A fakaleitī (or ''leiti'' or ''fakafefine'' or ''lady'') is a
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
n individual
assigned male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
at birth who has a
feminine gender expression
Gender expression, or gender presentation, is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity. This also includes gender roles. These cate ...
. The term ''fakaleitī'' is made up of the prefix ''faka-'' (in the manner of) and the borrowing ''lady'' from English. ''Fakaleitī''s themselves prefer to call themselves ''leitī'' or ''ladies''.
Although leitī in Tonga do not necessarily associate with
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
identities in the Western world, those who grow up in Tongan migrant communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States may find a greater level of community and affinity to similar identities than leitī in the island kingdom.
Leitī or fakafefine are similar to Samoan
fa'afafine and Hawaiian
māhū
' ('in the middle') in Native Hawaiian and Tahitian cultures are third gender people with traditional spiritual and social roles within the culture, similar to Tongan ' and Samoan '. Historically māhū were assigned male at birth (AMAB), but in ...
.
The
Tonga Leitis' Association organizes the
Miss Galaxy Pageant in Tonga. They have also been involved in reforming colonially influenced laws about leitī life that remain in Tonga. In 2018 a documentary film, ''
Leitis in Waiting
''Leitis In Waiting'' is a 2018 feature-length documentary about transgender rights in Tonga. It was produced and directed by Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. The filmmakers previously explored trans rights in the Pacific in t ...
'', was made about leitī leader Joey Mataele and the efforts of the Tonga Leitis' Association. Mataele also works with the Pacific Equality Project, a non-profit group advocating for the decriminalization of LGBT peoples from post-colonial laws in the Pacific Islands.
See also
*
List of transgender-related topics
The following outline offers an overview and guide to transgender topics.
The term "transgender" is multi-faceted and complex, especially where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. While often the best way to find out h ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
Like a Lady in Polynesia
{{Sexual identities
Gender in Oceania
Gender systems
Third gender
Tongan culture
Transgender in Oceania
Society of Tonga
LGBT in Tonga
Indigenous LGBT culture