Fa'afafine: Queens of Samoa and the Elision of Homosexuality

Wallace, Lee

doi:10.1215/10642684-5-1-25

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…While gender rather than sexuality is seen as the main defining feature of māhū, I have pointed out above that, as Wallace clearly puts it, in Polynesia gender variance 'announces the availability of gender-liminal subjects for same-sex sexual acts whether or not they participate in them' ( [26], p. 26). As such, one would expect sodomy laws to have played some role in socially de-legitimising māhū identity.…”

Section: Māhū Same-sex Sexuality and Sodomy Lawsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sodomy Laws and Gender Variance in Tahiti and Hawai‘i

Zanghellini

2013

Laws

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Abstract:In both Hawaiian and Tahitian, the central meaning of mahu denotes gender-variant individuals, particularly male-bodied persons who have a significant investment in femininity. However, in Hawai'i, unlike Tahiti, the word mahu is now more commonly used as an insult against gay or transgender people. The negative connotation of the term in Hawaiian indexes lower levels of social acceptability for mahu identity on O'ahu (Hawai'i's most populous island) as compared to Tahiti. The article argues that these differences are partly due to a historical legacy of sexually repressive laws. The article traces the history of sodomy laws in these two Polynesian societies and argues that this history supports the hypothesis that sodomy laws (in conjunction with such social processes as urbanisation and Christianisation) are partially to blame for the diminished social status of mahu on O'ahu. A different social and legal history in Tahiti accounts for the fact that the loss of social status experienced by Tahitian mahu has been lesser than that of their Hawaiian counterparts.

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Section: Māhū Same-sex Sexuality and Sodomy Lawsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sodomy Laws and Gender Variance in Tahiti and Hawai‘i

Zanghellini

2013

Laws

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“…Locally they are seen as a third gender who are attracted to men and to whom men are attracted. In Samoan culture, the men who have sexual relations with fa'afafine are regarded simply as regular men, whereas the fa'afafine are seen as people who act "in the way of a woman," which is the literal translation of fa'afafine (Wallace, 1999).…”

Section: Journal Of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 99%