" 

 Like I said before, although the article has been cleaned up a lot and is significantly less offensive than it was, it still subtly reinforces some negative and false stereotypes about spinsters. Yes, some feminists (I don't know about ""many"") embrace the term in the same way that some disadvantaged racial groups have embraced terms that were before considered derogatory. That doesn't discount the fact that the term is still associated in the minds of many with derogatory stereotypes. The word ""spinster"" does exist and does define a set of negative stereotypes about older, unmarried women. Many derogatory racial epithets also exist and define a set of negative stereotypes about certain racial and cultural groups. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be careful the way we present those epithets in public encyclopedias.  "