During Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), we are saying NO MORE to language that normalizes and supports violence.
Although it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly how it happened, the term “wife beater” has somehow become a common and acceptable way to refer to sleeveless vests or tank tops. But calling an everyday item of clothing worn by millions of people after an act of domestic violence that affects about 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men worldwide is anything but acceptable. Yet for some reason, every dictionary continues to perpetuate the association between “wife beaters” and tank tops.
There are many words, including epithets targeting race, sexual orientation, religion and gender, that have been removed from our dictionaries. During DVAM, join us in calling on dictionaries to remove the term “wife beater” or amend the current definition to educate readers on the statistics around domestic violence. It’s time for them to say, “This is unacceptable, and it’s not a term we will use in the future.”
We hope that by shining a light on how offensive calling tank tops “wife beaters” is, we can stop normalizing this term and remove it from our clothing culture and everyday vernacular.
Join us in asking dictionaries to stop supporting language that normalizes domestic violence. Together, we can change the culture.