The expression “Essex girl” has been removed from a dictionary used to teach English after a campaign by women from the county who described the term as offensive.
According to the Oxford University Press, “Essex girl” was previously described as: “A name used especially in jokes to refer to a type of young woman who is not intelligent, dresses badly, talks in a loud and ugly way and is very willing to have sex.”
However, it has now been taken out from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, used to teach foreign language students English, after campaign group The Essex Girls Liberation Front said that using such an expression was “very offensive”.
The phrase will still be included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) because its publishers claim it is a “historical dictionary”, in which “nothing is ever taken out”. In this dictionary, it is defined as a “derogatory” and “contemptuous” term to describe a “type of young woman, supposedly found in and around Essex, and variously characterised as unintelligent, promiscuous and materialistic”.
The campaign was instigated by the author Syd Moore, who referenced “Essex girl” at an International Women’s Day conference. She told the Times: “Women from the Congo had heard of the Essex girl. I thought, ‘It’s time to get rid of this once and for all’.”
On hearing news of the outcome, she tweeted: “Ladies and gentlemen – here is the news. Proof that, if you put your mind to it, you CAN CHANGE THINGS.”
The county’s tourist board also released a publicity video entitled This is Essex, to help the cause.
Campaigners say the ITV reality show The Only Way Is Essex has not been helpful in their fight. However, they argued that it should be allowed to continue as long as viewers realise it’s not representative of everyone in the area.
Gemma Collins, one of the stars of The Only Way Is Essex, previously told Sky News she is against the use of the term. “I think the dictionary should be paying everyone in Essex compensation,” she said. “We have evolved over the years. It is very derogatory what has been said about us. And it does need to be changed.”