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Victorian Era Spinsters Explained Hilarious And Serious Reasons Why They Didn’t Marry
Women were expected to marry in the 19th century, but when they didn’t there were some interesting reasons why
Marriage has traditionally been seen as a rite of passage and duty, especially for women. Ladies who never entered matrimony used to be regarded with pity, sometimes under the assumption something was wrong with them. These “spinsters,” as they used to be called, actually had a variety of reasons, ranging from the serious to the seriously funny as to why they never took a life partner, according to a 19th-century magazine article that took the novel approach of actually asking them.
Calling marriage complicated as an institution throughout history would be an understatement, to put it mildly. Until just the past century, women had little to no legal standing outside of the umbrella of a husband or father. However, women have historically outnumbered men, and same-sex unions have only been permitted and accepted (in some areas of the world) just recently.
The concept of the “spinster,” a woman past traditional marrying age who remained single, really came into vogue as pop-culture identity in the 19th century. But what kind of reasons could women have “possibly” had for…
