Cambridge Dictionary is being blasted by critics online for revising the definition of “man” and “woman” to include people who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.
“Man” is now includes the definition “an adult who lives and identifies as a male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”
In the same vein, the updated definition of “woman” reads “an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth.”
Both definitions previously reflected the outdated views on sex, which assumed that sex and gender identity always adhered to one another.
The changes were quickly derided on the internet, with political commentator Steven Crowder tweeting “Remember, if you can control the language, you can control the population”.
Daily Caller writer Mary Rooke called the dictionary writers “F***ing traitors to the truth”.
“Cambridge Dictionary is only the latest. If we don’t stop them from erasing women our civilisation is [not going to make it],” she claimed.
Dan McLaughin, a senior writer at National Review, viewed the revision as dystopian as opposed to progressive.
“1984 wasn’t supposed to be a how-to manual,” he tweeted.
Still, some social media users pushed back on the backlash, labelling critics transphobic and celebrating the changes as more inclusive.
“Guess what transphobes are upset about now? You guessed the dictionary, didn’t you,” Evan Urquhart of Assigned Media tweeted.
“(Trans-exclusionary radical feminists) gonna blow a gasket,” sculptor Daniel Lismore shared. “Trans people deserve to be recognised for who they are.”
Similarly, the UK-based group Bristol Leading Against Transphobia hailed the decision as “fantastic news.”
