Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

[greentara]

I was wondering about how Gay people were viewed in Hawaii. Living in SF and growing up in the Bay Area, we are used to lots of diversity including sexual diversity. Curious about how Gay people are viewed in Hawaiian culture both recent and ancient cultures. I guess I'm most of all interested in the way indigenous Hawaiian people incorporated Gay men/woman into the culture or did they ostracize them? My husband came from a very homophobic culture but since living in SF he has learned that people are people first and sexual preference is not something to judge people by. After reading the Prom thread I noticed the word "mahu" being used, is that a Hawaiian word for "gay"?

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

From what I've read, Hawaiians, like the American Indians, didn't make much hoohoo about it. They got teased a bit, but not ostracized and certainly not hated. They were just another part of life and productive members of the tribal community or village. This is from what I've read a long time ago and can't vouch for the accuracy of the source.

Mahu is not just gay, it's a flaming gay. You know da kine, get lillo bit eye makeup and rouge maybe some foundation, highlights in da hair, grossly exaggerated female mannerisms and da forevah limp wrist. Well, das how I remember the ones I knew. Good fun guys, great friends and always cracking jokes about themselves or teasing us straight guys. Oh yeah, they can hold their own very well in physical confrontations.

[blueyecicle]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

The guy who went on vacation with me had NO problem finding PLENTY of gay clubs and hooking up several times in 8 days!

[lavagal]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

For the most part, people are OK with diversity within Hawaii's culture, be it sexual or racial. For instance, our state elected a transgender person to the Board of Education.
It would not be fair to say that Hawaii is all loving and all accepting. There are incidents of violence against transexuals, transgenders, gays and lesbians (well, maybe not so much lesbians).
Sometimes I wonder if we fall all over ourselves compensating for gays and lesbians. My daughter's kindergarten class has two boys who each have two dads. This is a first. As a result, there will be no Mother's Day project. Why not? Why can't the boys with two dads learn now that other kids don't have two dads and then everyone can learn to accept those differences ...at this tender age? Fortunately for the school, Father's Day falls in the summer. We don't have to worry about hurting the feelings of the kids who only have one dad! I digress.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

Every Hawaiian family has a mahu or a butchie. Unlike the andromorph stuff seen elsewhere, in Hawaii the "kaekae boogie" is pretty much a no-no--be it gay male or female couples, one assumes the masculine role and the other assumes the feminine. We use the word "mahu" to describe both homosexuality in general and as a title owned by the drag queen or the butchie female. None of these terms are offensive.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

Sometimes I wonder if we fall all over ourselves compensating for gays and lesbians. My daughter's kindergarten class has two boys who each have two dads. This is a first. As a result, there will be no Mother's Day project. Why not? Why can't the boys with two dads learn now that other kids don't have two dads and then everyone can learn to accept those differences ...at this tender age? Fortunately for the school, Father's Day falls in the summer. We don't have to worry about hurting the feelings of the kids who only have one dad!

Oh please. Are you serious? That's not the school "being considerate"; that's the school administration being terrified of giving offense because they don't know how to handle diversity. Did they even bother to talk to the two-dads families and ask whether they'd object to a Mother's Day project? Who knows; they might have been OK with it -- after all, those dads probably had mothers themselves.

I don't ever remember schools taking comparable actions to be considerate of kids whose parents were divorced or, worse, dead. And what about the agony of adopted kids who have to do the inevitable family tree project?

I digress.

Indeed you do, and I'm just making it worse.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

I agree with you Glenn. As far as I can recall, none of my children's school has ever held a "Mother's Day Project", but then the community has a great number of children who are cared for by their grandparents, and other extended relatives.

As for "family tree project", my own kid is required to produce five generations on any one side. Imagine the poor child who has no Mormon relatives?

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

As for "family tree project", my own kid is required to produce five generations on any one side. Imagine the poor child who has no Mormon relatives?

5??? Sheesh, most of us only go back 3 or 4 gen in Hawaii and only God knows who our family is back in the old country, for some of us.

Sorrysorry, we digress.

[Vanguard]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

As for "family tree project", my own kid is required to produce five generations on any one side. Imagine the poor child who has no Mormon relatives?

I can produce 20 generations, and I'm not even Mormon -- woo hoo!

[LikaNui]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

Mahu is not just gay, it's a flaming gay. You know da kine, get lillo bit eye makeup and rouge maybe some foundation, highlights in da hair, grossly exaggerated female mannerisms and da forevah limp wrist.

Don't forget the good taste in clothes too.
A few years back I was at the Na Hoku Awards and ran into an aquaintance who's one of the top female singers in the islands. She always wears jeans and t-shirts, but at the Hokus she had on an incredible gown. I commented on how very nice she looked and that I'd never seen her in a dress before, and she said "Uncle, I borrowed the gown from a mahu friend of mine!"

[greentara]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

From what I've read, Hawaiians, like the American Indians, didn't make much hoohoo about it. They got teased a bit, but not ostracized and certainly not hated. They were just another part of life and productive members of the tribal community or village. This is from what I've read a long time ago and can't vouch for the accuracy of the source.

Mahu is not just gay, it's a flaming gay. You know da kine, get lillo bit eye makeup and rouge maybe some foundation, highlights in da hair, grossly exaggerated female mannerisms and da forevah limp wrist. Well, das how I remember the ones I knew. Good fun guys, great friends and always cracking jokes about themselves or teasing us straight guys. Oh yeah, they can hold their own very well in physical confrontations.

Many thanks for the information. So Mahu is a flamer ~ great discription. I kind of thought it would be close to the American Indian attitude toward gay people. When I did field work in Northern California I learned that it was no big deal, they, (gay men) could assume the role of women in the indigenous cultures ~ cooking, rearing children etc. I was just checking because when I moved to Jamaica I had no idea how homophobic it was there, I may not have moved there if I knew before hand. Not only do I have gay friends but several of my family members are gay, so I was very sensitive about the homophobic attitude in that culture.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

I kind of thought it would be close to the American Indian attitude toward ...

not just to you, Greenie, but to everyone on the planet: Hawaiians, American Indians, and everyone else on the planet do not fall under this romantic blanket of Behavior& Culture a la Indigenousness. Adobe mean nothing to me and sharks mean nothing to the Navajo, you know what I mean? </rant>

As for mahu, they may be found a-plenty throughout the Polynesian isles, but there are isles in Micronesia where you won't find any. Isle peoples differ amongst our own selves as well, and there are those family for whom having a mahu is the source of a lot of strife, and not all has to do with religion. Homophobia crosses all cultures. For example, the homophobia in my own family hasn't to do with the focus on "crotch behavior" as the melding of so much hormones that really is unique to the mahu. Both the female and the male mahu seem to produce more than their fair share of male and female hormones, which comes out in their behaviors. They are their own kind, and not everyone flocks well with all kinds. Just like men and women: everyone has their preference/taste/turnoffs for "types" of people. But that's life.

[greentara]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

not just to you, Greenie, but to everyone on the planet: Hawaiians, American Indians, and everyone else on the planet do not fall under this romantic blanket of Behavior& Culture a la Indigenousness. Adobe mean nothing to me and sharks mean nothing to the Navajo, you know what I mean? </rant>

Not sure I know what you mean by "romantic blanket" of Behavior & Culture??? I’m here to discuss and learn not to offend you by comparing universals found in many different cultures. Sounds as if you don't approve of the word Indigenousness, should I have used another word? I do understand that adobe would not be part of your environment and sharks would not be part of a Navajo environment. When I compared the two groups of people I was referring to pre-contact with Judeo/Christian European people. Yes, there are always people that will find different life styles distasteful but I am familiar with cultures that will actually kill people for their differences.

I have the utmost respect for all of the differences and similarities among people and I understand your distaste for people that are constantly analyzing your culture. So please don’t take offence.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

Many thanks for the information. So Mahu is a flamer ~ great discription. I kind of thought it would be close to the American Indian attitude toward gay people. When I did field work in Northern California[COLOR=#339966][FONT='Book Antiqua'] I learned that it was no big deal, they, (gay men) could assume the role of women in the indigenous cultures ~ cooking, rearing children etc.

Back then it WAS more like the American Indians, although I don't know the details of their function within the village society. Mahus are more a contemporary version. They kinda flaunt it a bit more these days. As for tolerance of gays in modern indigenous Hawaiian culture, well lets just say I've seen my share of intolerance for gays especially by the young, mega-macho types.

[Kaukura]

Re: Gay People In Hawaiian Culture?

I've always understood mahu's were regarded as the "third sex" in certain polynesian societies. Men who were raised as females from birth to help out with the family in more maternal ways that the men (raised as men) would not be doing. In French Polynesia (Tahiti et islands) you'll find many working in service industries ie. hotels, restaurants, stores etc. as there isn't(at least on Tahiti, Moorea, BB) a whole lot of "living off the land" life, so many of these men who were raised as females are forced to work in the tourism industry. In lesser developed islands, you'll probably find more just simply taking care of the family and helping out in the traditional way. I've met many on my s. pacific travels. One guest house on Kadavu Fiji had a mahu helping run the pension. Restaurants in Fr. Polynesia had several. There are also Rae Rae clubs in Papeete, Tahiti. Much different are the rae rae's, which are basically (again, as I understood) men who enjoy dressing as women. Fa'faines I think are in the Samoas which again (correct me if Im wrong) are the equivalent of mahu's, but then again, I"m not entirely sure. There is a famous cross dresser who performs in Apia named "Cindy". If you're ever in Apia, catch her show!!