Transgender Title: "Vogue" Takes Indigenous Muxes on Cover

The fashion magazine "Vogue" has prepared a cover for the topic of diversity for its December issue in Great Britain and Mexico: The title shows a muxe, an indigenous transgender woman from the south of Mexico.

In the Zapoteca, which are part of the indigenous population of Mexico, Muxe refers to a third gender in addition to male and female. The "Vogue" photographed for her cover now the 37-year-old Estrella Vazquez in a traditional Huipil robe, colorful flowers in her hair and a pink fan in her hand.

Muxes are socially accepted by the Zapotecs, who live mainly in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, as the third gender, but little is known outside of Mexico. They are given a male gender at birth and live in female roles, but are not considered women. Many muxes work in the care of the elderly and thus find a place in the patriarchal family structures of Mexico.

"It's a big step," said Model Vazquez in Juchitan City, home to the largest Muxes community. "There is still discrimination, but now it is not that much anymore and you do not see it like it used to," she said.

In August, Vazquez, who had never heard of Vogue, was invited to a photo shoot by the magazine along with a dozen other muxes. "Everybody sees this cover, everybody congratulates me, I have a hard time understanding my emotions, it almost makes me cry," Vazquez said.