Editing Māhū

[[Māhū]] ("in the middle") in Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) and Maohi (Tahitian) cultures are [[third gender]] persons with traditional spiritual and social roles within the culture, similar to Tongan ''[[fakaleiti]]'' and Samoan ''[[fa'afafine]]'',<ref name="GC">{{cite web |url= http://www.gendercentre.org.au/resources/polare-archive/archived-articles/like-a-lady-in-polynesia.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150924021528/http://www.gendercentre.org.au/resources/polare-archive/archived-articles/like-a-lady-in-polynesia.htm |archive-date=24 September 2015 |title=Like a Lady in Polynesia: The ''Māhū'' of Tahiti, the ''Fa'a Fafine'' in Samoa, the ''Fakaleiti'' in Tonga and More |work=GenderCentre.org.au |location=Petersham, NSW, Australia |publisher=The Gender Centre |first=Robert |last=Perkins |date=October 2013 |access-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>. According to present-day māhū kumu hula Kaua'i Iki:
{{quote|Māhū were particularly respected as teachers, usually of hula dance and chant. In pre-contact times māhū performed the roles of goddesses in hula dances that took place in temples which were off-limits to women. Māhū were also valued as the keepers of cultural traditions, such as the passing down of genealogies. Traditionally parents would ask māhū to name their children.<ref>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</ref>}}

==History==

[[File:Paul Gauguin 063.jpg|thumb|200px|''Papa Moe (Mysterious Water)'', an oil painting by the Westerner, Paul Gauguin, from 1893. It depicts a māhū in Tahiti drinking from a waterfall.<ref>Mario Vargas Llosa. "The men-women of the Pacific." ''Tate Britain.'' http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific [https://web.archive.org/web/20230323202357/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref><ref>Stephen F. Eisenman. Gauguin's Skirt. 1997.</ref>]]

In the pre-colonial history of Hawai'i, Māhū were notable priests and healers, although much of this history was elided through the intervention of missionaries.  The first published description of māhū 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."<ref>William Bligh.  Bounty Logbook.  Thursday, January 15, 1789.</ref>

A surviving monument to this history are the "Wizard Stones" of Kapaemāhū on Waikiki Beach, which commemorate four important māhū who first brought the healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi.<ref>James Boyd. Traditions of the Wizard Stones Ka-Pae-Mahu.  1907.  Hawaiian Almanac and Annual.</ref>  These are referred to by Hawaiian historian Mary Kawena Pukui as ''pae māhū'', or literally a row of māhū.<ref>Mary Kawena Pukui. Place Names of Hawaii, 2nd Ed. 1974. University of Hawaii Press.</ref>  The term māhū is misleadingly defined in Pukui and Ebert's Hawaiian dictionary as "n. Homosexual, of either sex; hermaphrodite."<ref>Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuael H Ebert.  Hawaiian Dictionary. 1986. University of Hawaii Press.</ref> The assumption of same-sex behavior reflects the conflation of gender and sexuality that was common in Western society before the 1960s. The idea that māhū are biological mosaics appears to be a misunderstanding of the term hermaphrodite, which in early publications by white sexologists and anthropologists was used generally used 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.<ref>
Websters International Dictionary of the English Language. 1890. Merriam Company.</ref>

In 1891, when painter Paul Gauguin first came to Tahiti, he was thought to be a māhū by the indigenous people, due to his flamboyant manner of dress during that time.<ref name=":0">Mario Vargas Llosa. "The men-women of the Pacific." ''Tate Britain.'' http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific   [https://web.archive.org/web/20230323202357/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>  His 1893 painting ''Papa Moe (Mysterious Water)'' depicts a māhū drinking from a small waterfall.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Stephen F. Eisenman. Gauguin's Skirt. 1997.</ref>

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 māhū in Hawai'i. Beginning in the mid-1960s the Honolulu City Council required trans women to wear a badge identifying themselves as male.<ref>Aleardo Zanghellini. "Sodomy Laws and Gender Variance in Tahiti and Hawai'i." ''Laws'' Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2013), p. 51–68 doi: 10.3390/laws2020051</ref>

In American artist George Biddle's ''Tahitian Journal'' (1920–1922) he writes about several māhū friends in Tahiti, of their role in native Tahitian society, and of the persecution of a māhū friend Naipu, who fled Tahiti due to colonial French laws that sent māhū and homosexuals to hard labor in prison in New Caledonia.<ref>George Biddle. ''Tahitian Journal.'' 1999. https://books.google.com/?id=C2lKxkVIwMAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=tahitian+journal+george+biddle#v=onepage&q=mahu&f=false [https://web.archive.org/web/20220407010202/https://books.google.com/?id=C2lKxkVIwMAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=tahitian+journal+george+biddle Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>  Rae rae is a social category of māhū that came into use in Tahiti in the 1960s, although it is criticized by some māhū as an abject reference to sex work.

During World War II, māhū and gender variant peoples of the South Pacific were encountered by American men and women in the U.S. military and helped influence the beginnings of gay liberation.

==In contemporary cultures==

In 1980s, Māhū and fa'afafine of Samoa and other queer cultures of the Pacific began organizing, as māhū and queer Pacific Islanders were beginning to receive international recognition in various fields.<ref name=":1">Eleanor Kleiber. ''Gender Identity and Sexual Identity in the Pacific and Hawai'i: Introduction'' University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Library. 10 September 2019. https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=105466&p=686754  [https://web.archive.org/web/20230529042022/https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=105466&p=686754 Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>

In 2003,<ref name=":1" /> the term ''mahuwahine'' was coined within Hawaii's queer community: māhū (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 coincide with Hawaiian cultural renaissance.<ref>Lyndall Ellingson and Carol Odo. {December 2008 "HIV Risk Behaviors Among Mahuwahine (Native Hawaiian Transgender Women)" http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/aeap.2008.20.6.558 ''AIDS Education and Prevention'' volume 20, issue 6, pages 558–569 doi=10.1521/aeap.2008.20.6.558 issn=0899-9546 [https://web.archive.org/web/20230308161637/http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/aeap.2008.20.6.558 Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>

In many traditional communities, Māhū play an important role in carrying on Polynesian culture, and teaching "the balance of female and male throughout creation".<ref name=Robinson>Carol E. Robertson. 1989 "The Māhū of Hawai'i." ''Feminist Studies.'' volume 15, issue 2, pages=318. doi=10.2307/3177791 issn=0046-3663 jstor=3177791</ref> Modern Māhū 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 Māhū 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.<ref name=UHP95>Besnier, Niko, Alexeyeff, Kalissa. ''Gender on the edge : transgender, gay, and other Pacific islanders.'' Honolulu, 2014 isbn=9780824840198</ref>

Strong familial relationships are important in Māhū culture,<ref name=UHP95 /> as kinship bonds within all of Hawaiian/Tahitian cultures are essential to family survival. When possible, the Māhū 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".<ref name=Robinson /> This ability to bring up children is considered a special skill specific to Māhū people.<ref name=UHP95 /> Māhū 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.<ref name=Robinson/>

In situations where they have been rejected by their families of origin, due to homophobia and colonization, Māhū 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 Māhū who were her teachers and chosen family when she was young.

== Notable Māhū people ==

''See main article: [[Notable nonbinary people]]''

There are many more [[notable nonbinary people|notable people who have a gender identity outside of the binary]]. The following are only some of those notable people who specifically use the word Māhū or mahuwahine for themselves. 

Notable contemporary māhū, or mahuwahine, include 
* activist and kumu hula Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu<ref>Amelia Rachel Kokule'a. "'Gender Identity Disorder' to Go the Way of Homosexuality"  2012-10-29 The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/10/gender-identity-disorder-to-go-the-way-of-homosexuality/264232 </ref> 
* kumu hula Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole
* kumu hula Kaua'i Iki
* historian Noenoe Silva
* activist Ku‘u-mealoha Gomes
* singer and painter Bobby Holcomb
* singer Kealii Reichel.

== Māhū characters in fiction ==

''See main article: [[Nonbinary gender in fiction#Nonbinary genders in fiction|Nonbinary gender in fiction]]''

There are many more [[Nonbinary gender in fiction#Nonbinary genders in fiction|nonbinary characters in fiction who have a gender identity outside of the binary]]. The following are only some of those characters who are specifically called by the word Māhū, either in their canon, or by their creators.

* ''Ho’onani: Hula Warrior'' is a picture book based on the true story of a Native Hawaiian māhū child.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In New Picture Book, a Hawaiian Child Finds a Place Between Boy and Girl |author= |work=Mombian |date=15 November 2019 |access-date=8 November 2021 |url= https://mombian.com/2019/11/15/in-new-picture-book-a-hawaiian-child-finds-a-place-between-boy-and-girl/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413200256/https://mombian.com/2019/11/15/in-new-picture-book-a-hawaiian-child-finds-a-place-between-boy-and-girl/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>

''Please help expand this section.''

== See also ==
*[[Gender-variant identities worldwide]]

==External links==
*[http://kumuhina.com/ ''Kumu Hina: A Place in the Middle''] – a ''{{lang|haw|māhū}}''-oriented website.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICUFjiXSfo "Coming Out & Overcoming – A Visit With Hinaleimoana Wong"] – interview with ''{{lang|haw|māhū}}'' Hinaleimoana Wong, by Ehu Kekahu Cardwell, from ''Voices of Truth'' documentary program by the Koani Foundation
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/hawaiian-culture-transgender_n_7158130.html "The Beautiful Way Hawaiian Culture Embraces a Particular Kind of Transgender Identity"] – short "Queer Voices" column on the topic in ''The Huffington Post''

==References==
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[[Category:Gender-variant identities worldwide]][[Category:History]][[Category:USA]]