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by low_tech_love 2714 days ago
It's clickbait; they don't say it, they imply it. It is said that Google employees were "told" to "stop" using the word after complaints. No context; it conjures up the image of people being censored and oppressed in their everyday activities. In reality, "VP Pavni Diwanji ... told staff to be more conscientious about referring to family" in the context of product advertisement for children, which is absolutely reasonable since the word "family" means different things to different people. And, well, the article is garbage in many more ways than I'm willing to discuss further.
1 comments

This is dissembling. How can you be "more conscientious" about using a word like family other than not using it? There isn't any other word to refer to a man, a woman and their children as a group, as far as I'm aware.

So if a VP says "be more careful using word X due to outraged employees" and the word for X is ordinary, every day and refers to an important thing, that is absolutely material that should surface in a newspaper.

Especially given the ludicrous employee quotes that accompany it, like:

'It smacks of the 'family values' agenda by the right wing which is absolutely homophobic by its very definition.'

What the heck? Families, those things required for the human race to continue existing, are now considered homophobic? This has got to be a new low in the identity politics endurance race to the bottom. As phrased I can't even tell if they think families are homophobic or just everyone who isn't left wing - both concepts are derisory.

Oh, and:

The person commented: 'My family consists of me and several other trans feminine folks, some of whom I'm dating. We're all supportive of each other and eventually aspire to live together.'

Whatever that living arrangement is, it is definitely not a family according to any dictionary I've ever seen.

But I honestly can't say I'm surprised by this. I used to work for Google and knew Pavni Diwanji quite well. She probably knows this is bizarre but is far, far too weak to do anything other than go along with the loudest crowd in the moment.