PEOPLE identifying as gender-neutral or transgender will now be freed from the confines of the traditional honorifics Mr, Miss and Mrs as a new title, “Mx”, joins the fray.

According to the Sunday Times, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has officially added “Mx” as an honorific for those who either do not identify as being of a particular gender, and for those who are transgender.

In the last couple of years, the title has been slowly added to all British databases, and is already accepted by government departments, councils, high street banks, some universities, Royal Mail and driving licences in England.

Jonathan Dent, assistant editor, OED, told the Sunday Times it was the first addition to the accepted stable of honorifics in recent history, and demonstrated how English was evolving to accommodate a changing and more open-minded society.

“This is an example of how the English language adapts to people’s needs, with people using language in ways that suit them rather than letting language dictate identity to them,” Mr Dent said.

In March, the official Swedish language dictionary included the gender-neutral pronoun hen; than is used for he and hon is used for she.

The Sunday Times reported that initially, the title Mx appeared in the US magazine Single Parent in 1977.

“The early proponents of the term seem to have had gender politics as their central concern,” Dent said, “[and] saw the title as one which could sidestep the perceived sexism of the traditional ‘Mr’, ‘Mrs’ and ‘Miss’.”

The battle for title recognition has been long and fraught with controversy, and goes beyond the interests of the transgender and gender-neutral communities.

For women, being recognised as either a Mrs or a Miss has for years indicated a woman’s marital status.

Having no choice other than Miss or Mrs derives from the recognition of a woman’s marital status, something which women have attempted to change for years.

In the November 10, 1901 edition of The Sunday Republican of Springfield, an anonymous writer proposed to rectify “a void in the English language which, with some diffidence, we undertake to fill”.

“Every one has been put in an embarrassing position by ignorance of the status of some woman. To call a maiden Mrs. is only a shade worse than to insult a matron with the inferior title Miss. Yet it is not always easy to know the facts,” she wrote for the paper.

To avoid such a faux pas, the writer suggested adopting “a more comprehensive term which does homage to the sex without expressing any views as to their domestic situation” — Ms, pronounced Mizz.

With this “simple” and “easy to write” title, a compromise between Miss and Mrs, the writer put forward that “the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances.”

Despite the idea losing momentum, it remerged in 1932 in a letter written in The New York Times, which wondered if “a woman whose marital status is in doubt” should be addressed as M’s or Miss.

Even today, confusion continues to surround the title of Ms, despite it being available on most administrative forms. In 2009, the European Parliament caused “outrage” in the British press after it published a pamphlet asking staff to avoid using the titles Miss or Mrs.

“Ludicrous”, one Tory MP told the Daily Mail. “Political correctness gone mad.”

Another, in the Daily Telegraph, branded it a “waste of taxpayers’ money”.

However, “Mrs” did not always relate to a woman who was married: Cambridge University historian Dr Amy Erickson found that historically, Mrs was for centuries applied to adult women of a higher social status and with some form of education.

In fact, most titles attributed to females (such as dame, madam, miss, hussy — from housewife — wife and queen, as well as mistress) meant whore at some point in time.

But what it titles were done away with altogether?



“I don’t think there is an impetus for society to resolve this,” social commentator Dr Rosewarne told News Corp Australia.

“We still want to know where everyone stands even if that causes a class system. There is still a drive in people to be able to distinguishable through their titles.”

She said title was very important to those who had most to gain from it, however, said that Oxford Dictionary’s decision to include “Mx” was “pro diversity” and a “really easy way” to make people who have previously been excluded to feel included.

“This is a way we can make people feel included, and these are really easy things for us to do, administratively and bureaucratically, that have a large meaning on people who have felt excluded from the mainstream,” Dr Rosewarne said.

News Corp Australia has contacted the Oxford Dictionary for comment.