Accusations of sexist examples and definitions prompt possible reviews
Oxford Dictionaries has recently been receiving backlash due to their choice of examples for certain definitions. The topic arose when anthropologist Michael Oman-Reagan tweeted Oxford Dictionaries inquiring about the use of “rabid feminist” as an example for the word ‘rabid’.
Upon investigation, the Oxford Dictionary Online (ODO) seemed to have multiple other example sentences using sexist language, such as for the terms ‘shrill,’ ‘nagging,’ and ‘bossy.’ Each of these words cited examples of the word in regards to women exclusively, and often in negative and offensive ways.
Oxford Dictionaries’ response to Oman-Reagan’s tweet was initially dismissive and failed to engage with the actual problem. Responding to Oman-Reagan, Oxford Dictionaries tweeted “If only there were a word to describe how strongly you felt about feminism…” to over 208,000 followers. The subject at hand has since gained a heavy following after the debacle response on Twitter. Over the weekend following the publication of these tweets, ‘rabid’ quickly became the most commonly searched word on ODO. Many followers had suggested that the tweet was dismissing the actual topic at hand and failed to recognize the implications of sexist language. Oxford Dictionaries replied to these complaints stating that “rabid isn’t necessarily a negative adjective,” and that the example sentence was not meant to be taken negatively due to that fact.
Oxford Dictionaries later released an apology for the inappropriate response to these twitter allegations, as well as for the example of “rabid feminist.”
“On Friday we made some ill-judged comments on Twitter in response to a question about the example usage of the word ‘rabid’ on oxforddictionaries.com,” said Oxford University Press in their public statement. “We apologise for the offence that these comments caused. The example sentences we use are taken from a huge variety of different sources and do not represent the views or opinions of Oxford University Press.”
Some of the alternative examples that have been suggested for the word rabid are ‘rabid fan’ and ‘rabid supporter,’ each of which has been cited frequently in the Oxford Corpus. The Oxford Corpus is a database that catalogues instances where a word has been used in publications and websites, among other online resources.
Oxford Dictionaries has now pinned a link on their Twitter to an article explaining the process behind picking example sentences. The software behind the Oxford Corpus is designed to determine how a word is most frequently used, and the top result is usually employed to devise an example sentence. According to this logic, the most common way to use the term ‘rabid’ is in regards to feminism.
While this may be the most frequent use of the term rabid, it may also be outdated due to the context in which feminism has been presented in recent years.
In light of this fact, Oxford University Press said, “We are now reviewing the example sentence for ‘rabid’ to ensure that it reflects current usage.”
Oxford University Press has not said whether they will be reviewing their examples on a whole for sexist language. In addition, they have yet to acknowledge any other accusations of sexist language associated with the definitions of ‘shrill,’ ‘nagging,’ and ‘bossy,’ regardless of the various inquiries and comments that have been made by subscribers.