The Hidden History of Bowdlerization

Bowdlerization is the systematic removal of offensive content from books. It is named after a man who famously edited Shakespeare to make it safe for family reading.

In 1818, Thomas Bowdler published an edition of Shakespeare that removed scenes he considered improper for children or women. This act was meant to preserve literature by cleansing it of supposedly vulgar language and sexual references. Today, the term is used to describe any act of censorship that sanitizes works for a specific audience. It serves as a reminder of how subjective the idea of offensive art can be throughout different eras.