Team talk ‘TEA M TALK

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

Words are of giganticus importance

‘WE can all challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion,’ say the organisers of International Women’s Day, which takes place next Wednesday (8 March). ‘A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA.’

Hear, hear. I think many people would agree that stamping out misogyny is the right thing to do. Women deserve the same rights and respect as men – end of. But when publishing imprint Puffin announced that it had rewritten parts of Roald Dahl’s children’s books to remove language that could be deemed offensive to women and other groups in society, not all the reviews were positive. According to The Guardian, critics described the edits, which altered passages connected to gender and race, as ‘absurd censorship’.

Detailing some of the changes, The Telegraph pointed out that Mrs Twit of The Twits was now described in the text as just ‘beastly’ rather than ‘ugly and beastly’. In another of Dahl’s stories, the line ‘She really needs a good spanking’ was changed to ‘She really needs a good talking to’.

Though some critics are calling the edits ‘cultural vandalism’ and Puffin announced that the ‘classic texts’ without the recent revisions would be published under the Penguin logo, my own feeling is that it’s always valuable to reflect on literature from the past and ask ourselves how it fits in with the world today. Is the narrative from our favourite childhood book still relevant or have times changed? Are the characters we grew up with described with outdated words that promote unhelpful attitudes for modern readers? I also found myself wondering how the books that I read in my youth shaped my views of the world and the people in it, for better or for worse.

Whatever we make of the Roald Dahl rewrite debate, one point that both sides appear to agree on is that words matter. Books have the power to be educational and inspiring – but the words inside them can also be harmful and unhelpful. Whoever we are, and whatever our gender, it’s our responsibility to choose our words carefully so that, together, we can work to create a society that treats everyone fairly.