Town's gender lines blurred

[Kate Thomas]

KVIA
El Paso
by Angela Kocherga
11.11.07

Town's gender lines blurred


JUCHITAN, OAXACA, MEXICO. - A small town where not everything is what
it appears, Juchitan is rich in tradition from the fresh cheese made
by local women to the hand-embroidered blouses known as 'huipiles.'

But there is another tradition at work; one that may not be evident at
first glance. They're known as 'muxes' in the native Zapotec indian
language: men who assume the role of women.

Jose Antonio Sanchez said his grandfather and uncle were muxes. Jose's
transgender experience began when he was a child. Sanchez has photos
of his own 'quinceanera,' the traditional sweet 15 party for girls in
Mexico.

[Hypatia]

Muxes are comfortable with their identities, none wants a sex change operation.

They're proud to be different. Felina said she's not a woman but does not want to be a man either. Instead, Mexico's muxes revel in their special status in a town where blurring gender roles date back generations.

In premodern, non-Western traditions, I see this view of transgender a lot. "Third gender" or "two spirit" or "neither man nor woman." What I'm not seeing much is statements like "I identify as a woman, I'm not a man" that many trans women in our culture like to articulate.

How much of that is based on binary attitudes--male or female are the only options offered-- and how much comes from the medical advances we now have available, which make it feasible to alter the body to match the gender? This option wasn't available for anyone until a few decades ago.