How And Why The Muxes Of Mexico Directly Challenge Prevailing Gender Ideologies
Gender is understood to be a role that individuals play out in society. This part of identity can be influenced both by sex and by social surroundings and culture. Usually, the sex of a person is biologically determined by their visible reproductive organs at birth. A common practice in Westernized medicine is biological determinism, the misconception that an individual’s sex at birth predetermines their gender and also their sexual orientation. In Western culture, it is understood that sex is binary — babies are separated into one of two sex categories at birth. However, studies by anthropologists have shown that throughout the world many societies have a third, fourth, and sometimes fifth gender and do not partake in the dichotomy of male and female. The muxes of the Itsmo de Tehuantepec, Juchitán region in southern Mexico, are an example of a society that challenges gender binary. This essay will highlight how and why the muxes of Mexico directly challenge prevailing gender ideologies. It will also discuss what the existence of more than two genders in other societies says about these mainstream concepts of gender.
The word ‘muxes’ derives from the Spanish word ‘mujer,’ which means woman. The muxes of southern Mexico are a transgender group of biological males they would relate more to what we would call Western ideas of hegemonic femininity then Western ideas of hegemonic masculinity. Muxes challenge the concept that gender is binary by altering their gender markers. This includes growing long hair, wearing embroidered dresses, applying makeup, injecting hormones and undergoing cosmetic surgeries to enhance breasts and sometimes noses. They frequently hold jobs such as hairdressing and wedding planning and are a dominant force in the sex trade industry.
A muxe in a family is seen as a blessing, especially in the mothers eyes. Most muxes begin to show signs of femininity during their teenage years and are greatly encouraged by their family members to pursue this identity. They are very helpful with regular household chores and also with childcare. A muxe is considered a valuable member of the family unit because they never leave the home to seek marriage. Instead they remain at home into their adult years, in order to help care for their elders. They also are able to accumulate wealth for their families through the design and creation of traditional embroidered garments. Although muxes are seen as valuable in some areas of society, the transgender communities of Mexico still experience wide spread discrimination.
The most common form of discrimination is through physical and verbal violence, not only from some members of the community but also from the police force and other public servants. In retaliation to this, “Muxes have demanded recognition and support from national and local institutions”. They have received some support through new ‘federal and local l was against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity’. In Mexico City, safe hormone injection clinics and public healthcare clinics have been set up specifically for the transgender community. Major stigma was raised against muxes in the late 1980s from the community claiming that they were the main carriers and transmitters of HIV and AIDS, raising issues of transphobia. Despite all of this, muxes are the most widely accepted trans group of people in Mexico.
The concept that gender is binary is challenged because third genders exist in other societies throughout the world. There are situations where people are born with a chromosomal structure varying from ‘xx’ (female) and ‘xy’ (male), such as Turner’s Syndrome, where a female is born with only one ‘x’ chromosome. There is also Klinefelter’s Syndrome that affects one in five hundred boys. In contrast to Turner’s Syndrome, Klinefelter’s Syndrome causes males to be born with an extra ‘x’ chromosome. Hermaphrodites are another example that do not fit into the binary concept of gender. Hermaphrodites can be born with both sets of chromosomes and/or both sets of genitalia. It is because of this that we as anthropology students and anthropologists must produce qualitative research and provide education for our communities to shift any enthocentric views to be more culturally relative and sensitive.
We must also practice caution in allowing any enthocentrism to come through in our own work and research. We must open people’s minds to the idea that gender that is not determined biologically but rather by social and cultural influences. The hegemonic characteristics of femininity and masculinity are too black and white and do not consider the many variabilities one may encounter when building their identity and personality.
In conclusion, the third gender present in southern Mexico challenges conventional ideas of gender dualities by altering their gender markers and demanding recognition from the federal level. They are driven to express their true identity in contradiction to the mainstream concept of gender and despite some resistance from pubic officials and the community, the muxes are considered a happy blessing from a familial perspective. Due to the inherent variables in chromosomal makeup that a human can posses, it is disingenuous to human nature to impose only two options of gender. This is proof that as anthropology students and anthropologists, we must continue to push the idea that gender does not correlate with one’s biological sex — it is a culturally created phenomena that should be seen as more fluid then structured.
