An initiative group led by Italian activist Maria Beatrice Giovanardi published an appeal to the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia Treccani asking to remove offensive synonyms from the article about a woman. In particular, we are talking about the word puttana (slutty woman) and cagna (bitch).
The letter collected many signatures of famous people in Italy: writers, lawyers, deputies and even senators.
According to the activists who compiled the appeal, the dictionary contains misogynistic stereotypes and is dangerous, since “language forms reality”.
The institute has not yet responded to the petition, but it is known that in November last year, commenting on a similar situation, experts said that even if the words reflect negativity, dictionaries cannot but describe it, and all offensive synonyms are marked.
Last year, a campaign led by Giovanardi and her supporters forced Oxford University Press to remove a number of offensive synonyms for “woman” from its English dictionary. For example, now the word bitch has disappeared from the manual.
Encouraged by the victory, the activist decided to continue the struggle, especially since, in her opinion, synonyms in the Italian dictionary are even more offensive than in English.
