Jayati Godhawat
JWB Blogger
Thanks To This Woman, The Sexist Definition Of ‘Femininity’ Was Removed By Merriam-Webster
- JWB Post
- November 17, 2016
One of the most popular and widely used dictionaries, Merriam-Webster explained the word ‘femininity’ with a sexist sentence.
And, when the Los-Angeles based writer, Ali Segel came across this sexist example, she decided to register her disapproval on Twitter.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she said, “I decided to tweet it out because yeah, that’s nuts! Can you imagine: ‘He managed to become a CEO without sacrificing his masculinity.'”
Uhhhhh 🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/JDfeIZqVVf
— Ali Segel (@OnlineAlison)
Ali’s tweet was retweeted and commented on by the twitteratis, and they started tagging Merriam Webster’s Twitter account.
And, guess what? The dictionary has actually removed this sentence.
@OnlineAlison You’re right. We’re working to remove it now.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster)
Segel shared, “Someone ended up contacting Peter Sokolowski, who is the Lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. As soon as he caught wind of it, they promptly addressed the situation and removed the sentence. I thought the way they handled it was really great. So, kudos to them for fixing it — not to take away from the initial sentence being real cringe-worthy.”
However, Segel also discussed how Merriam-Webster is not the only one on the Internet to engage in casual sexism. She targeted Google, too.
“I was surprised at how sexism infiltrates every single aspect of our culture and so frequently goes unnoticed. We’ve just learned to accept it. Even if you look up the definition of femininity on Google, it says, ‘She celebrates her femininity by wearing makeup and high heels.'”
“Women are so much more than that. How about, ‘Sprinter Allyson Felix celebrates her femininity by winning gold medals at the Olympics,’” she added.
Now, this is the example we need!
“We need to reframe the way we think and talk about women,” she said. “And as someone who formerly taught elementary school, honestly, the idea of a little girl looking up a word in the dictionary and seeing a sexist definition that limits her really pissed me off,” she continued.
True that!
I, too, believe that such causal and subtle sexist remarks are equally responsible in defaming the women and should be discouraged strongly.
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