Spinster tags "spinster" (meaning "...unmarried woman, typically an older woman beyond the usual age for marriage") as "derogatory" and "a good example of the way in which a word acquires strong connotations to the extent that it can no longer be used in a neutral sense." The 1828 and 1913 editions of "Merriam Webster's Dictionary" defined spinster in two ways: "1. A woman who spins, or whose occupation is to spin. 2. Law: An unmarried or single woman." By the 1800s, the term had evolved to include women who chose not to marry. During that century middle-class spinsters, as well as
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