Australia PM's Speech Prompts Dictionary Update

Definition of 'misogyny' is expanded after Gillard's rant
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2012 5:29 PM CDT
Australia PM's Speech Prompts Dictionary Update
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard inspects a guard of honor on her arrival at the Indian presidential palace for a ceremonial reception in New Delhi, India, Wednesday.   (AP Photo/ Manish Swarup)

Sign of a speech that makes an impact: The dictionary takes notice. Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard's takedown of a political opponent she accused of sexism and misogyny not only went viral, it's forcing a change to the nation's Macquarie Dictionary, reports the BBC. In the next edition, the definition of misogyny will expand from "hatred of women" to include "entrenched prejudice of women."

Editor Sue Butler explains that Gillard's speech made clear that the term has evolved, reports the Australian. "We decided that we had the basic definition, hatred of women, but that's not how misogyny has been used for about the last 20, 30 years, particularly in feminist language," she said. "Sexist does seem to be moving towards this description of surface features and misogynist applies to the underlying attitude." (More dictionary stories.)

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