Linnea Frank, 21, is a freelance designer and photographer who lives in London. She uses the title Mx.
I want to show that gender isn’t fixed and there’s a valid alternative. The title Mx forces people to think outside the binary (two-way version) of gender and that’s really healthy.
It’s not just for me personally, it’s also about getting the title out there and giving it recognition. Gendered titles are a constant reminder that we’re one or the other. A or B. But if we categorise everyone as man or woman, there’s going to be a lot of people who don’t neatly slot into place and they’re going to be left out – including me.
I consider myself somewhere between a woman and non-binary, but I don’t mind which pronoun people use to address me. It’s less of a statement and more out of convenience that I don’t ask people to call me ‘they’.
I’m not so fixed to my identity that I would claim a specific pronoun. There was never much of a reaction among my family and friends when I took the title Mx because it’s not something that comes up in everyday discussions. I make sure to use it on my Twitter and on official documents like my passport, or paying bills, though. Our supposed gender is the first thing we disclose about ourselves on these documents and I don’t see any good reason why that should be.
I’m a lesbian, gender-queer woman and my rationale is that if there isn’t a perfect description to explain me, then a gender-neutral term is the next best thing. People make a lot of assumptions about gender and what it means to be a man or a woman, and I’d rather be identified as queer.
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