Beyond the binary sex-gender system in Tseltal Mayan communities: Embodiment of two cases of youth sex-gender dissidence experiences in San Juan Cancuc, Chiapas, Mexico

The link between female and male energies from the Mayan epistemology gives space to gender categories beyond the colonial binary sex-gender system that are still being embodied by contemporary teenage sex-gender dissidences from rural communities. Objective: This article aims to analyze, with a postcolonial and non-binary gender perspective, the violence and self-care strategies of two Tseltal Mayan youths who openly live sexualities and genders dissident to hetero-cis-normativity in the rural community of San Juan Cancuc, Mexico. Measure: The study followed an ethnography and autobiographical method design, supported by 3 in-depth interviews to each participant between 14–17 years old, self-identifying as Tseltal Mayan, with an open sex dissident life: one Cis-Male with a fluid gender identity and one Antsil-Winik, a non-binary Tseltal Maya gender. Security protocols were used to create safe conditions to each participant in the study. The importance of the linguistic and cultural two-way translation process between Tseltal and Spanish was considered as well. Results: The study revealed the multifactorial violence against rural Mayan teenage sex-gender dissidents in their own communities and in diverse social spheres. That violence increases if the teenager expresses a gender identity like Antsil-Winik, which breaks the binary sex-gender system. Conclusions: Family support, access to education and healthcare, bilingual abilities (Tseltal-Spanish) and migrations become important tools to create emancipation conditions and solidarity actions among the Tseltal teenage sex-gender dissidences.