The use of Mx: A step forward for gender neutrality or a leap into confusion?

Mx — a gender-neutral prefix for those who do not want to use Mr, Mrs or Ms — was bound to be adopted sooner or later as its imminent inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary and various official forms in the UK and Australia implies. The question was which letter of the alphabet would be chosen to be appended on to M and the intrinsic mystery of ‘x’ made it the perfect choice. Of course, the retention of the first letter as M itself marks a certain lingering love for tradition that in coming years may be deemed too patriarchal and dropped. But till that happens, Mx as the short version of Mixter is as good an alternative as any, though there may be some confusion for a while about whether the correct pronunciation is mex, mux or mix. Since it was first mooted in the US in 1977, it is not a neologism any more, technically speaking, but there will be a time lapse before it becomes current in countries like India.

Gender neutrality in English is becoming increasingly common although purists still have problems with words such as ‘chair’ denoting a designation and not a seat. The problem —if it can be called thus — arises when names also veer towards unisex choices, as is the tradition in some communities. But then, if the ultimate goal is absolute equivalence for all, this would be regarded as inconsequential.