Global organization discourages saying ‘mother’, 'father' in newspeak guide

British-founded global charity giant Oxfam last week issued its newspeak guide which suggests that people refrain from using such words as “mother”, “father”, “ladies” or “stand”, which the organization has declared offensive.

Oxfam prefaces its guide with a “trigger warning” cautioning the reader that looking at the offensive words in the guide “may cause distress to people who have experienced discrimination on the basis of their identity” and “can take a toll on those directly affected.” 

“Please take care in the reading of the guide and prioritize your wellbeing,” says the guide.

Some of the newspeak semantics suggested by Oxfam includes referring to people without disabilities as “non-disabled” (instead of "healthy" or "normal") so as not to suggest that “people with disabilities are abnormal or unhealthy”. At the same time, one should not say “the disabled” or “disabled people” but “people with disabilities”.

When expressing solidarity, one should not say they “stand with” someone or something, because some people are unable to stand. 

Instead of saying “committed suicide”, one should say “completed suicide”.

The guide also suggests brand new semantics to use, such as “gender climate justice”, which is explained as “an understanding of how the climate crisis affects women differently to men.” There is also “gender justice climate resilience” which is defined as “an understanding of how integrating gender justice is crucial to climate resilience.”

“Mankind,” “manpower” and “spokesman” should not be used, and “labor force” is also considered discriminatory against women.

One should not say “attitudes” or “behaviors” but “social norms”.

Oxfam advises against saying “women and children”, “ladies,” and even “women’s economic empowerment,” which should be replaced with “women’s economic justice”.

The guide dedicates a large section to gender and sexuality, replete with bizarre terms and acronyms for every type of gender disorientation — whether or not they exist. Even such semantics as “LGBTQ,” “LGBTQIX," “gay” and “lesbian” are now offensive.

“Mother” and “father” should not be used because one is female and the other male implying that “others” cannot be parents. “Pregnant women” should be used instead of “expectant mothers” so as not to presume that a pregnant woman wants to continue the pregnancy.

Someone who opposes feticide should not be described as “pro-life,” but “anti-abortion” or “anti-choice”. 

When talking about immigration, one should not use negative terms such as “crisis” or “problem”. Instead of “migration crisis,” for instance, one should say “migration as a complex phenomenon”. Calling people who enter the U.S. illegally “illegal migrants” is similarly ill-advised.

Oxfam also reveals a decidedly Marxist undercurrent, which includes the statement that “it is sometimes necessary to challenge elements of the capitalist system.”

Similarly, the guide has coined the term “environmental violence” which is when capitalists exploit “resources on lands to which they have cultural and historical rights.”

One should not say “local” to refer to people or places, and one should not say “headquarters” because it “prioritizes one office over another.”

The guide makes a point of noting that white people exclude blacks and others simply by the pigmentation of their skin, and they are forever tied to the slave trade:

Whiteness is both a colour and a culture that opens doors for white people and excludes Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. The privileges are provided by the colour of one’s skin and this privilege is a legacy of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. It affects our power, how society accepts us, and our access to things like jobs, education and political voice.

White feminism, according to Oxfam, is also a concept that excludes “disabled, Black/brown, trans, queer women – failing to address intersecting forms of oppression such as racism, islamophobia, and transphobia.”

White people who want to help non-whites, however, are guilty of “white saviourism”.

“We will be courageous and clear in naming structural oppressions and who is affected by them, even when these make us uncomfortable and are unpopular in public discourse,” Oxfam says in a section of the guide called “Personal is Political.” “We recognize that challenging economic inequality, patriarchy, sexism, racism and colonialism, and promoting feminism and racial justice, are vital to ending poverty.”