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The Community Function of Tahitian Male Transvestitism: A Hypothesis

1971; George Washington University; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3316812

1534-1518

Robert I. Levy,

Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

The role of the mahu, a feminine role-playing male, has persisted in rural Tahitian villages since traditional times although there have been many other role and institutional changes in the 200 years since Western contact. It is suggested here that the role persists not primarily as an expressive outlet for men wishing to avoid masculine role playing, but primarily because serves important covert needs for other members of the community. There tends to be one mahu in each village, the belief of villagers being that is natural or God so arranged it that there should be at least one and no more than one. Tahitian sexual identity is undifferentiated in its contrast of maleness and femaleness in relation to Western expectations. It is proposed that the presence of the mahu helps stabilize this identity for men by providing a highly visible and exclusively limited contrast, implying for other men in the village, am a man because I am not a mahu.