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2014-12-13 |
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The most recent column in Savage Love had a theme featuring letters on the |
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subject of gender-neutrality and genderfluidity. You've probably come across |
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the term "genderqueer" conceptually even if you're not aware of people within |
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your own life to whom the title might be applied: people who might consider |
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themselves to be of no gender, or of multiple genders, or of variable gender, |
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of a non-binary gender, or trans (gender's a complex subject, yo!). |
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A purple circle. |
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For about the last four or five years, I've been able to gradually managed to |
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change my honorific title (where one is required) in many places from the |
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traditional and assumed "Mr." to the gender-neutral "Mx." Initially, it was |
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only possible to do this where the option was provided to enter a title of |
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one's choosing - you know: where there's tickboxes and an "Other:" option - |
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but increasingly, I've seen it presented as one of the default options, |
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alongside Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., and the like. As a title, Mx. is gaining |
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traction. |
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"Mx Dan Q" on HMRC. |
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I'm not genderqueer, mind. I'm cisgender and male: a well-understood and |
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popular gender that's even got a convenient and widely-used word for it: |
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"man". My use of "Mx." in a variety of places is based not upon what I |
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consider my gender to be but upon the fact that my gender shouldn't matter. |
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HMRC, pictured above, is a great example: they only communicate with me by |
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post and by email (so there's no identification advantage in implying a gender |
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as which I'm likely to be presenting), and what gender I am damn well |
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shouldn't have any impact on how much tax I pay or how I pay it anyway: it's |
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redundant information! So why demand I provide a title at all? |
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Scottish Power's "Title" options. Showing: Mayoress, Monsignor, Mother, Owner/Occupier, Police Comissioner, Prince, Princess, Professor, Rabbi, Reverend, Reverend Father, Reverend Mother, Sergeant, Sheikh, Sir, Sister, Viscount, Viscountess, Wing Commander, Abbot... |
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I don't object to being "Mr.", of course. Just the other day, while placing an |
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order for some Christmas supplies, a butcher in Oxford's covered market |
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referred to me as "Mr. Q". Which is absolutely fine, because that's the title |
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(and gender) by which he'll identify me when I turn up the week after next to |
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pick up some meat. |
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I'd prefer not to use an honorific title at all: I fail to see what it adds to |
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my name or my identity to put "Mr." in it! But where it's (a) for some-reason |
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required (often because programmers have a blind spot for things like names |
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and titles), and (b) my gender shouldn't matter, don't be surprised if I put |
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"Mx." in your form. |
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And if after all of that you don't offer me that option, know that I'm going |
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to pick something stupid just to mess with your data. That's Wing Commander |
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Dan Q's promise. |
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LINKS |
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"Gender Solid" (10 December 2014), on Savage Love (http://www.thestranger.com) |
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Sexplanations video, "The Gender Map" (https://www.youtube.com) |
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Wikipedia article about the gender-neutral honorific title "Mx." (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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Patrick McKenzie's excellent blog post, "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names" (http://www.kalzumeus.com) |
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