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All the Single Ladies! 'Spinster' author says celebrate party of one
The Current

All the Single Ladies! 'Spinster' author says celebrate party of one

"Spinster" author Kate Bolick says the narrative around being single must change because society still values traditional roles for women over their value as an individual person.
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Author Kate Bolick wants to change the narrative around how we view singleness. (Crown Publishers)
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Book author Kate Bolick (left) and the women that inspired her book: poet Edna St.Vincent Millay and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman (top row), journalist Neith Boyce, and novelist Edith Wharton (bottom row). (Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Francis W. Halsey, Frances Benjamin Johnston)

When it comes to living life as a single, adult woman, the "Cat Lady" embodies quite a few of the stereotypes associated with what we used to call "spinsterhood" — from the disheveled appearance to the generally kooky behaviour.

But that stereotype may be changing. More and more women are choosing to stay happily single today — with or without the cats.

And Kate Bolick is one of them.

Her new book does borrow that old word for its title, though. It's called "Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own."

Each of us is a museum that opens for business the moment we're born, with memory the sole curator. How could a staff of one possibly stay abreast of all those holdings?- Kate Bolick , "Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own"

She joins us in our Toronto studio to talk about the book and society's perceptions of single women.

This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien.

RELATED LINKS

"Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own" Preview - Amazon

All the Single Ladies - Kate Bolick, The Atlantic

In her new book, Kate Bolick argues why there's nothing wrong with being a 'spinster' - The Globe and Mail

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