Gender Inclusive Honorific Title?

[dmitridr]

Hey everyone,

I was just reading an online article about how the Oxford English Dictionary is considering adding 'Mx' as an honorific title alongside 'Mr, Mrs, Miss etc'?

Jonathan Dent, assistant editor on the OED, said the title is the first new honorific to be accepted as an addition to the current set of gender identifiers. He said it 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”.

Can you think of any other gender-inclusive language?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gender-neutral-honorific-mx-to-be-included-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary-alongside-mr-ms-and-mrs-and-miss-10222287.html

This is DEFINITELY worth the read as this shows how our society is becoming more and more inclusive! I'd also recommend you take some quotes from the article for your end of year exams.

[Joseph41]

Good post!

I have found myself using they more and more as an alternative to he and she. However, it gets a bit clumsy when used as both the singular and the plural. I think more gender neutral pronouns are certainly required. Mx is a good start.

EDIT: This may be due to having a couple of gender-fluid friends. He and she are quite binary.

[heids]

Hmm.  From the context of learning another language with one gender-neutral pronoun for he/she/it, I've become more strongly in favour of gender-specific pronouns.  You see, in your second language you get very easily confused when someone's talking about 2+ people; the more basic 'distinguishers' between the people in the sentence, e.g. gender, the easier it becomes, as you're more likely to be able to tell who they're talking about.

I suppose though this is a case where language usage relies so much on your general views and values; for instance, I like gender-specificity and thus don't like this title, because I have strong views on the difference between male and female social roles.  But then, I do use that singular 'they' pretty often... usually when I don't know the person's gender or am talking to someone about someone else they don't know.

P.S. Interesting question - why does English have married-unmarried female titles, but only a generic male title?
P.P.S. Hope this post made sense, I didn't even do EL...

[dmitridr]

Good post!

I have found myself using they more and more as an alternative to he and she. However, it gets a bit clumsy when used as both the singular and the plural. I think more gender neutral pronouns are certainly required. Mx is a good start.

EDIT: This may be due to having a couple of gender-fluid friends. He and she are quite binary.

I would agree that it appear clumsy and at times incohesive, however, gender neutral pronouns have always had any little chance of succeeding... just take a look at 'thon', which was obviously unsuccessful.