Sheng nu cites studies that show that women are now breaking the tradition of "mandatory marriage" to have fewer children or marry later on in life. Other typologically similar terms that are still used in the modern lexicon of other countries and cultures show the concept has existed in some cases as far back as the 16th century. The term spinster was used to describe unmarried or single women of a marriageable age. It wasn't until 2004 when the Civil Partnership Act replaced the word spinster with "single" in the relationship history section of marriage certificates in the UK. Subsequently, at the
The Spinster and Her Enemies outspoken, noting that she was open about the involvement of Victorian feminism in "moralistic propaganda", admired people who were "admittedly reactionary", and rejected sexual liberation. Jeffreys commented in the second edition of "Anticlimax" (2011) that she wrote "The Spinster and Her Enemies" to "demonstrate that the 'sexual revolutions' of the 20th century liberated men by legitimising increased sexual access to women, rather than leading to women's empowerment." The Spinster and Her Enemies The Spinster and Her Enemies: Feminism and Sexuality 1880–1930 is a 1985 book by the political scientist Sheila Jeffreys, in which the author discusses the change in sexual