Māhū

' in Native Hawaiian and Tahitian cultures are people who embody both male and female spirit. They have traditional spiritual and social roles within the culture, similar to Tongan ' and Samoan '. The terms “third gender” and “in the middle” have been used to help explain māhū in the English language.

According to present-day kumu hula Kaua'i Iki:Kaua'i Iki, quoted by Andrew Matzner in 'Transgender, queens, mahu, whatever': An Oral History from Hawai'i. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context Issue 6, August 2001

Historically, was a respectful term for people assigned male at birth, but with colonization the word was denigrated and used as an insult (similar to the term “faggot”) to refer to gay people. More recently, there has been an effort to recapture the original dignity and respect accorded the term māhū.

History

In the pre-colonial history of Hawai'i, were notable healers, although much of this history was elided through the intervention of Christian missionaries. According to Joan Roughgarden, the lacked access to political power, were unable to aspire to leadership roles, and "Perceived as always available for sexual conquest by men." The first published description of occurs in Captain William Bligh's logbook of the Bounty, which stopped in Tahiti in 1789, where he was introduced to a member of a "class of people very common in Otaheitie called Mahoo... who although I was certain was a man, had great marks of effeminacy about him."

A surviving monument to this history are the Healer Stones of Kapaemāhū on Waikiki Beach, which commemorate four important who first brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi. These are referred to by Hawaiian historian Mary Kawena Pukui as , or literally a row of . The term is misleadingly defined in Pukui and Ebert's Hawaiian dictionary as "n. Homosexual, of either sex; hermaphrodite." The assumption of same-sex behavior reflects the conflation of gender and sexuality that was common at that time.The term "transgender" was not in use yet during the time the earliest sources were written, and has undergone significant changes in definition over time. While technically coined in the 1960s, the term transgender was rarely published until the 1990s and did not see wide usage until the 2000s. The idea that are biological mosaics appears to be a misunderstanding of the term hermaphrodite, which in early publications by sexologists and anthropologists was used generally to mean "an individual which has the attributes of both male and female;" this led to homosexual, bisexual, and gender nonconforming individuals being mislabeled as "hermaphrodites" in the medical literature. The history of Kapaemahu was revived through an animated film, picture book, an
museum exhibition

In 1891, when painter Paul Gauguin first came to Tahiti, he was thought to be a by the indigenous people, due to his flamboyant manner of dress during that time. His 1893 painting ''Papa Moe (Mysterious Water)'' depicts a drinking from a small waterfall.

Missionaries to Hawai'i introduced biblical laws to the islands in the 1820s; under their influence Hawai'i's first anti-sodomy law was passed in 1850. These laws led to the social stigmatization of the in Hawai'i. Beginning in the mid-1960s the Honolulu City Council required trans women to wear a badge identifying themselves as male.

In American artist George Biddle's ''Tahitian Journal'' (1920–1922) he writes about several friends in Tahiti, of their role in native Tahitian society, and of the persecution of a friend Naipu, who fled Tahiti due to colonial French laws that sent and homosexuals to hard labor in prison in New Caledonia. Rae rae is a social category of that came into use in Tahiti in the 1960s, although it is criticized by some as an abject reference to sex.

In contemporary cultures

In the 1980s, and fa'afafine of Samoa began organizing, as .

In 2003, the term ''mahuwahine'' was coined within Hawaii's queer community: (in the middle) + wahine (woman), the structure of the word is similar to Samoan fa'a (the way of) + fafine (woman/wife). The term ''mahuwahine'' resembles a transgender identity that coincides with Hawaiian cultural renaissance. Kumu Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu clarified that:

Since the term can have multiple spaces and experiences, Kumu Hina originally coined the terms: (transgender man) and (transgender woman). However, Kumu Hina believes that those terms should be revised due to scientific advancement and so she coined four new terms. who feel internally ''wahine'' (female)—emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and culturally—could use the term ''haʻawahine''. If they feel more internally that they are ''kāne'' (men), they are ''haʻakāne''. When they have taken on externally what they feel internally i.e. dressing as a female, have began to or had undergone hormone therapy and other forms of medical transitioning (including cosmetic surgery), then the term ''hoʻowahine'' would be used. Likewise, for who feel that they are internally male and taking that form externally, then ''hoʻokāne''....

Notable contemporary ', or mahuwahine, include activist and kumu hula Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu, kumu hula Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole, and kumu hula Kaua'i Iki; and within the wider LGBTQ+ community, historian Noenoe Silva, activist Ku‘u-mealoha Gomes, singer and painter Bobby Holcomb, and singer Kealii Reichel.

In many traditional communities, play an important role in carrying on Polynesian culture, and teaching "the balance of female and male throughout creation". Modern carry on traditions of connection to the land, language preservation, and the preservation and revival of cultural activities including traditional dances, songs, and the methods of playing culturally-specific musical instruments. Symbolic tattooing is also a popular practice. Modern do not alter their bodies through what others would consider gender reassignment surgery, but, just as any person in Hawaiian/Tahitian society, dress differently for work, home, and nights out.

Strong familial relationships are important in culture, as kinship bonds within all of Hawaiian/Tahitian cultures are essential to family survival. When possible, the maintain solid relationships with their families of origin, often by becoming foster parents to nieces and nephews, and have been noted for being especially "compassionate and creative". This ability to bring up children is considered a special skill specific to people. also contribute to their extended families and communities through the gathering and maintaining of knowledge, and the practicing and teaching of ''hula'' traditions, which are traditionally handed down through women.

In situations where they have been rejected by their families of origin, due to homophobia and colonization, have formed their own communities, supporting one another, and preserving and teaching cultural traditions to the next generations. In the documentary '' Kumu Hina'', Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu visits one of these communities of elders up in the mountains, and meets with some of the who were her teachers and chosen family when she was young.

See also

* Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu – contemporary ', teacher and Hawaiian cultural worker
**'' Kumu Hina'' (2014) – documentary film about Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
* LGBT rights in Hawaii
* Rae-rae
* Fa’afafine, similar group in Samoa and American Samoa
* Bakla, similar third gender concept in the Philippines
* Bissu, similar third gender concept among the Bugis people of Indonesia
*Two-spirit, a pan-Indigenous umbrella term for all traditional Native American identities that do not fit into the Western gender binary or heterosexual roles

Footnotes

References and sources

*Eisenman, Stephen F., (1999). ''Gauguin's Skirt''. London: Thames and Hudson. .
*Matzner, Andrew (2001). ''O Au No Keia: Voices from Hawai'i's Mahu and Transgender Communities''

External links

''Kumu Hina: A Place in the Middle''
– a -oriented website.
"Coming Out & Overcoming – A Visit With Hinaleimoana Wong"
– interview with Hinaleimoana Wong, by Ehu Kekahu Cardwell, from ''Voices of Truth'' documentary program by the Koani Foundation

– short "Queer Voices" column on the topic in ''The Huffington Post''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahu
LGBTQ Native Hawaiian culture
Native Hawaiian culture
Gender systems
Third gender
Transgender topics in Oceania
Transgender topics in the United States
Indigenous LGBTQ culture