Spinster World War prevented many within a generation of women from experiencing romance and marriage, or having children. The image of the old spinster with a fading photo of her dead World War I soldier boyfriend on her fireplace mantel was common in films of the 1950s and 1960s. Likewise, in the American classic novel "Gone with the Wind" (1936) about the Civil War, numerous references are made to grieving fiancées, women who were "wanted, if not wed", and to the shortage of single, able-bodied (and thus "marriageable") men at war's end. In modern peacetime societies with wide opportunities for romance,
The Spinster and Her Enemies contemporary feminism in "The New Victorians" (1995). According to Denfeld, when she asked the National Organization for Women for information on its position on pornography, she was sent material that included an excerpt from "The Spinster and Her Enemies". She considered this an endorsement of the work by NOW, which she found "shocking at first and then saddening." Michael Mason discussed "The Spinster and Her Enemies" in "The Making of Victorian Sexual Attitudes" (1995). He found Jeffreys's views similar to those of other historians of feminism sympathetic to the anti-sexual views of some feminists. However, he described her as more