The furore over Oxfam’s “woke” language guide misses the point

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itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem" class="c-breadcrumbs__item"> <a itemprop="item" href="https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers" class="c-breadcrumbs__link--blog"><span itemprop="name">The Staggers</span> <meta itemprop="position" content="1"></a> <i class="c-icon icon-chevron-right"></i> </li></ol> <div class="c-date"> <div class="c-live"> <div class="c-live__center" ></div> <div class="c-live__pulsing "></div></div><span class="meta-item c-date--blog"> 20 March 2023</span> </div> </div> <div class="c-entry-header"> <h1 class="c-article-header__title--blog">The furore over Oxfam’s “woke” language guide misses the point</h1> <p class="c-article-excerpt--blog">The media attack on the charity’s “inclusive” wording forces us to choose between blustering bigotry and preening sanctimony.</p> </div> <p class="c-article-header__author">By <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/author/peter-williams" class="">Peter Williams</a> </p> </div> <div class="c-article-header__googleAd GAS_desctop GOOGLE_ADS_SLOT" data-sizes="300,250" style="display:none;"></div> </header> <section class="c-article-content c-entry-content entry clearfix "> <div class="c-article-content__container"> <div class="c-featured-image"> <figure class="c-featured-image__container"> <img width="1038" height="778" src="https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-1038x778.jpg" class="attachment-4x3-large-crop size-4x3-large-crop wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-1038x778.jpg 1038w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-397x298.jpg 397w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-180x135.jpg 180w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-314x235.jpg 314w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-464x348.jpg 464w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-735x551.jpg 735w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2023/03/Oxfam.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1407px) 1407px, (max-width: 335px) 335px, (max-width: 705px) 705px, (max-width: 335px) 335px, (max-width: 689px) 689px, (max-width: 336px) 336px, (max-width: 210px) 210px, (max-width: 101px) 101px, (max-width: 1024px) 1024px, (max-width: 101px) 101px, (max-width: 397px) 397px, (max-width: 464px) 464px, (max-width: 797px) 797px, (max-width: 960px) 960px, (max-width: 314px) 314px, (max-width: 464px) 464px, (max-width: 735px) 735px, (max-width: 1038px) 1038px" /> <figcaption class="c-featured-image__description">Photo by Oxfam</figcaption> </figure> </div> <div class="c-share"> <ul class="c-share__list"> <li> <a href="mailto:type%20email%20address%20here?subject=I%20wanted%20to%20share%20this%20post%20with%20you%20from%20New%20Statesman&body=The%20furore%20over%20Oxfam’s%20“woke”%20language%20guide%20misses%20the%20point%20-%20https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2023/03/furore-oxfam-woke-language-guide-misses-point" target="_blank" class="c-share__link icon-email" title="Share in an email"> </a> </li> <li> <a class="c-share__link icon-linkedin" href="http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2023/03/furore-oxfam-woke-language-guide-misses-point" target="_blank" title="Share on LinkedIN"> </a> </li> <li> <a class="c-share__link icon-twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2023/03/furore-oxfam-woke-language-guide-misses-point" target="_blank" title="Share on Twitter"> </a> </li> <li> <a class="c-share__link icon-facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.newstatesman.com/thestaggers/2023/03/furore-oxfam-woke-language-guide-misses-point" target="_blank" title="Share on facebook"> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <p>Top trolling, Oxfam. Short of demanding a ban on common sense, warm beer and <em>Fawlty Towers</em>, it<em> </em>could scarce have done more to endanger blood vessels in the anti-woke faction by publishing its <a href="https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/inclusive-language-guide-621487/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">92-page “inclusive language guide”</a> for staff and contributors. Incorporating sections on “feminist principles for language use” and “race, power and decolonization”, as well as an acknowledgement that “this guide has its origin in English, the language of a colonising nation”, it met with predictable uproar and ridicule from, among others, the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11869961/Oxfams-new-92-page-inclusivity-guide-calls-English-language-colonising-nation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Mail</em></a>, the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/16/oxfam-avoid-words-mother-father-gender-woke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Telegraph</em></a> and <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/oxfam-woke-gender-trans-uk-cancel-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GB News</a>. </p> <p>These outlets seemed especially exercised by the idea that the gender-neutral “parent” might be preferable to “mother” or “father” in certain contexts, and by advice to avoid terms such as “headquarters” and “field trip” because of their colonial connotations. Suitably damning comments were gathered from, among others, the “<a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/gender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gender</a>-critical” campaigners Helen Joyce and Maya Forstater, the Tory MP and muse to <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/suella-braverman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Suella Braverman</a> John Hayes, and the<em> </em>Free Speech Union’s Toby Young. Oxfam responded that the guide was intended to be merely that, a guide, and not prescriptive, and would “help authors communicate in a way that is respectful to the diverse range of people with which we work”. </p> <p>That may be true, although it still makes treating others with due consideration seem a fraught, recondite pursuit full of minute, hard-to-discern distinctions. To give a small sample, “elderly people” is recommended, but not “seniors”; the unwieldy “migration as a complex phenomenon” is acceptable, but we are told to avoid the simpler “migration challenge” or “refugee crisis”.</p><div class="stream-item ad stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post ad "> <div class="GOOGLE_ADS_SLOT GAS_mobile GAS_tablet" data-sizes="300,250" style="display:nonemargin-bottom:24px"> </div> </div> <p><strong><em>[See also: <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2023/01/woke-history-contested-word-debate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The year woke broke: a brief history of a contested word</a>]</em></strong></p> <p>The real problem with the Oxfam document lies not in its tortuous pieties, which are designed for consumption only by its staff and others invested in keeping up with the intersectional Joneses, but its extraordinary self-importance. “Language has the power to reinforce or deconstruct systems of power that maintain poverty, inequality and suffering,” it declares . “Choices in language can empower us to… build a radically better future based on a survivor-centred, intersectional, anti-racist and feminist vision of equality.” Lest the power of its truth-telling overwhelms those of us with imperial mindsets and delicate constitutions, it warns that “the comfort of the status quo must be disrupted in order to dismantle oppressive structures and create pathways to equality. As you read this guide, you may experience discomfort.” </p> <div class="july22-newsletter"> <section class="newsletter-inner-container"> <div class="newsletter-inner-container__left"> <div id="logo" class="c-header-title__logo "> <a title="New Statesman" href="https://www.newstatesman.com/" class="header__logo"> <img decoding="async" src="https://www.newstatesman.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/TNS_master_logo.svg" alt="New Statesman"> </a> </div>  <span class="c-read-next__article__headline">Subscribe to Morning Call</span> <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/all-newsletters" class="all-newsl">View all newsletters <span class="icon icon-chevron-right"></span></a> </div> <div class="newsletter-inner-container__right"> <a id="newsletter-a" onclick="showNewsPopUp(this.id)"> <span class="c-read-next__article__headline">The quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team.</span> <span class="author"></span> <button id="newsletter" onclick="showNewsPopUp(this.id)">Sign up here</button> </a> </div> </section> <section class="pop-up" id="newsletter-pop-up"> <form class="pop-up__form" id="pop-up-form" method="post" target="submitFrame" action="https://go.newstatesman.com/l/509131/2021-06-07/m9pm2" onsubmit="afterSubmit()"> <div class="pop-up__close icon-close" onclick="hideNewsPopUp()"></div> <div class="pop-up__inner"> <span class="pop-up__semi-title">Select and enter your email address</span> <label for="_pardot-1"> <h4>The Saturday Read</h4> <input id="_pardot-1" type="checkbox" name="weekly_highlights" value="TRUE" onclick="validateNewsletters(this.form, this.form.email)"> </label> <span class="pop-up__label-description">Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. 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The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com</span> </div> <div class="pop-up__submit-box" id="submit-box"> <figure class="pop-up__submit-box__trigger"> <svg width="16" height="9" viewbox="0 0 16 9" fill="none" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <circle cx="2.36133" cy="1.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> <circle cx="8.36133" cy="1.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> <circle cx="14.3613" cy="1.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> <circle cx="2.36133" cy="7.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> <circle cx="8.36133" cy="7.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> <circle cx="14.3613" cy="7.5" r="1.5" fill="white"></circle> </svg> </figure> <span class="pop-up__error-newsletters"></span> <div class="pop-up__input-wrapper"> <input type="text" name="email" class="email-input" required placeholder="Enter your email address" onchange="validateNewsletters(this.form, this.form.email)"> <label for="email">Your email address</label> <span class="pop-up__error email-error"></span> </div> <div class="pop-up__input-wrapper"> <input type="text" name="firstname" class="firstname-input" required placeholder="Enter your first name" onchange="validateNewsletters(this.form)"> <label for="firstname">First Name</label> <span class="pop-up__error firstname-error"></span> </div> <div class="pop-up__input-wrapper"> <input type="text" name="lastname" class="lastname-input" required placeholder="Enter your last name" onchange="validateNewsletters(this.form)"> <label for="lastname">Last Name</label> <span class="pop-up__error lastname-error"></span> </div> <div class="g-recaptcha" data-callback="clickedCaptcha" data-expired-callback="expiredCaptcha" data-sitekey="6LdVQtweAAAAAAjauy_QyK3j3z-JP6adD2MxZAzH"></div> <span class="captcha__error" id="captcha_error"></span> <input type="hidden" name="New_Statesman_Privacy_opt_in" value="True"> <button disabled onclick="validateNewsletters(this.form, this.form.email)" class="submit reverse-colors">Sign up</button> <div class="pop-up__check"> <input id="privacy-check" type="checkbox" name="consent" required checked style="display:none;" value="True"> <span class="text-span"><div>Visit our <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/privacy-policy">privacy Policy</a> for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.</div></span> </div> </div> </form> </section> <section class="pop-up" id="thank-you-pop-up"> <button class="thank-you__close icon-close" onclick="hideNewsPopUp()"></button> <div class="thank-you"> <span class="thank-you__header">THANK YOU</span> <p class="thank-you__text"></p> <button class="thank-you__button" onclick="hideNewsPopUp()">Close</button> </div> </section>  <iframe sandbox id="submitFrame" name="submitFrame"></iframe> </div> <p>Of course, a careful, compassionate choice of words is part of addressing prejudice and inequality, especially, as Oxfam says, when those choices involve listening to others: “we will be led by how the people in question prefer to be referred to”. But ascribing so much power to the particularities of word-choice neglects tone, intent and context. Someone ignorant of the guide and the debates that shaped it could address a room full of the diverse people of which Oxfam speaks and, by virtue of being decent and kind, avoid giving offence. Another could make a speech fully clued up on the same and yet offend all by being pompous, domineering and smug. </p> <p><a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/tag/language" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language</a> is neither progressive nor regressive. It does not move along a line of continuous, consensus-led improvement, nor will it wholly degrade into meaningless relativism. What it does do is change – change being the mess made by the passage of time. It evolves as nature evolves: scruffily, multifariously and incrementally, its infinite variety matching that of the needs and circumstances of the people it serves. This is what gives words their power to disrupt the status quo –they are radically demotic, belonging to everyone and no one. No top-down initiative or prescription, whether from a right-on NGO or a thundering middle-market tabloid, can rob them of that quality. No actor, however powerful, can control or shape the whole. </p> <p>Silly episodes such as this serve only to preach to the choir and demand that the rest of us take a side. So, what’s your poison? Blustering bigotry or preening sanctimony? Hell-in-a-handcart harrumphing that asserts man’s inalienable right to unthinkingly offend, or the bracing certitude of knowing that you are among the select few who speak correctly? Or, somewhere in between and with better things to do? </p> <p>Either way, I don’t think you should worry. At the risk of sounding romantic, I think people will always find the words they need. The people will decide. </p> <p><strong><em>[See also: <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/audio-long-reads/2022/12/a-brief-history-of-woke-how-one-word-fuelled-the-culture-wars-audio-long-reads">A brief history of “woke”: how one word fuelled the culture wars</a>]</em></strong></p> </p><div class="c-sponsored-article"> <h6 class="c-sponsored-article__title">Content from our partners</h6> <div class="c-sponsored-article__single"> <a aria-label="The Circular Economy: Green growth, jobs and resilience" href="https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/reports/2024/11/the-circular-economy-green-growth-jobs-and-resilience" class="c-sponsored-article__img-link"><div class=" c-story__image--sponsored"><img decoding="async" width="464" height="348" class="c-sponsored-article__img the-global-title" src="https://dl6pgk4f88hky.cloudfront.net/2024/11/21/01Cover_page-0001-464x348.jpg" alt="The Circular Economy: Green growth, jobs and resilience" title="The Circular Economy: Green growth, 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The furore over Oxfam’s “woke” language guide misses the point - New Statesman