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 Tonga (Tonga Islands);: [[fakaleiti]] and Samoan Samoan: [[fa'afafine]].[1] Historically, the term referred to people assigned male at birth (AMAB),[2] but in modern usage, can refer to a variety of genders and sexual orientations.
According to present-day kumu hula Kaua'i Iki:
In modern popular culture, the term may be used pejoratively to describe LGBTQ+ people, while māhū continue to hold a place of respect within Hawaiian culture and community.[3]
In the pre-colonial history of Hawai'i, were notable healers, although much of this history was elided through the intervention of Christian missionaries.[4] 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."[5]
A surviving monument to this history are the "Wizard Stones" of Kapaemāhū on Waikiki Beach, which commemorate four important who first brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi.[6] These are referred to by Hawaiian historian Mary Kawena Pukui as, or literally a row of .[7] The term is misleadingly defined in Pukui and Ebert's Hawaiian dictionary as "n. Homosexual, of either sex; hermaphrodite."[8] The assumption of same-sex behavior reflects the conflation of gender and sexuality that was common at that time.[9] 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," including social and behavioral attributes, not necessarily a biological hybrid or intersex individual. This led to homosexual, bisexual, and gender nonconforming individuals being mislabeled as "hermaphrodites" in the medical literature.[10]
Kaomi Moe, aikāne to King Kamehameha III and a, is another historical example.[11]
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.[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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 the 1980s, and fa'afafine of Samoa and other queer cultures of the Pacific began organizing, as and queer Pacific Islanders were beginning to receive international recognition in various fields.[15]
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.[16] 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 Hawaiian: māhū, or mahuwahine, include activist and kumu hula Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu,[17] 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".[18] 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.[19]
Strong familial relationships are important in culture,[20] 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".[18] This ability to bring up children is considered a special skill specific to people.[21] 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.[18]
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.