Excerpt from Sexism in the Oxford Dictionary of English by Michael Oman-Reagan at SPACE + ANTHROPOLOGY, 22 January 2016:
The Oxford Dictionary of English is the default dictionary on Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. Anyone using a Mac, an iPad, or iPhone will get definitions
from this dictionary. So why is it filled with explicitly sexist usage examples? Here are those I’ve found so far.
“a rabid feminist”
“the rising shrill of women’s voices”
a mysterious “female psyche”
When it comes to a high degree like a PhD, then the example is a man.
Research? That’s also done by men.
A PhD and research might be men’s work, but women can do “all the housework.”
As the Oxford dictionary says in the usage example for “sexism”:
“sexism in language is an offensive reminder of the way the culture sees women.”
Shouldn’t the usage examples in this dictionary reflect that understanding of sexism in language?
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