Excluding offensive or derogatory terms in the dictionary would be ‘akin to censorship’

Offensive words and terms captured in the dictionary reflect society, and help people to make sense of the world around them, so removing or editing such terms would be ‘akin to censorship’, according to a recent panel discussion run by Oxford Languages, part of Oxford University Press (OUP).

The event – titled ‘Bitch’, ‘bint’, and ‘maid’: exploring sexist language in the dictionary’ – was held on International Women’s Day 2021. It followed previous criticism against some example sentences and synonyms used in dictionary content relating to the word ‘woman,’ which included derogatory terms such as ‘bitch.’ Chaired by Leila Mckenzie-Delis, CEO of diversity and inclusion organization, DIAL Global, the panel brought together three language experts to discuss sexist language, and the trends this points to in wider society.

Exploring why words such as ‘bitch’ are included in the dictionary and referenced in relation to women in the first place, Katherine Martin, Head of Product, Oxford Languages said: ‘Bitch is quite a common word in English. Part of what we do as lexicographers is to show the full range of meanings that it has. To not show any aspect of a word’s use would be akin to censorship. Lexicographers want to make facts available to the public, and the more synonyms and information [a word] has, the better.’

However, Eleanor Maier, Executive Editor for the Oxford English Dictionary said that it was important to provide context, to meet the different needs and expectations of users: ‘As dictionary makers, we have a responsibility to accurately describe how language is used and that means we should include sexist and racist terms. But it’s really important for us to contextualize them. So if a term is derogatory or highly offensive we should say it.’

Asked about whether including terms like this mean that dictionaries and dictionary makers are promoting sexism, Eleanor said, ‘I don’t think we are doing that because we’re describing how language works. If people think we are, that’s a wider conversation about how language is used in the wild, or what dictionaries are for.’

Building on this to explore where some of the negative terms relating to women came from, Dr Sarah Ogilvie, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics at the University of Oxford explained that offensive language was not just found in ‘pejorative taboo words, but also in subtle ways in terms that are never used to refer to men. You never hear men referred to as certain adjectives like ditzy, feisty, bossy, nagging, or shrill. There is definitely a gender bias to certain words and a good lexicographer is obliged to convey that meaning. There are over 3,000 pejorative words for a ‘woman.’ And then thousands of others that refer to women through prostitution, female body parts – there are 1,500 alone for the word ‘vagina’.’

She also said that women’s language has always been policed more than men’s language. ‘We are told women talk too much, or not enough; they hedge and are too tentative; they lack confidence and authority; they turn everything into a question with rising intonation and ‘uptalk’; we blame women for using creaky voice and vocal fry. Women are demonised for this. We are told that our speech patterns are decaying the English language.’ However, she went on to show that academic studies revealed each of these criticisms is false.

Katherine further pointed out that derogative terms were not solely exclusive to women. ‘While there are more terms for a promiscuous woman than there are for a promiscuous man, there are more negative terms for men regarded as insufficiently masculine, than there are for women regarded as insufficiently feminine.’

Thinking ahead to the future, and how to challenge sexist words and terms, the panel agreed that steps should be taken to help shift the way language is used, including calling sexist language out, educating boys and girls so that they know certain terms are not acceptable, moderating language use on social media, and helping people to understand the purpose of a dictionary.

‘Language can be sexist, people can be sexist, and as a descriptive dictionary we’re describing that usage. It doesn’t mean we approve of that usage…but we have a duty as scholars to record that,’ said Eleanor.

Men were also seen to have a key role in play in challenging sexist language. ‘Language is the key to culture, and sexist language reflects the fact men hold the majority of power. To address the power imbalance requires a cultural and political shift,’ said Sarah.

However, Katherine was confident that things would improve in the future. ‘Every year we are making different tweaks and changes…we can't always make things better, but we are always trying – constantly reviewing, constantly revising.’

Speaking after the event, Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages said: ‘This is such an important topic to examine, and we’re pleased to have sponsored the discussion on International Women’s Day. As lexicographers and dictionary makers, our role is to capture how we use language; in doing that, we offer a unique insight into the world and culture that surrounds us. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Choose to Challenge’ and, as the panellists said, while we are committed to reflecting real language usage through evidence of how it is used, we must always consider our own bias and the context in which we share that language with dictionary users’.

Adding to this, Leila Mckenzie-Delis, CEO of DIAL Global said: ‘One of the things that came up a number of times in the session was how we can really lift each other up as women. There are many idiosyncratic details that make up women from different communities. We should look at other facets such a race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, generation, parenthood, caring responsibilities, mental health through to nationality and religious belief systems. Through this, you start to see how complex the picture of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity is. And, in particular, why we must continue to shape and evolve language to support our longer-term sustainable future.’

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