on love, sex and relationships, as I walked through the park afterwards, I found myself wondering what all those millions of young women who lost their childhood sweethearts and fiancés in what would now be labelled the “testosterone storms” of the Boer War/WW1/WW2, and who ended up being branded with the horrible tag spinster as they grew older, would have thought of being referred to as Sex-Ratio Singles instead. Would this zippier-sounding, demographic category have liberated them in some way? A story seed sprouted and turned into the start of an amusing tale set in the 1920s.
However, my amusing tale turned sour about an hour later when I heard, believe it not, the word spinster wielded like a nail-spiked cudgel when referring to an old woman simply because she was a ‘Miss’ and, possibly, was not as sweet as apple pie. Apparently, if you’re an old woman, you’re not allowed to be stroppy without it being directly related to your marital status.
It’s such a vile word. Not the individual, innocent letters put together, but the way the entirety is always used as a license to mock and ridicule. Have you ever heard anyone use the word spinster nicely? Or thoughtfully? It is always uttered with derision, and everyone nods in agreement, and smiles their judgmental smiles, and joins in poking fun at unmarried old ladies who might have suffered terrible losses in their lifetimes purely because... well, I’m actually at a loss as to why it’s okay.
Given the intrinsic superficiality of the word, I find it sad that it still packs enough of a wallop in this day and age to still be used by some as an insult.
2 comments:
I agree. Words are never 'only'. Words are powerful.
The word 'spinster' itself is fascinating. Why should a unmarried woman be called that? I wonder if it has to do with spiders spinning, or with spinners as on looms?
I've always thought the word was related to spinning too, but did a quick check anyway over at the Online Etymology Dictionary (and I'm sure you've also looked it up by now) and confirmed:
'Spinning was commonly done by unmarried women, hence the word came to denote "an unmarried woman" in legal documents from 1600s to early 1900s, and by 1719 was being used generically for "woman still unmarried and beyond the usual age for it."
Hmmm, from respectable occupation to term of abuse. Poor word.
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