Same Sex, Different Cultures by Herdt Gilbert H.;

Author:Herdt, Gilbert H.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge

Polynesian Societies

Stories of close same-gender friendships in Polynesia, including Tahiti in the Society Islands and ancient Hawaii, were already well known by the later part of the eighteenth century. These friendships provided sources of support for same-sex relationships in a variety of Polynesian societies, which tended to be highly ranked or stratified. Women were high status, kin groups held distinctions, royalty and high chiefs were known, and these and other features made the existence of third genders a part of the social landscape. By contrast, age-structured homoerotic roles and relations of the kind we have seen in New Guinea and Africa were rare or unknown. Polynesian hierarchical systems associated social status and power with marriage and sexuality, not age.

Men who engaged in the work, roles, and sexuality of women were known from precolonial times in a variety of Polynesian societies (Besnier 1994). The high status of women in certain Polynesian cultural systems, along with the general societal approval of sexuality and sexual experimentation in childhood, certainly influenced this elaboration of gender-transformed roles. Roles in which men transformed to a third gender were the most common.

Even in the time of Captain James Cook in old Hawaii, the existence of third genders was noted. The cultural role of aikane was valued by the Hawaiians, including the king of Hawaii (Morris 1992), as a closely knit and intimate form of same-gender friendship that typically involved sexual relations. Both myth and history validated the importance of these traditions in the island. By the time of Captain Cook’s arrival in 1778, the existence of the aikane suggested social roles and sexual relations as well as social values of special same-gender friendship. Cohabitation between the aikane was possible. Persons who enacted these relations could have spiritual power, or mana; could have high social status; and could participate in sacred rituals—all qualities of being well regarded in the society of the times. In the poetic language of ancient Hawaii, it was said that “an aikane is a nest of fragrance” (cited in Morris 1992, 95). The aikane were despised by certain westerners for the practice of sodomy and considered wicked and sinful by the missionaries.

Such third-gender social roles are known from a variety of Polynesian societies, and they often feature gender-transformed practices and relationships (Morris 1992). The best-known example comes from Tahiti and has been known for centuries: the mahu, a kind of third gender, but without the full complement of dressing or acting as the other sex, at least in contemporary times, where some of them are nightclub performers in Papeete, the capitol city. Traditionally, most of the mahu seem to have been males, but stories suggest that in more outlying areas there were women who desired the same gender and acted differently. Indeed, reports of such women still come from the remote islands near Tonga (Besnier 1994).

As a young child, a boy may have begun to take on characteristics of the women’s role and tasks around the house. He may have taken a woman’s job later in life.

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