The Spinster and Her Enemies - Feminish

THE ‘PRUDES’ AND THE ‘PROGRESSIVES’
supporters of the congress were male homosexual rights
campaigners—let alone any paper on lesbianism and only two
papers included positive mention of spinsters, celibacy or any
heterosexual practice apart from sexual intercourse. (Naomi
Mitchison wrote one of these two papers. She questioned the
primacy of sexual intercourse in a fascinating contribution. 2 )
The hidden agenda was the conscription of all women into
sexual intercourse with men. This motive is best illustrated by
a paper given by R.B.Kerr entitled The Sexual Rights of
Spinsters. Kerr, like other sex reformers, spoke of ‘rights’ when
he actually meant ‘obligations’. This subtle distortion of
language enhanced the progressive image of his paper and served
to conceal the hidden agenda. Kerr explained that since the
mid-nineteenth century in all civilised countries there had been
a phenomenal growth in the number of spinsters, so that in
England and Wales, out of the marriageable women over the
age of 15, the number annually married declined by 18 per
cent. He estimated that in 1929 40 per cent of women over the
age of 30 had never been married. He lauded the great
achievements of these spinsters in the fields of animal welfare,
the abolition of slavery and child labour, promoting peace and
other good causes. He left out their contribution to feminism.
He concluded that despite these great achievements, ‘Nothing
can compensate, in the life of the average woman, for the lack
of full sexual experience.’ He considered that something of
‘immense importance’ (sexual intercourse), was missing from
these women’s lives. He asserted the ‘right’ of such women to
have lovers though there ‘is no possibility of every woman having
a man to herself’. There were plenty of women lovers available,
of course, but he did not consider this. Every spinster ought to
have a sexual relationship with a man: ‘Nothing is more common
than to see two sisters living together protected only by a dog.
In very many cases they would prefer a man, and there are
many men who would gladly avail themselves of such an
opportunity. The only obstacle is Mrs Grundy [the archetype
prude].’ 3 It did not occur to him that these spinsters might have
relationships of importance with each other. Nor does it seem
to have occurred to him that ensuring every spinster related to
a man might destroy all their wonderful work since it was
precisely their independence of men which gave them their
dynamism.
The Congress is important not only because it demonstrates
the extent of the influence gained by sex reforming ideas in the
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