spin•ster: (noun)
- a woman still unmarried beyond the usual age of marrying.
- a woman who has never married and seems unlikely of marrying.
- a woman whose occupation is spinning.
spin•ster spin:
- (noun) the rationalization that the freak you’re dating is really into you.
- (verb) asking your girlfriends to help you rationalize the obnoxious, selfish, bizarre, and doltish behavior from the guy you’re dating.
Two local South Florida women, forever navigating the obstacle course of dating, are “bringing spinster backapostrophe with the launch of www.Askaspinster.com, a new advice web site touting itself as “The No-Nonsense Dating Guide for Women of a Certain Age."
Nikki Moustaki, 38, and Meredith Rae, 37, met in the mid ‘90s when Rae worked as a camp counselor and Moustaki was a nature tour guide in Miami, Florida. Rae asked Moustaki about one of the other tour guides -- a handsome, but cocky jerk -- and Moustaki warned her to stay away from him. This moment would inform and foreshadow their entire friendship forever after.
Almost 15 years later, the best friends have pooled their dating experiences to create Askaspinster.com, a humorous, yet humbling, hopeful and empowering web site with a spin that literally smashes lonely girl conventions to pieces with sensibility and a smile.
Need straightforward dating advice? Try the easily navigable “Ask a Spinsterapostrophe section featuring advice letters of the day. You’ll know you’re in good company with a visit to the “Hall of Fameapostrophe gallery featuring famous and well-respected singletons like Tyra Banks, model and TV Diva, Emily Dickinson, poet, and Laverne DeFazio, beer wench. Click on the “Hall of Shameapostrophe link and relive the dating nightmares of the site’s dynamic and dating-challenged duo with everything from “Psychoapostrophe-babble to a man named Moses who had a certain “leadingapostrophe quality. You can even take the “Spinster Spin Quizapostrophe to test your knowledge about key man-speak phrases like “I need some space,apostrophe “we should take a break,apostrophe and “the girl in the picture is my niece.apostrophe
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are almost 44 million single women between the ages of 35 -54. Between 1970 and 1998, the number of women living alone doubled from 7.3 million to 15.3 million. The percentage of women who lived alone rose for every age group, except those ages 65 to 74.
Taking into consideration these statistics and the authors’ own dismal dating experiences, Moustaki and Rae wanted to create a virtual advice haven where smart, savvy women over 35 could go to get peer and professional advice from others who have “been thereapostrophe and “done that.apostrophe
“We think we’ve created a phenomenal resource for single women, everywhere,apostrophe said Nikki Moustaki, spinster and co-creator of the askaspinster.com web site. We’re here to help with everything from fashion advice to what to say on a bad date. Together, we have 40 years of collective dating experience and we want to prevent you from making the same dating mistakes we’ve made. Our motto is ‘It’s not us, it’s them,’ and we stand by that. Our advice is real and we don’t tiptoe around delicate topics.apostrophe
“Let’s face it. Today’s spinsters are cool, hip hotties and strong confident women who want to find normal guys – we’re not spinning cloth anymore, we’re taking spinning classes at the gym, making lemon martinis out of lemons and trying to have some fun in dating purgatory,apostrophe said Meredith Rae, fellow spinster and co-creator of the askaspinster.com web site. “After all, who better to ask about dating than two swank spinsters who have seen and heard it all?apostrophe
The Askaspinster.com creators added, “Most spinster stereotypes are less than flattering and we all want to feel pretty, sexy and relevant - no matter what age.apostrophe
About the Spinsters:
Nikki Moustaki:
Nikki Moustaki, MA, MFA, is a full-time freelance writer and part-time animal trainer, and has published more than 35 books of nonfiction, including Dogfessions: Secret Confessions from Dogs and Not Another Feel Good Singles Book. She has been featured on BBC Radio, in The New York Times, Glamour magazine and on the Tony Danza Show, among others. Most recently, she hosted, co-produced, and co-wrote the NBC/MSN online show, The Celebrity Pet Dish, with her Schnauzer, Pepper, as her co-host.
Moustaki also writes monthly feature articles for several pet-related magazines including Dog Fancy, Popular Dogs, Water Garden News, Pet Style News, and Pet Product News, among others. Moustaki has written many articles for Latina magazine about fashion and celebrities, and has also written for the Village Voice, Jane, and the National Endowment for the Humanities magazine.
Moustaki holds an M.A. in creative writing from New York University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Indiana University. She has taught creative writing at both NYU and IU, as well as at The New School in New York City. She is the recipient of a 2001 National Endowment for the Arts grant in poetry, and has been awarded many national prizes and honors for her writing, including a Pushcart Press nomination in 1999 and 2000. Her poetry and essays have also appeared in various anthologies and college textbooks.
Moustaki splits her time between New York City and Miami Beach.
Meredith Rae:
Meredith Rae is a former columnist for the dating website Dating911.com, where she shared her tales of dating woe with the internet elite in the late ‘90s. An actress for over 20 years, Rae is a member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild and has done extensive work on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theaters. Specializing in voice-over work and musical theater, Rae has several CDs with Stage Stars and can be heard on “Rent,apostrophe “Annieapostrophe and “Chicago.apostrophe She was also the voice of the IBM computer at Epcot Center in Disney World, as well as having several audio books on tape with the Jewish Braille Institute.
Definitely not new to the Florida dating scene, she is trying to recover from the knocks and pings of the New York dating scene, while trying to find her Prince Charming, or at this point, a guy with a decent FICO score. In her free time, you can find Rae chasing her son around the playground in Plantation, Florida, avoiding stalkers she has met online, and trying to come up with a cure for aging.