Words matter

Recently Oxfam published an updated inclusive language guide. A little graphic on its front page reads, "Words Matter".

Indeed they do. Words can shine light and they can cause harm. The childhood saying about sticks and stones can break bones but words can never hurt is incorrect. Meanings also change over time and in different context. Language evolves.

Oxfam, in its quest to beat poverty around the world, is absolutely right to make sure its people are using language that conveys dignity and respect.

We want to support everyone to feel empowered to be inclusive in their work, because equality isn’t equality if it isn’t for everyone.

So far, so uncontroversial, right? Wrong!

The language guide was picked up on social media and the right wing press as being "woke" and "beyond parody".

Oxfam's Chief Executive, Danny Sriskandarajah, wrote this article about the episode and you can make up your own mind about the guide by downloading it (and actually reading it!) here.

And, talking of expanding our understanding, I thought this was an amazing speech by Megan Rapinoe at Time Magazine's Women of the Year gala, dedicating her award to trans women.

It sounds so, I don't know, fluffy when we talk about storing data in the cloud. I hate to break it to you but those thousands of digital holiday snaps that you're never going to look at again and your multiple versions of the same google doc aren't in a cloud.

They're stored on a hard drive somewhere. And that "cloud" has a carbon footprint. In fact, you can even heat a swimming pool with one. I thought this was an interesting article on the carbon footprints of web sites. Here are some more articles about reducing your carbon online.

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

Useful information for older LGBTQ+ people from Age UK is here.

This is an interesting report into women entrepreneurs.

And here's what The Voice newspaper had to say about the Casey review into the Met police.

Learning points 🎓

When women lift, girls rise

I liked this quote from Nicola Sturgeon's last speech as First Minister of Scotland. She's certainly been a role model for women in politics, whether you agree with her or not.

Day of the Week 📆

This week was Marie Curie's National Day of Reflection.

What am I watching? 👀

We watched Blue Jean at the weekend. It's about a lesbian PE teacher and is set in the late 80s when Section 28 was about to be introduced. Here's an article about the real life inspiration for the film.

What am I listening to?👂

I've shared how much I love the Blow Monkeys' first album, Limping for a Generation, here before.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to tell Dr Robert in person that the track He's Shedding Skin helped me through a dark time. Thank you, Dr Robert.

Joy-giving things 😍

I went to Manchester Uni in the late 80s. I don't remember it looking like this.

Must go exploring there again!

Have a lovely weekend

Lucy

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

Share it with your friends so they can read it too 📣

Thank you!

ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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