bowdlerizers
Offensive content removers
Bowdlerizers are people who remove or soften material considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise objectionable from texts.
The term comes from Thomas Bowdler, who published sanitized editions of Shakespeare in the early 19th century, excising anything unsuitable for women and children.
The word typically carries a negative connotation, implying prudish or heavy-handed censorship: The bowdlerizers turned a complex novel into bland mush.
Overly modest people
- moralistsCritics of others' conduct
- conservativesAdvocates for gradual change
- reformistsAdvocates for gradual improvement
- zealotsFanatical cause followers
guardians · watchdogs · crusaders · fundamentalists · bluenoses
Those who edit out
- editorsContent revisers and correctors
- censorsThose who suppress content
- sanitizersAgents that reduce germs
- prunersHand tools for trimming plants
abridgers · deleters · suppressors · revisers · cleaners · purifiers · scrubbers · condensers
prudes
Overly modest people
- moralistsCritics of others' conduct
- conservativesAdvocates for gradual change
- reformistsAdvocates for gradual improvement
zealots · guardians · watchdogs · crusaders · fundamentalists · bluenoses
redactors
Those who edit out
- editorsContent revisers and correctors
- censorsThose who suppress content
- sanitizersAgents that reduce germs
pruners · abridgers · deleters · suppressors · revisers · cleaners · purifiers · scrubbers · condensers · strikers
bowdlerizerspreservationists
Advocates for protecting historical sites
purists · originalists · restorers · archivists · literalists
bowdlerizersprovocateurs
Those who incite discord
libertines · iconoclasts · pornographers · sensationalists · muckrakers