US EditionOnce punished for weaving, this Mexican artisan uses her loom for LGBTQ+ resistance
Merino’s workshops offer LGBTQ+ students a safe space to learn ancestral weaving, and she says at least five trans women and two men are now weaving.
- In Mexico City, Merino hosts workshops teaching weaving as a "means to healing," where LGBTQ+ participants learn to "weave our own stories" through the ancient backstrap loom.
- At around 15 in San Pedro Jicayán, Merino was punished for weaving when community leaders enforced strict gender norms barring boys from the craft, summoning men to publicly shame her.
- Her grandmother defied local expectations, teaching Merino in secret at age 13: "She taught me how to make the thread from scratch, to feel the textures and respect nature." This grounded Merino in Mixtec and Zapotec traditions.
- Merino's example inspired LGBTQ+ youth in San Pedro Jicayán, where at least five trans women and two men now weave, creating safe spaces for people to explore identity through craft.
- Student Kristhian Cravioto, a designer of Indigenous crafts, emphasized the loom's significance: "This is very important for us dissidents. To know that no matter whether you are a man or a woman, what you do matters.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Associated Press News
Once punished for weaving, this Mexican artisan uses her loom for LGBTQ+ resistance
Xaneri Merino, a transgender woman and artisan from southern Mexico, was once punished for weaving in her Indigenous community, where men are largely barred from weaving.
Once punished for weaving, this Mexican artisan uses her loom for LGBTQ+ resistance
Xaneri Merino wasn’t meant to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps.Now a transgender woman, she was identified at birth as a boy in San Pedro Jicayán, an Indigenous community in southern Mexico where men are largely barred from becoming weavers.
Once Punished For Weaving, This Mexican Artisan Used Her Loom For LGBTQ+ Resistance
The Associated Press reports that Xaneri Merino wasn’t meant to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, but now as a transgender woman who was identified at birth as a boy in San Pedro Jicayán, and indigenous community in southern Mexico where men are largely barred from becoming weavers, she is defying rigid gender norms. Read more…
Xaneri Merino was not meant to follow in his grandmother's footsteps.
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