Comparing M�hu In Hawaii And Fa Afafine A Woman

How do you define a man or a woman? Is it through the way people look? Dress? Act? And how important are these supposed steadfast gender stereotypes. Whilst LGBT movements in the west are picking up pace, in the pacific region third genders, such as Māhū in Hawaii and Fa’afafine in Samoa, are their on class on their own. In terms of transgender there are transgender men and women whereas Māhū and Fa’afafine are given their own class, of equal status to men and women without specifically being either.

What does it mean to be in the middle? To be in between male and female and live in a world where truly you fit both and neither. Kuma Hina is a Hawaiian Māhū teaching traditional hula at a Hawaiian school. Throughout this documentary you realise

girls. When we lined up to walk to the library, there would be a boys line and a girls line. When I was at school it was all very much a divide, we never thought about the middle, was there even a middle? Whilst the documentary was focused around Kuma Hina what struck me was the young girl, Ho’onani. In the pacific, Hawaii specifically it seems more important to have a strong sense of self; whatever gender/identity that may be than to identify strongly with either male or female alone. Ho’onani is accepted by her peers and teachers as a boy and a girl, she can be both and no one questions that. Kuma Hina tells the other boys that Ho’onani has more Ku than any of them, despite being biologically wahine (female). Ku is a form of male energy. It is defining male and female by spirit, you can be biologically wahine but have pocess the spiritual characterisctics of a male; have that energy, dominance and generally feel and act

Often times they are seen as a blessing. In fact families in Samoa will sometimes raise the youngest boy as a girl (fa’afafine) if they do not have a girl to do the girl chores. Whilst this may be the intentions, this does not mean that being Whanie comes without a fight. Whilst many will claim fa’afafine are a blessing it does not mean that do not have to fight for equal rights. And that will always be the thing, third-genders are welcomed however there will always be those that feel uncomfortable with the unknown, who it will scare. And much of it can be pointed back to western intervention. Pacific histories embrace the third gender however how does this interact with Western Colonial ideas; religions and mindsets that often do not have a place in a middle, a place for third-gendered persons. However this intersection is key in understanding the importance of third-gender in traditional society, the ways of spirituality in traditional cultures that create space for these third-genders; spaces that may struggle to stay in existence with the increased westernisation of pacific nations. This too is where Kuma’s ideas come in; about teaching Hawaiians the traditional way, to teach them hula and about concepts of aloha. As a Māhū she understands the importance of tradition and the way it allows for the middle. This was something that I realised when reading about the colonial issues with fa’afafine, that whilst Kuma is trying to keep