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Do single people get a raw deal?

Analysis

CHAPTER

The Threat of Single Women

In the medieval era, women who didn't marry did exist. Back then, it was a word without stigma. But what changed after the Reformation? In Catholicism there was space for single women. So that changes overnight when Henry VIII dissolves the monasteries. This is the point at which single women become a bit of a threat. And this started to be reflected in culture. It just gets adopted by some of my favourite favourite authors. Charles Dickens really buys into this. You know, anybody who's unmarried by the time she hits about 28 is evil in some regard or other.

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