wokelash

Blend of woke +‎ backlash.

wokelash (plural wokelashes)

1. A backlash against media, speech, etc. deemed inconsistent with social justice principles, or viewed as perpetuating unwoke or reactionary ideas. [since 2019]
   • 2019 September 12, Polly Vernon, “I watched it at 22. I'm still watching it: Friends is the most-streamed show on Netflix, its jokes shared by today's teens”, in The Times, London, page 2:

   • 2019 October 4, Kyle Smith, “The Mob vs. Joker’s Director”, in National Review‎:

     His unguarded remarks about the state of comedy inspired a huge wokelash.

   • 2020 January 21, Hugo Rifkind, “We're wrong to shout down cries of racism”, in The Times‎, London, page 23:

2. A backlash against or mass rejection of wokeness, or of media, policies, etc. deemed woke or politically correct. [since 2020]
   • 2020 January 31, Catriona Stewart, “TV awards illustrate backlash against woke cultural snobs”, in The Herald‎, Glasgow, page 21:

   • 2021 November 30, Ibram X. Kendi, “TV awards illustrate backlash against woke cultural snobs”, in The Atlantic‎:

     Some centrist Democrats today say “woke” politics have gone too far and provoked the “wokelash” (causing Democrats to lose elections in 2021).

   • 2021 November 20, Mollard, Angela, “Gen Z cancelling musical Grease is disappointing”, in The Daily Telegraph, Surrey Hills, N.S.W:

     Fortunately, there’s early signs of a “wokelash” from institutions that won’t cower to this nonsense. When staff at publisher Hachette threatened to down tools because they regarded JK Rowling as a toxic transphobe for a tweet mocking “people” who menstruate instead of “women”, management pushed back saying they couldn’t refuse to work on a book because they disagree with the author’s views.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:wokelash.