“We are in a process of redefinition,” said Gubidxa Guerrero, an anthropologist and the president of Comité Melendre, a local nonprofit group that promotes civic participation.
A mixed-gender way of life was accepted in several pre-Columbian communities across Mexico, according to anthropologists and colonial accounts. It is unclear when the muxe tradition originated in Juchitán, or how it endured.
Muxes dress as men or women, and tend to be feminine in their manners and the way they express themselves in the Zapotec language, experts said. Often, they live with their parents and dedicate themselves to the household. Muxes usually have relationships with men, but that is not what defines them, experts and muxes say.
The bathroom issue intensifies during the spring fiestas,…
