A Brief History of Mexico’s Third Gender
Muxes are often misunderstood and discriminated against outside rural Mexico.
In a small town in rural, indigenous Mexico, there exists a third gender known as muxe (sometimes spelled muxhe) among the Zapotec peoples. Considered neither male nor female, rather somewhere in-between like the hijras of India, muxes are (broadly speaking) biologically male but dress and act in ways typically associated with females. Here’s a brief history of Mexico’s third gender.
Believed to have originated from the Spanish term for ‘woman’ (mujer), muxes are predominantly found in communities around the Isthmus of Oaxaca, where tolerance towards people identifying with this third gender is generally higher than in many other parts of Mexico. Sadly, however, contrary to popular belief, discrimination is still alive and kicking. In other regions, muxes are sometimes known by other names, like biza’ah.
Like Indian hijras, muxe is thought to be an ancient concept, although many of the current features associated with being muxe only date back some 60 years. One of these concerns how to…
