Spinster still has a chance to be married." Yet other sources on terms describing a never-married woman indicate that the term applies to a woman as soon as she is of legal age or age of majority (see bachelorette, single). The title "spinster" has been embraced by feminists like Sheila Jeffreys, whose book "The Spinster and Her Enemies" (1985) defines spinsters simply as women who have chosen to reject sexual relationships with men. In her 2015 book, "Spinster, Making a Life of One's Own," Kate Bolick has written, "To me, the spinster is self-reliant and inscrutable. We think we know what
Spinster old maid? How dare you, then, pervert the most sacred institution of the Almighty, by becoming the wife of a man for whom you can feel no emotions of love, or respect even?" In the lexicon of English, the word mistress is similar to 'spinster', in that it also has no exact male counterpart. The "Oxford American English Dictionary" defines spinster as "an unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage". It adds: "In modern everyday English, however, spinster cannot be used to mean simply ‘unmarried woman’; as such, it is a derogatory term, referring or