A Mexican “muxe” (typically, a homosexual man wearing female clothes) takes part in the festival in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico.

A Mexican “muxe” (typically, a homosexual man wearing female clothes), posing with her boyfriend, takes part in the traditional procession during the Vela de las Intrépidas festival in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, Mexico, 17 November 2018. In the Istmo de Tehuantepec region of southern Mexico, the Zapotec indigenous society traditionally divides people into three genders: male, female and muxes. The “third gender” (muxes) generally represents those who identify as a different gender than assigned at birth. Muxes are shown respect, they contribute to society as artists, merchants, or they stay at the parents’ home doing women’s work. Although the three gender system originates in pre-Hispanic indigenous culture, the phenomenon of muxes dressing publicly as women started in the 1950s and has been gaining popularity until today.