Australian "misogyny" speech prompts change to dictionary

[News Feed]

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A fiery speech against sexism by Australia's first woman prime minister has prompted the textbook of Australian English to broaden the definition of "misogyny" to better fit the heated political debate raging downunder.

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[redrumloa]

Are you {bleep} kidding me?

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Are you {bleep} kidding me?

How d'ya mean? Word meanings drift all the time. The Prime Minister isn't redefining the word - it's just that her high profile use of it has reminded the lexicographers that they have fallen behind current usage.

 

[Glaucus]

Ya, but it's a misuse as far as I'm concerned as misogyny is literally hatred of women in Greek. Misos means to hate and Gyneka means women. Being prejudiced and hating are different things. Rapists are often called misogynists because that's typically a crime of hate. The leader of the opposition sounds like an asshole, but assholes aren't on the same level as rapists. I think it's useful to maintain a division between those two levels.

Also, the fact this is heatedly debated also suggests that the dictionary may have jumped the gun.

 

[cecilia]

The dictionary currently defines misogyny as "hatred of women", but will now add a second definition to include "entrenched prejudice against women", suggesting Abbott discriminated against women with his sexist views.

hmmm. I'll have to think about this.

In her parliamentary speech, Gillard attacked Abbott, a conservative Catholic, for once suggesting men were better adapted to exercise authority, and for once saying that abortion was "the easy way out".

Abbott is an asshole. There's nothing easy about abortion. he's stupid and clueless

 

[faethor]

She's kinda hot.

 

[the_leander]

Ya, but it's a misuse as far as I'm concerned as misogyny is literally hatred of women in Greek. Misos means to hate and Gyneka means women. Being prejudiced and hating are different things. Rapists are often called misogynists because that's typically a crime of hate. The leader of the opposition sounds like an asshole, but assholes aren't on the same level as rapists. I think it's useful to maintain a division between those two levels.

Also, the fact this is heatedly debated also suggests that the dictionary may have jumped the gun.

Prejudice may be born of ignorance but there is no question it is fueled by hatred.

 

[Glaucus]

No. Prejudice has more to do with ignorance than with hatred.

 

[the_leander]

No. Prejudice has more to do with ignorance than with hatred.

I stand by what I said and recommend you look into the psychological underpinnings of prejudice before you argue against what I've said. Also, whilst the Australian dictionary may have needed an update, dictionary.com has it covered already:

1. hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.

 

[Glaucus]

Being prejudicial doesn't require you to hate, dislike or mistrust anyone. You could love women and still believe all women aren't capable of making good fire fighters. That's more to do with ignorance than hate. Prejudice is treating all blondes as dummies based on the belief of social stereotypes. That doesn't mean you hate blondes or that you hate dumb people, just that you treat them differently. Hate is not a requirement for prejudice. Prejudice simply means you pre-judged people. The meaning is in the word itself! You are extending it's meaning to include the reason for the pre-judgment, which is where you go wrong.

 

[Glaucus]

Also, whilst the Australian dictionary may have needed an update, dictionary.com has it covered already:

1. hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.

Perhaps Dictionary.com is "smart" enough to adjust meanings based on your IP geo-location. All I see is:

- noun​

1. hatred of women​

- Related Forms​

mi·sog·y·nis·tic- adjective​

mi·sog·y·nist- noun​

 

[the_leander]

The hate, dislike or mistrust part comes from the dictionary definition of misogyny. One of those interesting quirks of having the same base language spread across different continents is divergent meanings. Hence why US, UK an I would guess Canadian dictionaries already cover a slightly broader meaning than simply flat out hatred.

On prejudice I would again point you to looking into it's psychological underpinnings. Of all people on here Metalman pointed once to an article discussing the possibility that our brains are hardwired to dislike groups that are different to us. That we may all in fact be rigged from the beginning to be prejudiced against "the other", that it may in fact be a survival trait dating back to prehistoric times.

Hatred is simply anger given time to fester and in this context that anger is born of an irrational fear of "the other". The fact is stereotypes are this phenomenon this same base psychological reaction to difference on a societal scale. These are reinforced by the formation of memes (blondes are dumb, black people are criminals, jews run the world etc). I'm not attempting to redefine the meaning of prejudice, merely pointing out that you need to understand where it comes from before you can dismiss that hatred acts as a fuel maintaining a given prejudice (though not the only one it does, along with fear act as a buffer to the person attempting to correct their ignorance).

It's why your hypothetical person believes that women are incapable of being firefighters and then when women demand the right to try, react as they do and attempt to "put them in their place".

Think Yoda.

 

[the_leander]

Perhaps Dictionary.com is "smart" enough to adjust meanings based on your IP geo-location. All I see is:

- noun​

1. hatred of women​

- Related Forms​

mi·sog·y·nis·tic- adjective​

mi·sog·y·nist- noun​

Perhaps, or perhaps it's a difference between the desktop and mobile version of the site. I'd snapshot it but Androids security "features" mean I'd have to have root access in order to create a screenshot of the site, which I don't have...

 

[Glaucus]

It's why your hypothetical person believes that women are incapable of being firefighters and then when women demand the right to try, react as they do and attempt to "put them in their place".

Funny, that very statement is prejudicial. Not all people prejudiced against women fire fighters would put them in their place. Some might act that way, while others would take in the new information and change their mind. If the latter were impossible then women's rights issues would have never progressed since the pre-ancient times.

 

[Glaucus]

Perhaps, or perhaps it's a difference between the desktop and mobile version of the site. I'd snapshot it but Androids security "features" mean I'd have to have root access in order to create a screenshot of the site, which I don't have...

Don't worry, I wasn't calling you a liar.

 

[the_leander]

Funny, that very statement is prejudicial. Not all people prejudiced against women fire fighters would put them in their place. Some might act that way, while others would take in the new information and change their mind. If the latter were impossible then women's rights issues would have never progressed since the pre-ancient times.

On the contrary -I never said that all people would react in that way (I try to avoid dealing with absolutes, simply because it only ever takes one counter example to blow up a given argument). The individuals reaction to their fear plays a huge role in how they view the world and if you read The Authoritarians you can see that it has massive implications across the board. Some people are clearly capable of overcoming their fears, of setting aside their hatred. Others less so. You also have things like societal pressures that you have to overcome.

I don't know about you, but these sorts of discussions fascinate me.

As to the other I heard a phrase that English speakers were "separated by a common language". I think this may well be one of those occasions

Gotta love linguistic drift.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Ya, but it's a misuse as far as I'm concerned as misogyny is literally hatred of women in Greek. Misos means to hate and Gyneka means women.

But we don't speak Greek. Homophobe? Hydrophobic? Language is bendy and usage changes. What the heck does it mean to "have attitude"? Do you spell "show" with an upside-down 'e' instead of an 'o'? Oh sure, you can complain about how people use words but you can't stop the usage from changing. You should just be glad you aren't an English teacher.

 

[cecilia]

you should hear my mother complain about how badly the news commentators corrupt the English language

Language is bendy

hmmm, I'm sensing a T-shirt

 

[redrumloa]

But we don't speak Greek. Homophobe? Hydrophobic? Language is bendy and usage changes. What the heck does it mean to "have attitude"? Do you spell "show" with an upside-down 'e' instead of an 'o'? Oh sure, you can complain about how people use words but you can't stop the usage from changing. You should just be glad you aren't an English teacher.

That's all well and good but you don't change the definition for political reasons. Obama is probably on the phone with Websters to change the meaning of "prosperity", at least through the election.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

That's all well and good but you don't change the definition for political reasons. Obama is probably on the phone with Websters to change the meaning of "prosperity", at least through the election.

They aren't changing the definition for political reasons. See the linked article and my earlier post.