Travel to the town of Juchitan de Zaragoza in the Mexican state of Oaxaca and visitors will find a rich Indigenous Istmo Zapotec culture, which is known for its precolonial traditions of food, music, religion and breaking the gender binary.
Muxes, individuals who identify as a third, feminine-presenting gender, have been a staple in the region despite the broader Mexican culture’s trend toward social conservatism. While not being considered gay or transgender, as are common labels in Western culture, muxes have remained a staple in Oaxaca, pushing the cultural conversation from one of a gender binary featuring female and male to a more abstract view of gender identity which allows for further labels.
Given a rise in LGBTQ+ acceptance in Mexico, the history, culture and contemporary standing of muxes has gained even more recognition in recent years, opening the door for further strides toward gender and sexual orientation equality in the country.
Subcategories of a Historical Identity
Muxes performing at a 2015 sexuality diversity celebration in Oaxaca. Secretaria de Cultura Ciudad de Mexico. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The term “muxe” is not an all-encompassing word; rather, subcategories exist which provide an important distinction as to how a muxe expresses themself and identifies. Regardless of whether a muxe is cisgender, someone who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth, or transgender, someone who identifies with a gender that was not assigned to them at birth, they all are male-identifiying individuals who are sexually attracted to other males.
There are two subcategories of muxes: muxes gunaa and muxes nguiiu. Muxes gunaa are transgender males who present as traditionally feminine, whereas muxes nguiiu are cisgender males who present themselves in a more masculine manner.
An important distinction to make is that both muxes gunaa and muxes nguiiu do not have a direct counterpart in Western LGBTQ+ culture. While gay cisgender and gay transgender men in the West generally seek out other men who identify as gay, muxes seek out men who identify as straight. Within the Istmo Zapotec culture, straight men who engage in intercourse with muxes are referred to as mayates and are still considered to be straight.
A Culture Which Has Spanned Generations
A muxe wearing face paint in the image of a skull. Arnaud B. CC BY-SA 2.0.
Muxes have historically played a unique role within the Istmo Zapotec culture. Being outside of the traditional female-male binary, muxes tend to fill in for either more traditionally feminine or masculine labor roles depending on their family’s economic statuses.
According to a 2019 study, muxes may be less likely to be accepted by their families if they come from a higher socioeconomic standing because presenting as masculine historically has led to greater opportunities in wage labor jobs contingent on cisgender presentation. On the flip side, muxes may be more likely to be accepted by their families if they come from a lower socioeconomic background because wage labor jobs for these families may already be unattainable, so it would be more beneficial to the family for muxes to engage in female-typical labor.
Beyond economics, the Istmo Zapotec culture has embraced and celebrated muxes for generations, with the most noticeable example of this being the Vela de las Intrepidas, or the Vigil of the Intrepids. This three-day-long November festival sees thousands of muxes from around the world return to Oaxaca to celebrate, as NPR put it, “ambiguity and mixed gender identities.” The celebration is the largest of its kind, and features performances, music, food and dance all dedicated to celebrating muxes’ departure from the gender binary.
Muxes in the 21st Century
LGBTQ+ rights demonstrators at a 2009 protest in Mexico City. Thelmadatter. CC BY-SA.
Muxes in recent years have begun to gain recognition and acceptance outside of Oaxaca. Notably in 2019, Vogue featured Estrella Vazquez, an Indigenous Zapotec muxe, on the cover of its Mexican and British issues for the first time in its 120 years of publication.
This marked a significant change in a country whose Roman Catholic religion has created a culture which tends to be socially conservative. As Vazquez said to Reuters, “I think it's a huge step. There’s still discrimination, but it’s not as much now and you don’t see it like you once did.”
Despite this new level of recognition, muxes still face a number of discriminatory barriers to employment and cultural acceptance. Mexico does not have any laws in place which bar LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace, and still classifies the term “transgender” on a national scale as a disease.
Likewise, while official data is limited, statistics gathered from several LGBTQ+ rights organizations found that on average, 77 transgender-identifying people are killed annually in Mexico. This number suggests that hate crimes against transgender citizens, including muxes gunaa, is an issue which remains to be addressed at all levels of government in Mexico.
That said, given recent cultural wins such as the Vogue cover as well as new laws in Mexico which aim to expand upon LGBTQ+ rights, such as Mexico City outlawing LGBTQ+ conversion therapy in July, progress in gaining equal standing under both legal and cultural lenses is a goal not out of the realm of possibilities. As the Mexican Vogue article says, “Muxes … show that respect and equality should not be an impossible fantasy to realize.”
Jacob Sutherland
Jacob is a recent graduate from the University of California San Diego where he majored in Political Science and minored in Spanish Language Studies. He previously served as the News Editor for The UCSD Guardian, and hopes to shed light on social justice issues in his work.