The campaign has been featured on the Metro! Our article is online on the website.
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Few highlights from the article:
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One of the world’s oldest and most respected universities, Oxford, says it believes in the ‘transformative power’ of education to ‘inspire progress and realise human potential’. Grand idea. So how come, the world-renowned dictionary that takes its name, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), pushes misogynistic and crass definitions of women?
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Being aware of the influence of the English language, often coined as the universal language, in dictating and communicating politics, economic and societal changes, I worry about the repercussions of such sexist definitions.
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Let’s also remember who has used sexist slurs against women throughout history – men. This makes the dictionary definition of ‘woman’ a record of ‘what men have said and written over the years,’ as linguist professor Deborah Cameron has pointed out.
- the pen is mightier than the sword.
Thank you to Sarah, a fellow member of Fawcett East London for writing the piece!