Muxes of Juchitan

Our Latin American Cultures class watched a video called, “Queers in Paradise” about the city of Juchitan, Mexico. We found another video that dealt with these same concepts on YouTube about Juchitan and its people.It is a documentary on the large population of homosexuals and muxes that live freely throughout the city. Muxe is a Zapotec word used in Juchitan that refers to people with different sexual preferences. They are also known to be “half man, half woman.” In other parts of Mexico, they are called queers, queens, and gays, but not here. Juchitan is a city of a welcoming environment, where muxes are respected. According to a myth, they say God sent St. Vincente Ferrer to place people in the states. He placed men and women there but also carried a special sack with muxes for all the towns and villages. But in Juchitan, the sack broke and out came all the homosexuals. This is why there are more muxes in Juchitan than other places. This is the anecdote on why there are so many muxes. The town is very accepting of them, seeing them as “loveable and nice.” There are also short stories on different muxes’ lives such as Felina and Marsela.

View the Video Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-NL1HcGaA