Spinsterhood
"A woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying".
www.thefreedictionary.com/spinsterhood
www.thefreedictionary.com/spinsterhood
Berend, Zsuzsa. "The Best Or None!" Spinsterhood In Nineteenth-Century New England." Journal Of Social History33.4 (2000): 935. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
In her article entitled, "The Best Or None!" Spinsterhood In Nineteenth-Century New England", Zsuzsa Berend focuses "[. . .] on the cultural milieu within which young middle-class women pondered questions of love, marriage and vocation. [she] argue[s] that middle-class spinsters, as well as their married peers, took ideals of love and marriage very seriously, and that spinsterhood was indeed often a consequence of their adherence to those ideals" (935). Berend came to these conclusions after reviewing “[. . .] the written documents—letters and diaries—of about forty Northeastern, white, Protestant, middle-class spinsters (936). Berend claims that there were many reasons for a woman would choose a life of spinsterhood. Some of these reasons include devoting oneself to a cause or profession. Another reason that women choose a life without marriage was because of the beliefs of the era. According to Berend “[. . .]by the nineteenth century the ideal of marriage based on love—mysterious and unintentional love—had gained wide acceptance”; women would only marry if they knew for certain that they were in love (Berend 936). She discusses how many women thought it was their duty in life to devote themselves to something if they could not find (or did not want) a husband. Overall the article is informative and discusses many suffragist and single women of the era. (Lawless).
In her article entitled, "The Best Or None!" Spinsterhood In Nineteenth-Century New England", Zsuzsa Berend focuses "[. . .] on the cultural milieu within which young middle-class women pondered questions of love, marriage and vocation. [she] argue[s] that middle-class spinsters, as well as their married peers, took ideals of love and marriage very seriously, and that spinsterhood was indeed often a consequence of their adherence to those ideals" (935). Berend came to these conclusions after reviewing “[. . .] the written documents—letters and diaries—of about forty Northeastern, white, Protestant, middle-class spinsters (936). Berend claims that there were many reasons for a woman would choose a life of spinsterhood. Some of these reasons include devoting oneself to a cause or profession. Another reason that women choose a life without marriage was because of the beliefs of the era. According to Berend “[. . .]by the nineteenth century the ideal of marriage based on love—mysterious and unintentional love—had gained wide acceptance”; women would only marry if they knew for certain that they were in love (Berend 936). She discusses how many women thought it was their duty in life to devote themselves to something if they could not find (or did not want) a husband. Overall the article is informative and discusses many suffragist and single women of the era. (Lawless).
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Liggins, Emma. ""The Life of a Bachelor Girl in the Big City": Selling the Single Lifestyle to Readers of Woman and the Young Woman in the 1890s." Victorian Periodicals Review 40.3 (2007): 216-38. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
In Emma Liggins article "‘The Life of a Bachelor Girl in the Big City": Selling the Single Lifestyle to Read and the Young Woman in the 1890s". Liggin writes about particular women's magazines that promoted women’s independence being single as well as women's dependence on marriage. Liggins notes that these magazines had multiple kinds of versions geared toward the readership, for example some were for young girls, others for house wives, and some for young women living alone. Liggin states "This article focuses on the coverage of the bachelor girl, or female bachelor, throughout the nineties in Woman and the Young Woman, two new women's magazines which enjoyed a broad readership and remained popular well into the new century" (217). Liggins comments that the magazines “Not wishing to project an image of progressiveness, the magazine never fully embraced the single life for women, not least because fallacies about spinsterhood were not sufficiently challenged” (223). Liggins writes that these publications acknowledged that there were single women living independently while novels "[. . .] tended to represent the life of the professional woman as short-lived and temporary, a stop-gap before marriage” (226). (Lawless)
In Emma Liggins article "‘The Life of a Bachelor Girl in the Big City": Selling the Single Lifestyle to Read and the Young Woman in the 1890s". Liggin writes about particular women's magazines that promoted women’s independence being single as well as women's dependence on marriage. Liggins notes that these magazines had multiple kinds of versions geared toward the readership, for example some were for young girls, others for house wives, and some for young women living alone. Liggin states "This article focuses on the coverage of the bachelor girl, or female bachelor, throughout the nineties in Woman and the Young Woman, two new women's magazines which enjoyed a broad readership and remained popular well into the new century" (217). Liggins comments that the magazines “Not wishing to project an image of progressiveness, the magazine never fully embraced the single life for women, not least because fallacies about spinsterhood were not sufficiently challenged” (223). Liggins writes that these publications acknowledged that there were single women living independently while novels "[. . .] tended to represent the life of the professional woman as short-lived and temporary, a stop-gap before marriage” (226). (Lawless)
the_life_of_a_bachelor_girl_in_the_big_city_selling_the_single_lifestyle_to_readers_of_woman_and_the_young_woman_in_the_1890s.pdf | |
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Catharine Sedgwick & Susan B. Anthony:
Lubovich, Maglina. "Married or Single?": Catharine Maria Sedgwick on Old Maids, Wives, and Marriage." Legacy 25.1 (2008): 23-40. University of Nebraska Press. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. (Lawless)
married_or_single_catharine_maria_sedgwick_on_old_maids_wives_and_marriage.pdf | |
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In her work, “‘Married or Single?": Catherine Maria Sedgwick on Old Maids, Wives, and Marriage” Maglina Lubovich discusses various works of Catherine Sedgwick and attempts to “[. . .] show that Sedgwick does not in fact hold being married or single as a binary choice, nor as a hierarchy of American womanhood and citizenship” (Lubovich 24). While Lubovich makes interesting observations and connections with Sedgwick’s written work and her journals,Lubovich’s work seems disorganized and random to a person that has not read Sedgwick’s work. Lubovich is also repetitive at times. Although this article is not amazing, it is fascinating to read a true spinsters thoughts of the time period. (Lawless)