Living up to the images conjured by their name these women are obvious,outspoken,sirens,and serious. They're the extremes in leather spinsterhood, all for the cause, no more hand over mouth whispers about being an "out" spinster. For far too long leather spinsterhood has been kept in silence for fear the lifestyle would be of offense to others in the straight and narrow communities of the world. Now the cat's out of the bag, they're open about their lives and supportive of their sisters who are still held in captivity of guilt. Guilt from not living up to the expectations of their gender, guilt from not giving mom a wedding and baby shower to plan, guilt for not compromising their lives to accommodate a mate, just plain guilt for being themselves.

This year has been declared the year of the leather spinster, or the "dancing of the hag" by the extremists, either way it's their year of "outing" themselves. Shaking free of the constraints passed to them by their spinster foremothers they're unwilling and unable to stop the flow of progress, now with their growing visibility more women can see that it's alright to say "no to or limit their intimate relationships" while focusing entirely on self. Although, the extremists are usually hardcore asexuals they don't bash men or the history of men in this country. What a peculiar group, one would think just by acknowledging that they're the extremists of leather spinsters that they would be hardcore feminists, and or mutual aligners with lesbians, "whoo whoo to that, we don't buy into that bull.... that women are born victims to be used and abused by men, we believe in the power of the woman, the foundation of our spinster heritage. Our foremothers didn't ask for handouts, and special priviledges, nor did they accept any shortcoming on their part, and God knows they've been here on this planet since the beginning of time but yet they manage to have the kind of life they wanted. I don't know whose worse feminists or lesbians",as Bethany a extremist from Toronto said to me last week over coffee.

Don't think for a minute that these women are patsies just because they chose to be supportive of men's rights and the efforts of Promise Keepers, an organization that stirs the blood of a many feminist groups.The main reason this group overwhelmingly support Promise Keepers is based in principle, anything that give men a sense of responsibility for their actions in marriage, parenting, and community can't be bad. Just think in the last few years the focus on "deadbeat dads" and abusive husbands has been tremendous, and then came Promise Keepers whose main focus has been to re-educate men with biblical standards. Nancy a extremist from Tampa,Florida, "What do these women want from men, first they're complaining that they don't take care of the kids they made, then came the complaints on how abusive they can be, seems to me they should be happy that there's a movement that's encouraging men to be respectful and responsible for the people in their lives. Man, I think men are getting a bum rap in this society, nothing they do is acceptable to these women, and they accuse leather spinsters of being men-haters, hah, maybe they need to look into some of those feminist camps."

Marva an extemist from Texas had this to say about equality between men and women,"We believe that a equal society is a farfetched plan, now a fair society is more reasonable. Fair and equal do not mean the same so don't get caught in the war of words with those wild and out of control feminists groups. Men and women are not created the same, mainly because our bodies and minds were created differently for different survival purposes, therefore, the notion that we're equal is null void. Fairness is what feminists should be striving for not equality, fairness for all, here again something the feminists overlook so frequently. They want equality for women, doesn't matter if it'll take from others who are categorically underpriviledged or historically denied, they just want what they want with no cares if others are hurt by them attaining. As a leather spinster I want the best for all, fairness to all regardless to race,gender,sexual identification,socio-econo classification, all people!"

When observing other women groups you can't help but see their extremists and wonder if their outspoken and often frightening outbursts are helping or hurting their cause. That's not the feeling one gets when observing leather spinsters and their extremists, there's unity and loads of respect for each other that you don't see with lesbians, or feminists. It's as if they're all on the same accord whether or not they agree with one another. The ultimate goals of this group is to let other women know that they have yet another lifestyle option and there's no shame in choosing to live without or within limited contact of relationships and or intimacy, and that vision is shared by all leather spinsters.

This freeing of leather spinsters from the shame of their past has been long overdue and a welcoming sight by many spinster elders such as Dessie a 78 year old spinster in Seattle, Washington," growing up in Denton, Texas I saw the cruelty people could harbor in their hearts when a woman did well by herself, it was as if she was breaking the law for being successful alone. I can remember my mother scolding me for admiring a spinster lady who was also a socialite in Dallas, this woman was wealthy from her labors of love, her businesses. My mother pitied her in one breathe and despised her in another. I didn't understand that really I didn't. Secretly that woman was always my rolemodel and the main reason I left Texas in the 40s to be a businesswoman here. I think of myself as a radical because I took the chance of shame to be who I am today and I don't regret leaving home to do it." It's hard for older women to grasp unto some of the ideas pushed forth by younger ones but that don't seem to be the concensus with leather spinsters, it appears that their elders give limitless support of their visibility, it would be my guess that the reason for being so supportive is due to the memories of the struggles and biases they, the elder spinsters had to face in the past. The mere mentioning of extremists would upset any older person, pictures of discourse are sure to flash across their mind screens but I'm not sure that's how the leather spinster extremists are seen by their elders. I could be wrong but I do believe this group's extremists are just a more outspokened division and not hellraisers.

When I asked the question do the leather spinster cause spill over into the professional life to Drew a extremist from Oakland, California she had this to say,"I believe as my softer spokened spinster sisters that you don't force your lifestyle or opinions on others, so I leave my cause at home. That don't mean that my concerns and issues stop being concerns and issues while I'm at work cause they don't, I'm respecting my co-workers and I expect the same of them. I'm a doctor in a rather large hospital in San Francisco which means that I'm surrounded by "out" lesbians and homosexual men on a daily basis, as patients and co-workers, I wouldn't be able to do my job well much less do it if I'm preaching to others about what concerns me as a leather spinster. Besides I believe it's better to push for change quietly than to force it, it makes the transition easier, kinda like childbirth."

Do leather spinsterhood appeal to teenage and twenty-something women? According to my sources, there's an increase in interest by these two groups but only time will tell if these women will travel in the footsteps of the main populace the group's thirty-something women,but ask any leather spinster if she's worried and the answer will be an unequivocal no. Their comfort lies in the fact that each generation produces spinster women so there'll always be enough leather spinsters to be supportive and protective of each other.

If you would like to read more about these women there's a excellent book entitled Leather Spinsters and Their Degrees of Asexuality by Rle Eng published by St.Mary Publishing Company that's makes for interesting yet powerful reading. At this time there's only one such site and it's sponsored by St.Mary Publishing Company which sports a chatroom, bulletin board,guestbook, and pen pal listing page. I was told that there will be other sites popping up on the web real soon so keep an eye out for them.

Rae Lyn a 33 year old leather spinster in Houston. Currently she’s employed full-time with a financial consulting company spending her days helping companies get out of debt. On her off time she’s collecting interviews for a leather spinster composite book to be printed later this year.

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