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A Change.org petition calling on the Oxford University Press (OUP) to change the âsexistâ terms for women in some of its reference works has gathered over tens of thousands of support online.
The petition, was created by Maria Beatrice Giovanardi and has over 31,000 signatures as of this writing. Gionavardi launched the petition last June, pointing out words that the Oxfordâs English Dictionary listed as synonyms for âwoman,â Among the words she noted were b*tch, besom, baggage, wench, frail, piece and mare, among many others.
âThese are the words which the Oxfordâs English Dictionary online tells us mean the same as âwoman.â This sexist dictionary must changeâŠ,â said Giovanardi then.ÌęâThese examplesÌęshow women as sex objects,Ìęsubordinate, and/or an irritation to men.â
Oxfordâs definition and synonyms of âwomanâ in Googleâs search resultsÌę (Image: Google)
âThese misogynistic definitions have become widespread because search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo license the use of Oxford Dictionaries for their definitions,â she added. âThis can influence the way that women are spoken about online. Should an institution like the Oxford University Pressâ âportray women this way?â
Giovanardiâs latest update came on Sept. 13, saying there has been no direct response from OUP since the launch of the petition. She, however, has seen some significant changes since then.
For one, she saw that official social media accounts of Oxford Dictionaries have gone âstrangely quietâ 10 days after the launch of the campaign. The channels have also stopped responding to peopleâs comments and tweets when they previously did, as per Giovanardi.
She also saw a subtle change in the search results of Google and Bing when someone searches for a wordâs definition or synonym.
âPreviously, the definition looked likeÌęÌęit was generated by Google and Bing. Recently, this changed to the definitions and synonyms being credited to Oxford, via a widget saying âFrom Oxfordâ (Google) and Powered by Oxford Dictionaries(Bing)âŠ,â she said. âIt is important that search engines directly quote their sources, the place from where they get such dangerous content.â
Although Giovanardi did not get a direct response from OUP, a from its head of lexical content strategy, Katherine Connor, regarding the petition was shared in a blog post on OUPâs website in August, as per CNN on Sept. 18.
Connor clarified that the content mentioned in the petition does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary, a scholarly dictionary covering the full history of English. They are instead derived from the Oxford Thesaurus of English and the Oxford Dictionary of English, which cover âcontemporary English usage and are accessible online in a variety of formats.â
âSensibilities regarding language are constantly changing, and our editorial team is always grateful for feedback to ensure that the status of offensive or denigrating terms is clear to our readersâŠ,â said Connor. âOur editors are investigating whether there are senses of woman which are not currently covered but should be added in a future update.âÌę Cody Cepeda /ra
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