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Pré-Publication, Document De Travail Année : 2023

Spinster -In-depth and unbiased

Solterona - A fondo y sin sesgo

Steven M Kaplan

Résumé

An integral part of the oppression of females within a patriarchal society is the continuous hindering of any voluntary decisions they may want to make in their own lives. One of the most significant choices a person can make is whether to get married or not. In a male-dominated society, females are expected to be married to a male by a certain age. Those who do not comply are vilified any number of ways, including to be referred to as a spinster. The expression spinster connotes that such women are unworthy, undesirable, and unendurable, while at the same time evoking images of them as being lonely, unfulfilled, and ashamed of themselves. In this paper it will be shown how females are subjugated from the liberty, moral, cultural, social, educational, sexual, reproductive, legal, religious, leisure, labour, political, economic, and ownership perspectives, and how these promote the established order of heterosexual marriage. Taking for granted that women should be married to men by a given age is rooted in the gender binary, heteronormativity, the "marriage ideal," and male hegemony, all of which make spinster such an unfairly vilifying and marginalizing expression. Dictionaries are considered to be authoritative sources of information, and the lexicographers preparing them have the responsibility to provide bias-free and inclusive content. In doing so, anyone looking up this word would be made aware of the bias and exclusion incorporated into spinster. Nevertheless, the regular general English dictionaries by and large continue to promote and defend traditions and beliefs which encourage myriad manifestations of oppression, including sexism, misogyny, heterosexism, and heteronormativity. In order to demonstrate that this is also the case with the expression spinster, the treatment that twelve popular and trusted dictionaries provide for this expression will be scrutinised. Finally, these will be contrasted with a bias-free and inclusive article (entry) for spinster, in which users are provided with insight into how inequality, othering, and victimisation work through language, instead of continuing to legitimise biased expression. Please note that this paper is based on my doctoral dissertation: Kaplan (2020).
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hal-04026114 , version 1 (13-03-2023)

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Steven M Kaplan. Spinster -In-depth and unbiased. 2023. ⟨hal-04026114⟩
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