Lola, La la la la....Muxes?

the transgender community is getting a lot of good press these days.

And by good press, I mean press at all. Normally this cross section of our world is the final frontier of real fear and loathing.

Reality TV welcomed Alexis Arquette on both The Surreal Life and as a gues judge on Top Design
Characters depicting Transgender issues are on several shows, including both prime time and soap operas.
Trangender issues made the cover of Newsweek.

And it's about time!!!!!!!!

What prompted my trans-tirade? Well, I was at the (*gasp*) gym when I picked up the cultural equivelant of cheese doodles, Marie Claire magazine. And after flipping past hundreds of pages of the *latest* makeup and accesories, I found this article. An article on Muxes.

And if this doesn't prove that other countries are way, way ahead of the US in gender identity, I don't know what else will.

So what are Muxes? And why was I first hearing about them in Marie Claire?
Muxes are males, or humans born with male genitalia that fall into what the Zapotec culture considers a *****Third Gender****.

Applause all around!

Muxes can be dressed in men's clothes and wear makeup. they can dress as females. they can marry women and have children, or they can take male lovers.

They are an increadible family member to have, because they are trained in the arts, and can bring wealth and status to a family.

A far cry from our twisted little American politics, eh?

Wikipedia has a pretty good article on Muxes here.

I think for once, we need to take some cues from another culture.

Who am I kidding, we need to take a lot of cues from elsewhere.