On the day of its Inauguration the Biden Administration added the choice of a non-binary title, Mx., to the White House online contact form.

BTW, Mx is best pronounced ‘mix’ and, like other titles, is written in the US with a full stop.

Despite what some say, Mx does not hide anyone’s gender—the user is assumed to be proudly proclaiming their gender identity is in some broad sense non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender.

The revamped White House site now allows for “Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Mx., Other, or None.”

In a major article I wrote: “To avoid customers feeling pressured into making mistakes, these three: Mx, No title, and Other, should always appear together along with the usual titles.” So it’s nice to see the new Biden Administration is using almost exactly what I suggested five years ago.

This 2015 article clarifies many issues about Mx and debunks the misleading definitions in some dictionaries. It’s a thorough resource for anyone wanting to use Mx for themself or add it to their forms.

DEFINITIONS

When Mx first started being used consistently around 2002 by a few individuals, including myself, it was used by people who were known as transgender and/or intersex. In those days transgender was an umbrella term which included what is now called non-binary, which has itself become an umbrella term.

To this day Mx is still best suited to non-binary transgender people, broadly defined to include agender, and the few intersex people who are also non-binary transgender.

Obviously, Mx is of no use to binary transgender people and cisgender (ie non-trans and non-intersex) people. Note that some non-binary people do not call themselves transgender.

A useful definition could be:

Mx
noun
An honorary title used by some non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender people, who do not self-identify as exclusively male or female, to indicate their non-binary gender identity. (Margaret Jones, January 2021)

Unfortunately, when in May 2015 an online version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) became the first dictionary to include Mx, the OED stumbled over their definition, which may have had an unfortunate influence on other dictionaries. They used four real world examples but their definition didn’t match them. They now have nine examples including three of the originals (as at January 2021).

In 2015 they had these real world examples:

‘the bank is planning to introduce the honorific ‘Mx’ as an alternative for anyone who feels that they don’t, for reasons of undetermined gender, fit into being either a Mr, Mrs, Miss or a Ms.’

‘A council is to include the title ‘Mx’ on its official forms to be more accommodating to the trans-community.’

‘Brighton & Hove council adopted the trans-friendly Mx title in 2013, after an inclusivity panel made the recommendation.’

Since then the OED has dropped their fourth real-world example concerning one of the most well-known Mx users, Justin Vivian Bond:

‘To me, Mx Bond embodies the very best kind of girl a boy could ever grow up to become.’ (You can read more about Mx Bond in the main 2015 article.)

These are all non-binary transgender or intersex uses and not cisgender at all. They’re consistent with my experience and usage, and with my observations of how others have used Mx, but they quite clearly contradict the Oxford Dictionary’s own definition.

The OED’s definition on October 3, 2015 at www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mx#Mx was quite misleading. It’s unchanged today though the link redirects to www.lexico.com/definition/mx:

Mx
noun
A title used before a person’s surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female. (As at January 25, 2021)

This is not even paying lip-service to the notion of non-binary gender identity and only serves to dismiss our reality. They blatantly ignored their own examples, in effect misleading their readers into thinking Mx could be used to hide one’s gender, which is not generally possible (though some may try, possibly influenced by the OED).

Dictionaries should restrict themselves to describing how words are really being used and should not venture into prescribing how they believe words ought to be used. It seems the OED in 2015 could not find examples of Mx usage to demonstrate their view of gender as always binary but, nonetheless, defined Mx their own way, contrary to how Mx was being used. They failed us in this respect and other dictionaries seem to have followed their lead, thus tending to negate the real world experience and even existence of non-binary people.

You can see the original entry as I copied it in October 2015 at Androgyne using the new Mx title since 2002 now in OED. That blog post has a lot more about Mx including pronunciations.

As I wrote in the major article of November 2015, any cisgender person (ie non-transgender or non-intersex) using Mx to refer to themself will be considered by others to be transgender or intersex, which is certainly not what they’re wanting. Using it to avoid specifying one’s gender is not going to work and like posting nude selfies on the internet it may be impossible to completely undo. Mx will inevitably continue to refer to an atypical gender identity, and that will be a gender which is not exclusively male or female.

Some cisgender individuals, and other dictionaries, may have been unduly influenced by the OED’s very misleading definition. Just because some cisgender people have been using or experimenting with Mx to somehow hide their gender does not mean it will work for that purpose, and does not mean such use will persist in the long run.

Of course, using Mx should be optional and not at all compulsory. Many transgender or intersex people will not want to use it. Mx doesn’t suit all people with an unusual gender identity so it is important that no-one assumes a non-binary transgender or intersex person wishes to be known by this title.

I am very heartened to see the new Biden Administration has implemented a very good way of using Mx in their online contact form, right from the very first day. That’s progress!

Main article from November 2015: www.mixmargaret.com/about-mx-with-miss-mrs-mr-ms-and-the-singular-they.html

Blog from October 2015: www.mixmargaret.com/blog/2015/10/07/androgyne-using-the-new-mx-title-since-2002-now-in-oed

YouTube video October 2015: New Mx title now in OED

YouTube video 2020, playing original piano music ‘Androgyne Prophecy.’