Bachelor under discussion. Also in the Victorian era, the term "confirmed bachelor" denoted a man who was resolute to remain unmarried. By the later 19th century, the term "bachelor" had acquired the general sense of "unmarried man". The expression bachelor party is recorded 1882. In 1895, a feminine equivalent "bachelor-girl" was coined, replaced in US English by "bachelorette" by the mid-1930s. After World War II, this terminology came to be seen as antiquated and has been mostly replaced by the gender-neutral term "single" (first recorded 1964). In England and Wales, the term "bachelor" remained the official term used for the purpose
Spinster reappropriation from third-wave feminists. Recent examples include several blogs/videos, such as reclaimingthepejorative, a "Bitch Magazine" article, and the "Spinster House" YouTube channel. Many classic and modern films have depicted stereotypical spinster characters. For example: In both "The Taming of the Shrew" (early 1590s) and "Much Ado About Nothing" (late 1590s), William Shakespeare referred to a contemporary saying that it was the fate of women who died unmarried to lead apes into hell. By the time of the British Regency, "ape leader" had become a slang term for "old maid". It is often used in that context in Regency romances and