in society’. Although this demand had been made since the eighties11 and the campaign became viral on Twitter, the number of signatures obtained was irrelevant12 and the definition, until today, still remains intact13:

The RAE resists using gender language . They demand changing the term public woman, as a prostitute, and equating the term public woman with public man in the dictionary (diario16.com, 25-III-17).

Equality Campaign #Yosoyunamujerpública, (#Iamapublicwoman). Yesterday the campaign began by asking the RAE to equate the term public woman to public man in the Dictionary of the Spanish Language (diario16.com, 26-III-17).

Nativel Preciado: I’m joining the campaign #Yosoyunamujerpública (diario16.com, 9-IV-17).

On 25th January, 2018 the controversy over the fifth definition of the adjective easy took a leap from the social networks to the press, echoing the attitude of the Academy, which immediately manifested that it would not suppress it, but, at most, would add some explanatory label; to justify this fact, it argues that the dictionary has to record what speakers use and also what appears in written texts, in order to decipher them:

Easy according to the RAE: a definition that has raised hackles in social networks (elmundo.es, 25-I-18).

The RAE “will not censor” the definition of ‘easy’ woman but does not rule out adding an explanatory label (europapress.es, 25-I-18).

The RAE refuses to eliminate the controversial definition of “easy woman”. The dictionary includes in the adjective “easy” a definition referring to “especially a woman who is freely available to have sexual relations” (abc.es, 26-I-18).

The news which was published the following day alluded to the fact that the complaint came from a Twitter user who had gathered together many followers (including well-known personalities who had amplified the demand14), who, outraged, qualified the term as being “shameful” and “surprising”:

A new sexist controversy in the RAE dictionary: the definition of “easy women” is maintained (lavozdegalicia.es, 26-I-18)

A woman from Gijón indignant with the RAE definition (sexist) of the word “easy”(Lne.es/Gijon, 26-I-18).

The media also echoed the controversy raised by Pérez Reverte, a defender of the definition, on Twitter:

Pérez-Reverte causes a riot by defending the definition of “easy woman” in the RAE. (elespanol.com, 9-II-18).

However, after several petitions in change.org, the denunciation of different groups and a campaign from a high school in Tenerife (#HazloFácilRAE)15, The Academy, contradicting its initial standpoint, modifies the word:

The RAE rectifies and eliminates the sexist meaning of ‘easy woman’. The cultural institution modifies the fifth definition of the adjective in the digital version: “Said of a person: Someone who is freely available to have sexual relations” (publico.es, 12-III-18).