bowdlerism means A policy of bowdlerization, or censorship by removing what is considered indecent. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why “bowdlerism” is a great word
BOWDLERISM — [Noun] The practice of censoring a text by excising or altering material deemed indecent or offensive, typically with a prudish, moralizing zeal. From the name of Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), editor of an expurgated edition of Shakespeare, + the suffix -ism. Unlike expurgation, a general and sometimes neutral act of removal, or censorship, a broad institutional suppression, bowdlerism denotes a specific, heavy-handed sanitizing born of a particular moral sensibility. It is the Victorian blush that scissored Shakespeare’s ribaldry into sterile silence, the ink that blacks out a heroine’s passion, and the prim note substituting a euphemism for a bodily truth—a well-intentioned vandalism that, in its attempt to protect innocence, denies the messy humanity it seeks to purify.
Etymology
From Bowdler + -ism.
noun
- A policy of bowdlerization, or censorship by removing what is considered indecent.