Muxe

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In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca (southern Mexico), a muxe (also spelled "muxhe") [muxeʔ] is man who cross-dresses as a woman. They are not a third gender.[1] Some marry women and have children while others are homo sexual.[2] According to anthropologist Lynn Stephen, muxe "may do certain kinds of women’s work such as embroidery or decorating home altars, but others do the male work of making jewelry."[3][4]

The word muxe is thought to derive from the 16th-century Spanish word for "woman", mujer.[citation needed] At the time, the letter x had a sound similar to "sh".[5]

Muxe and gender in Zapotec culture

In contrast to Mexico's majority mestizo culture, the isthmus of Oaxaca has a predominantly Zapotec population, and it is widely reported that there is less hostility toward muxe in the region than homosexual, effeminate males and trans women face in other regions of the country. One study estimates that 6 percent of males in an Isthmus Zapotec community in the early 1970s were muxe.[6] Other Zapotec communities have similar roles, such as the biza’ah of Teotitlán del Valle.

Muxe may be vestidas (wearing female clothes) or pintadas (wearing male clothes and make-up). It has been suggested that while the phenomenon predates Spanish colonization, the phenomenon of muxe dressing as women is fairly recent, beginning in the 1950s and gaining popularity until nearly all of the younger generation of muxe today are vestidas.[7]

Within contemporary Zapotec culture, reports vary as to their social status. Muxe in village communities may be highly respected, while in larger, more Westernised towns they may face some discrimination, especially from men due to rational attitudes introduced by Catholicism and European colonisation.[8] Muxe generally belong to the poorer classes of society. Gender variance and same-sex desire in wealthier communities of the region are more likely to follow a more western taxonomy of gay, bisexual and transgender. Such individuals are less likely to be visible. Despite this, Muxe have traditionally been considered good luck, worth more than women and many now have white-collar jobs or are involved in politics.

In an article published in 1995, anthropologist Beverly Chiñas explains that in the Zapotec culture, "the idea of choosing gender or of sexual orientation is as ludicrous as suggesting that one can choose one's skin color."[9] Most people traditionally view their gender as something God has given them (whether man, woman, or muxe), and few muxe desire genital surgery. They plainly do suffer from gender dysphoria or they would not deny and falsify their sex. Their society is content to let them choose a false "gender" according to their clothing, and to ignore phsyical reality.

Lynn Stephen writes: "Muxe men are not referred to as “homosexuals” but constitute a separate category based on gender attributes. People perceive them as having the physical bodies of men but different aesthetic, work, and social skills from most men. They may have some attributes of women or combine those of men and women." If they do choose men as sexual partners, neither are those men (known as mayate) necessarily considered homosexual, although in fact they are.

Prominent muxe individuals

In 2003, 25-year-old muxe Amaranta Gómez Regalado from Juchitán de Zaragoza gained international prominence as a congressional candidate for the México Posible party in the Oaxaca state elections. Her broad platform included calls for the decriminalization of marijuana and abortion.[10][11] [12][7]

See also

References

  1. Chiñas, Beverly (1995). Isthmus Zapotec attitudes toward sex and gender anomalies, pp. 293-302 in Stephen O. Murray (ed.), "Latin American Male Homosexualities" Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
    Chiñas (p. 294) defines muxe as “persons who appear to be predominantly male but display certain female characteristics” and fill a “third gender role between men and women, taking some of the characteristics of each.”
  2. Stephen, Lynn (2002). "Latin American Perspectives," Issue 123, Vol.29 No.2, March 2002, pp. 41-59. Sexualities and Genders in Zapotec Oaxaca. PDF (98.6 KiB)
  3. Ibid.
  4. MIANO, M. (2002). Hombre, mujer y muxe’ en el Istmo de Tehuantepec. México: Plaza y Valdés. CONACULTA-INAH.
  5. See History of the Spanish language#Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants.
  6. Rymph, David (1974). Cross-sex behavior in an Isthmus Zapotec village. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Mexico City.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Gómez Regalado, Amaranta (2005) Transcending. PDF (50.0 KiB)
  8. Stephen, Lynn, op cit.
  9. Chiñas, Beverly (1995). Isthmus Zapotec attitudes toward sex and gender anomalies, pp. 293-302 in Stephen O. Murray (ed.), "Latin American Male Homosexualities" Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
  10. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2003/06/05/ls-amaranta.html (Spanish)
  11. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jornada.unam.mx%2F2003%2F06%2F05%2Fls-amaranta.html (English). Translation by Google Translate.
  12. http://www.copenhagen2009.org/Conference/Keynote_Speakers/Amaranta_Gomez_Regalado.aspx

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