Muxe - Muxe and Gender in Zapotec Culture

Muxe and Gender in Zapotec Culture

In contrast to Mexico's majority mestizo culture (where machismo prevails), 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 elsewhere in the strongly Catholic country. One study estimates that 6 percent of males in an Isthmus Zapotec community in the early 1970s were muxe. Other Zapotec communities have similar "third gender" 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 three gender system 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.

Within contemporary Zapotec culture, reports vary as to their social status. Muxe in village communities may not be disparaged, while in larger towns they may face some discrimination, especially from men. 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 also more likely to remain in "the closet".

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." Most people traditionally view their gender as something God has given them (whether man, woman, or muxe), and few muxe desire genital surgery.

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.