ZAPOTEC MUXE IN SOUTH MEXICO

 

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/12/07/weekinreview/1207-MUXE_index.html

 

 

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/weekinreview/07lacey.html

 

The New York Times

December 7, 2008

 

A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico

By MARC LACEY

 

Mexico City — Mexico can

 

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 Garcia. "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.