| | |  Editorials | Issues | December 2008 
A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico
 Marc Lacey - International Herald Tribune
go to original
| | Muxes, men, women and children dance together at a grand celebration for muxes across the Isthmus — the Vela de las Intrepidas Buscadoras de Peligro. Each year in November the muxes, along with roughly 1,500 guests, come together in Juchitán. They choose a “reina,” or princess, and the mayor bestows the crown. The party costs around $10,000 to put together and requires a full year of preparation by the organizers. | 
| | “Thalía,” who was named princess the night before at a vela, or community celebration, for the muxes, waits for a parade to begin | 
| | Beth-Sua enjoys a smoke at a vela in Oaxaca City. She traveled there from the Isthmus to represent her city’s muxes. Beth-Sua, born as Octavio, is a local organizer and H.I.V.-AIDS activist. She makes a living embroidering huipiles, the traditional blouse of the Isthmus region. | 
| | Ninel Castillejo Garcia, 23, with her parents. Ninel was born in Mexico City and moved to the Isthmus with her family when she was 8. Ninel’s parents accept her, referring to her as their daughter and calling her Ninel, as opposed to her birth name, Orlando. She is one the few muxes who has had surgical augmentation. Ninel used to work as barwoman, but today she is supported by her boyfriend. She spends her days taking care of her younger siblings and cooking for her family and boyfriend. | 
| | Mistica, 30, from Juchitán, is a well-known and well-liked muxe. She is recognized as an astute businesswoman, visible throughout the city as she sells cosmetics and other products door to door. (Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times) | |
Mexico City - Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. Gay-bashing incidents are not uncommon in the countryside, where many Mexicans consider homosexuality a sin. In Mexico City, meanwhile, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized — and often celebrated lavishly in government offices as if they were marriages.
But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call "muxes" (pronounced MOO-shays) — men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned netherworld between the two genders.
"Muxe" is a Zapotec word derived from the Spanish "mujer," or woman; it is reserved for males who, from boyhood, have felt themselves drawn to living as a woman, anticipating roles set out for them by the community.
Anthropologists trace the acceptance of people of mixed gender to pre-Colombian Mexico, pointing to accounts of cross-dressing Aztec priests and Mayan gods who were male and female at the same time. Spanish colonizers wiped out most of those attitudes in the 1500s by forcing conversion to Catholicism. But mixed-gender identities managed to survive in the area around Juchitán, a place so traditional that many people speak ancient Zapotec instead of Spanish.
Not all muxes express their identities the same way. Some dress as women and take hormones to change their bodies. Others favor male clothes. What they share is that the community accepts them; many in it believe that muxes have special intellectual and artistic gifts.
Every November, muxes inundate the town for a grand ball that attracts local men, women and children as well as outsiders. A queen is selected; the mayor crowns her. "I don't care what people say," said Sebastian Sarmienta, the boyfriend of a muxe, Ninel Castillejo García. "There are some people who get uncomfortable. I don't see a problem. What is so bad about it?"
Muxes are found in all walks of life in Juchitán, but most take on traditional female roles — selling in the market, embroidering traditional garments, cooking at home. Some also become sex workers, selling their services to men.
Acceptance of a child who feels he is a muxe is not unanimous; some parents force such children to fend for themselves. But the far more common sentiment appears to be that of a woman who takes care of her grandson, Carmelo, 13.
"It is how God sent him," she said.
Katie Orlinsky contributed reporting from Juchitán, Mexico. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us