Talk:Bachelorette

Listing on article

Enough, really

The point of this article is not to document all unmarried human females in human history, and the traditional correct term for that is "spinster" anyway. I don't see much need for any listing in this article -- but if there has to be one, then it should probably refer mainly to the Helen Gurley Brown / Dating Game era when the term was most commonly used... AnonMoos (talk) 01:47, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

2020

The word spinister means that as does never married it doesn't emphasize in any age or gender Ayandiswa (talk) 15:21, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

List should be reinstated

The above section is incorrect; the list, which has been there for many months, should be reinstated. It doesn't list all spinsters, only (some of) those that have Wikipedia pages. Whilst it would be more correct for the list to be on the spinster article instead, the list had a request for expansion list on it since April. Therefore, other Wikipedians, and I, added to the list, as requested. I've expanded a section which Wikipedia asked to be expanded, I did as instructed, then someone removed the whole section. There is a (much longer) list on the bachelor article, which, under the logic of the above editor should be cancelled as well. There are lists on many other Wikipedia articles, and some Wikipedia articles are lists only. By the 'logic' that the list on this article should be removed, then all lists should be - and obviously they shouldn't so this list should be reinstated on the article. The edit summary claims that the list is indiscriminatory - how would anyone believe it should discriminate? The list includes various women, they are not supposed to have anything in common, other than they each have their own Wikipedia page, and have never married. Werdnawerdna (talk) 17:44, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, "bachelorette" is not the default general counterpart of "bachelor"; it's a rather specific word which captures a certain moment in history (mainly the 1960's and 1970's), and a certain attitude of that time. It might be sort of extended to cover similar situations in certain cases, but it's useless to try to extend it indefinitely to cover all unmarried females in history. Lists generally belong on separate list articles, anyway... AnonMoos (talk) 05:31, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

History and meaning

Is "bachelorette" a 1960's term? I thought it was much more recent. It is certainly an American expression, and I doubt that it has spread more widely.

The term implies never married, as does spinster. There is no real difference between the two terms. In my view spinster does not imply an unmarried woman over a certain age, any more than bachelorette implies a woman under a certain age- they are age neutral terms.JohnC (talk) 06:02, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Do any feminists object to the term "because of its implication women are in some way lesser than the male counterpart" [making an allowance for the very bad grammar]? How is it possible to suggest that "bachelorette" implies being "lesser" than "bachelor", unless the suffix is interpreted as meaning a small bachelor - which it would do in Standard English! Only someone who does not understand American English could interpret the term in that way. It obviously and necessarily implies the feminine form of bachelor, not a small bachelor (which isn't an insult to any woman in any case!). Yet another example of Americans getting into trouble because they cannot speak or spell their own language. -- 06:10, 21 July 2010‎ User:JohnC

The word "Spinster" didn't have any age restriction as a technical legal term, but for several centuries now it's had very strong connotations of "permanently on the shelf", and in any case by now it's really rather archaic and obsolescent. The word "Bachelorette" came to cultural prominence in the 1960s or early 1970s when media people wanted a word for "currently unattached woman" which did not have overwhelmingly negative connotations. If feminists object to it, I would imagine they do so because it's an unnecessary feminine-specific journalese coinage (like many others now forgotten, such "songstress" etc. etc.) which focuses on whether a woman is sexually available or not... AnonMoos (talk) 01:19, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

Anonymous IP rants

An anonymous IP has several times added a tirade about how the word is "politically correct", but that's really not the case -- the word originated (or was popularized) in the journalistic jargon of media coverage of the swinging sixties and/or TV game shows (not from left-wing radical movements) and it is hardly favored by feminists... AnonMoos (talk) 09:06, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Latest anonymous IP rampage

As discussed above, the word "Bachelorette" is NOT a feminist corruption of language (or whatever), but in fact is much more redolent of 1960s journalistic jargon and TV game shows than radical feminism... AnonMoos (talk) 02:57, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Earlier quasi-facetious "-ette" term with human reference

Members of the WWI Woman's Land Army of America were called "farmerettes"... AnonMoos (talk) 05:30, 15 October 2013 (UTC)