Bowdlerization

An expurgation of a work, also known as a bowdlerization, fig-leaf edition or censorship by political correctness is a form of censorship that involves purging anything deemed noxious or offensive from an artistic work or other type of writing or media.

The term bowdlerization is often used in the context of the expurgation of lewd material from books.

The term derives from Thomas Bowdler's 1818 edition of William Shakespeare's plays, which he reworked in ways that he felt were more suitable for women and children. He similarly edited Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. A less common term used in this context, also based on common editorial practice, is Ad usum Delphini; referring to a series of consciously censored classical works.

A fig-leaf edition is a more satirical term for a bowdlerized text, deriving from the practice of covering the genitals of nudes in classical and Renaissance statues and paintings with fig leaves.

Another term used in related discourse is censorship by political correctness.

When this practice is adopted voluntarily, by publishers of new editions or translators, it is seen as a form of self-censorship.

Texts subject to expurgation are derivative works, sometimes subject to renewed copyright protection.