Indigenous third gender person graces history-making cover of Vogue Mexico and Britain
A Mexican muxe takes part in the traditional procession during the Muxes Festival in Juchitán, Mexico. (Jan Sochor/Getty Images)
A muxe person, the indigenous third gender unique to Mexico, has graced the cover of Vogue for the first time in the magazine’s 120-year history.
In the Oaxaca region of Southern Mexico, the indigenous Zapotec community’s muxe (pronounced moo-she) people are a distinct third gender, although they are often confused with trans women. They use a variety of pronouns and have differing sexual orientations.
The cover photo for the December 2019 issue of Vogue Mexico, as well as next month’s British Vogue, will feature Estrella Vazquez, 37, who in August had never heard of Vogue.
The weaver and designer was invited by the magazine to participate in a photo shoot with a group of other muxe people because Vogue Mexico wanted to highlight the indigenous cultures in Oaxaca.
According to Reuters, Vasquez said of the experience: “I think it’s a huge step. There’s still discrimination, but it’s not as much now and you don’t see it like you once did.
“Everyone is seeing this cover, everyone is congratulating me. I don’t know; it’s just hard to make sense of the emotions I’m feeling. It almost makes me want to cry.”
The need for such a “huge step” is clear, when this year 63 transgender people were murdered in the country, the second highest number of any country in the world after Brazil.
Vogue Mexico wrote on Instagram: “In a world in which labels seem essential, muxes appear as that figure that refuses to be typecast.
“The third gender has an important role in the Zapoteca history and becomes the living proof that ancestral magic still walks on this land.”
The muxe people were beautifully captured in the photo shoot by British photographer Tim Walker.
Muxes have historically taken on the prestigious role of caring for their ageing parents, and in 2017, muxes led recovery efforts in the city of Juchitan after an 8.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico that killed 96 people.
