Who knows what 'Mx' is?

[Eckhart]

I'm just wondering how many people have heard of 'Mx' as a title. It can be used by either gender, and is increasingly accepted when filling in online forms and suchlike.
I use it - it's on my driving licence even, but some of the drop down menus don't have it as an option. My favourite is EDF electricity who have Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Prof., Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, and a MASSIVE list of other military ones, then Sir, Dame, Lady etc... but no 'Mx'.
I'm just wondering how many people have even heard of it.

MOTOCROSS

www.redbull.com/gb-en/motocross-events-uk

www.vitalmx.com/

www.mxgp.com/

promotocross.com/2019

We need [mx] as motocross emoji

I don’t think it would have the desired effect as I’d assume a woman was using it

I use Ms, and still get people who say they have never heard of it. And that has been around for years. And lots of sections of society are very conservative, you will get judged

I'm a Ms and have been for the last 30 years, lived all over and no one had ever commented on it. I thought it was completely main stream.

I think everyone should be Mx if we need a title at all .

They had me down as this last year at work (first year in a new job). I was bewildered! They’ve changed it to Ms this year, despite me being married and happy to use Mrs.

@cherrysoup Why on earth are they deciding for you?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

agreed - but so many on here seem to think that anything other than announcing our sex and marital status every time we fill in a form or order something is "pretentious"

I am more than happy to be female ( but not happy about female status) but I don't see that it is anyone's business in most cases.

@Eckhart I have no idea, I thought it was a typo! My email signature is Mrs, it’s not like I’m wanting to hide my orientation or something.

@cherrysoup Well there's a lot of varied views on this thread but I think we'd all agree that we should be able to choose for ourselves!

Nearlyadoctor it’s a simple matter of principle.
Men’s titles do not indicate marital status
Mrs / Miss do.
It is sexist, that your title ad a woman depends on your marital status.
So I use Ms.
And it isn’t because I assume anyone would be ‘bothered’ whether I am married or not.

Most of the female teachers in my Dc’s schools go by Ms..

A teacher at my DCs school started using Mx when he was told students were no longer allowed to address staff by their first name.

It's the only time I've encountered it, and suspect the teacher doesn't use it in their everyday life, but who knows.

When it's spoken it sounds like mucks. Use what address you like, wear what you like, style your hair how you like. It's just etiquette and fashion at the end if the day.

Never heard if it. Thought it might be a drug or a new girl band.

I hate titles, what is the point? I am Dr. and am glad I have a gender-free title. I think if everyone used mx it would highlight how ridiculous titles actually are. I hate the connotations though (blue hair, lack of critical thinking, etc)

I sign emails Mx but it means ‘Mum kiss’!

@BlackCatSleeping did you hear that on One Day At A Time?

I don't see why I need to express my sex to make, for example, an online purchase for dog food, or something. I don't see whose business it is. There's no way any organisation would ask 'Penis or vagina?' but that's essentially what they're asking.

But your sex isn't a big secret. Unless you're one of the very few people who look truly androgynous everyone can tell if you're a man or a woman just by looking at you. If you phoned them up they'd be able to tell from your voice most of the time, and most of the time your name will give it away too.
I don't really understand why you want your sex to be a big secret. I agree they don't need to know but why do you care if they do know?

I've heard of it, never met anyone who uses it though.

- it's on my driving licence even

Sorry to burst your bubble but men do not have a title on driving licences so it identifies you as female.

I use Ms, kids sometimes as (supply teacher) and I say because my ability to teach has nothing to do with whether I'm married or not.

@SlipYarnPurlwise - I don't understand why people care why I, or any Mx cares. It's personal. Surely people should be able to choose how they'd like to be addressed without being questioned about their reasons? It's probably different for everybody.

@sashh Are you saying that men cannot choose 'Mx' on a driving licence?

I haven’t met anyone using it.

I could use Dr or mrs. I much prefer Miss - for the bluestocking connotations.

I’ll be Miss Belden until I die.

I've heard of it but never known anyone who uses it.

Then I wouldn't want to work for that company anyway.

How would you know that was why they binned your application? They're hardly likely to say it to you!

Yes people will always judge. People judge the Ms as a rabid feminist which is a judgement I am comfortable with.

Me too. I have used Ms since I was a teenager.

I have heard of Mx.
On forms - personally I try to not select a title, and although my given name is fairly androgynous I usually just put my first initial. On the awful automated forms that insist on a title, I have been using Dr (for many years) or if it's available Mx.

I believe a persons biological sex (and sexuality) is their own business. At times a medical professional may have a need to know this information, but only if the persons biological sex has an impact on diagnosis/treatment.

If everyone is supposed to treat everyone else equally, then gender/sex/sexuality/marital status/parental status/religion/race/etc shouldn't matter, if these things shouldn't matter why do you need to know, and why should people be expected to 'declare by default' by their title?

I don't consider myself 'uber-woke' or whatever a pp said. I'm no spring chicken and I've held these views from a young age. I'm a very private person and my default stance when asked a question is "why do you need to know?" not aggressively or argumentatively, and I'm very happy for you to explain if you have a legitimate reason.

Not too long ago a woman who was married would be Mrs husband-first-name husband-surname (ie Mrs Jonathan Smith) I know few women who would be happy to accept that now.

I used to take customer info over the phone, and there is a growing number of people confused re Ms/Miss/Mrs. I had to start clarifying as people would say their title was miss because they were reading m-r-s as a word, not knowing the standard pronunciation is missiz/missus (it's actually short for mistress and used to be used for both married and unmarried women!), others were saying mis-s for Miss, which of course sounds like missiz, originally I'd have said this group was predominantly made up of those who spoke English as a second language, yet more and more young people seem equally confused.
And of course there is still a shocking number of people who think Ms means either divorced or lesbian.

As all these titles end up with negative stereotypes, surely the best way forward is to do away with all the old ones altogether? (Replacing them with a single one like Mx clearly isn't going to work while prejudiced people insist on making assumptions about the people who choose to use them!)
A letter addressed to 'first initial, surname' will reach me just as well as one addressed 'title, first initial, surname' and if you want to be formal while speaking to someone use firstname+surname.

I couldn't tell you the title for most of the 350ish people I currently work with, but we get by just fine using our names.

@Ereshkigal I wouldn't know. But I also wouldn't have to encounter any more of their prejudice beyond their initial decision. That'll do for me.