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,. According to present-day māhū kumu hula Kaua'i Iki:
==History==
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."William Bligh. Bounty Logbook. Thursday, January 15, 1789.
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.James Boyd. Traditions of the Wizard Stones Ka-Pae-Mahu. 1907. Hawaiian Almanac and Annual. These are referred to by Hawaiian historian Mary Kawena Pukui as pae māhū, or literally a row of māhū.Mary Kawena Pukui. Place Names of Hawaii, 2nd Ed. 1974. University of Hawaii Press. The term māhū is misleadingly defined in Pukui and Ebert's Hawaiian dictionary as "n. Homosexual, of either sex; hermaphrodite."Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuael H Ebert. Hawaiian Dictionary. 1986. University of Hawaii Press. 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.
Websters International Dictionary of the English Language. 1890. Merriam Company.
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.Mario Vargas Llosa. "The men-women of the Pacific." Tate Britain. http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific Archived on 17 July 2023 His 1893 painting Papa Moe (Mysterious Water) depicts a māhū drinking from a small waterfall.Stephen F. Eisenman. Gauguin's Skirt. 1997.
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.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
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.George Biddle. Tahitian Journal. 1999. https://books.google.com/?id=C2lKxkVIwMAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=tahitian+journal+george+biddle#v=onepage&q=mahu&f=false Archived on 17 July 2023 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.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 Archived on 17 July 2023
In 2003, 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.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 Archived on 17 July 2023
In many traditional communities, Māhū play an important role in carrying on Polynesian culture, and teaching "the balance of female and male throughout creation".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 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.Besnier, Niko, Alexeyeff, Kalissa. Gender on the edge : transgender, gay, and other Pacific islanders. Honolulu, 2014 isbn=9780824840198
Strong familial relationships are important in Māhū culture, 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". This ability to bring up children is considered a special skill specific to Māhū people. 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.
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 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-KaluAmelia 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 
* 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
There are many more 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.
Please help expand this section.
== See also ==
*Gender-variant identities worldwide
==External links==
*Kumu Hina: A Place in the Middle – a māhū-oriented website.
*"Coming Out & Overcoming – A Visit With Hinaleimoana Wong" – interview with māhū Hinaleimoana Wong, by Ehu Kekahu Cardwell, from Voices of Truth documentary program by the Koani Foundation
*"The Beautiful Way Hawaiian Culture Embraces a Particular Kind of Transgender Identity" – short "Queer Voices" column on the topic in The Huffington Post
==References==
Category:Gender-variant identities worldwideCategory:HistoryCategory:USA