‘ Oxford Dictionary of English is altering its definition of "Woman"

[Lordfrontpaw]

Saw on twitter today (could be true or not). Are they changing definition of man too?

Oxford Dictionary of English is altering its definition of "Woman" soon. Campaigners want it to "enlarge" to include transwomen. If you don't want it to change from "adult human female" them pls let them know

If that’s hate speech - they haven’t heard me in full flow when monumentally pissed off. I’m not a hateful person but can be quite rambunctious (there’s a nice word) when riled up. As my mum would say - I can rant (swear) for hours without taking a breath or repeating myself once.

The objection, and speaking as a black woman myself, is that it assumes and presumes that the default is white.

No it doesn't. The default is 'woman'. People have prejudices and assume everyone is like them, that is true. If you were in Botswana, say, the default would be black woman.

That is you are a black woman you need to be reclassified in a subset. Which is not only insulting, it's ridiculous.

All women fit into many subsets of women. It is not insulting. It is not ridiculous. It is necessary in order to understand the challenges that women face by virtue of being both women AND black/disabled/ESL/traumatised/pregnant. It is necessary in order to understand the privileges that women have ( which mitigate some of their sex-based challenges) by virtue of being woman AND white/wealthy/healthy/married.

It is important to understand that all adult human females are part of the category 'women', no matter what word goes before the word ' women'.

The OED is not prescriptive. It's descriptive. It doesn't define terms it records and described how terms are defined, if that makes sense. So the definition will change, expand, as usage does.

No it doesn't. The default is 'woman'.

Which is exactly what I said.

People have prejudices and assume everyone is like them, that is true. If you were in Botswana, say, the default would be black woman.

But the OED is not being published in Botswana.

JellySlice
It is not insulting. It is not ridiculous. Oh yes it is.
This is the OED not a dictionary of fashionable political thought. Women is a specific word to describe one half of the human species.

chng.it/Qcn4ZWBLkZ Serious petition 🤨

People have prejudices and assume everyone is like them, that is true. If you were in Botswana, say, the default would be black woman

No! If you are in Botswana - the default is still 'woman'. No qualifiers needed.

If feminism is about women - than regardless of where you live; in what culture, or set of circumstances - what matters is that you are a female of the species - and so share an essential common ground with similar others of the species - regardless of cultural differences.

All women fit into many subsets of women

Only in inter-sectionalist politics...... Individual differences, whether of birth family; culture; religion; faith...whatever......do not make you an essentially different kind of woman. tey make you a woan with different experiences. A subtle, but key difference.

they make you a woman with different experiences

It is necessary in order to understand the privileges that women have ( which mitigate some of their sex-based challenges) by virtue of being woman AND white/wealthy/healthy/married

Only in inter-sectionalist politics.........Nobody needs to be told that people come from a multitude of different backgrounds...which result in a variety of different experiences. What unites is more important than what divides - for feminism. That is not to say that individual circumstances are irrelevant, however.

You do know that even white , middle class women have been fighting for, or at least highlighting the rights of oppressed black/ & ethnic women for a very long time......long before The 1980's/90's?

But you can just refer to the middle class, middle class men, middle class women, black women whatever if you need to.

I object, when talking about female issues that affect women to have to eg start saying "cis women" when women is enough.

If I were talking about female issues that affect black women like how black women are treated during childbirth I wouldn't dream of saying "black cis-women" "black women but not black trans women" or some junk like that.

If I were talking about issues that affect transwomen I would say transwomen. I wouldn't say "women but not including cis-women" would I.

Seriously. Women is enough. Transwoman already has it's definition in the OED. They can't have two.

It's not a hoax. This same woman tried to do this last year and it has now resurfaced. Perhaps because of the pandemic. Thinking it will go unnoticed.

This woman.

The OED is not prescriptive. It's descriptive. It doesn't define terms it records and described how terms are defined, if that makes sense. So the definition will change, expand, as usage does.

And yet.

We will still need a word to describe an adult human female, of or denoting the sex who bears eggs.

And as soon as that term is 'described', transactivists will realise it separates women from transwomen, and will want it.

It's the concept they require, not the word.

Sorry my angry face was in respone to news that the petition had been deleted.

I didn't realise there was a page 2.

So it is not in response to anything said on page 2.

The word woman is already taken.

It's not the OED right to change it, it belongs to us. That silly woman can jog on.

citizengo.org/en/177919-will-you-maintain-dictionary-definition-woman-adult-human-female-and-continue-exclude-males

Another petition

It’s like whack a mole! citizengo.org/en/177919-will-you-maintain-dictionary-definition-woman-adult-human-female-and-continue-exclude-males?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=social&utm_content=typage&tcid=68032940

I'm all in favour of removing the demeaning synonyms, but the definition should remain "adult human female". Usage example: "the woman lay upon the examination couch to have her cervical cells sampled"

And as soon as that term is 'described', transactivists will realise it separates women from transwomen, and will want it.

We've seen this already with males describing their testes as "external ovaries" and penises as "clitties".

The objection, and speaking as a black woman myself, is that it assumes and presumes that the default is white. That is you are a black woman you need to be reclassified in a subset. Which is not only insulting, it's ridiculous.

Yes, @Lamahaha you make the point I was struggling to make far more succinctly. Thanks!

It seems the Change.org one is up and running again?
www.change.org/p/everyone-keep-the-dictionary-definition-of-woman-to-mean-adult-human-female?signed=true

But they have started again from the beginning, now going on to 200 signatures; yesterday it was going on to 1000 signatures. And yet, they have counted my signature in this new one.
I don't get it. Something is off.

Isn't the wording a bit different?

Also using the PP design will make the trans lobby even angrier that ever!