#mahu

[tropic-havens]

Hinaleimoana Kwai Kong Wong-Kalu is one of the most visible māhū (the Hawaiian third-gender identity) women today. She has always occupied spaces in the middle: between male and female; between Indigenous and Western cultures; between her Chinese and Hawaiian heritages. 

Waikīkī, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

[thegentlemancollects]

[celluloidrainbow]

KAPAEMAHU (2020) dir. Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson Long ago, four extraordinary beings of dual male and female spirit, led by Kapaemahu, brought certain healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii and were loved by the people for their gentle ways and the miraculous cures they performed. (link in title)

[bearclawmarks]

sleepy winky butch :*

[gonetoforks]

People can call you names, sure. Why not.

Cut it away from yourself.

But when the word they giggle is your name

I can’t cut myself into pieces.

All I’ve learned; they want me skinned alive.

⬆️ (poem + animation for a more hopeful video on the same topic! drew the gif first then was inspired to write that thing)

dw i'm fine!!! making art helps me feel better 💐

spoiler this is abt how mahu is so often used as a derogatory term. im not hawaiian but there's nothing that makes me different from a mahu. like, many polynesian cultural third genders samoan, hawaiian, any kind & etc have been turned into something to be laughed at by foreigners. It makes me wanna yell at them to stop sucking captain cook off, he’s been dead 2 centuries, he’s not gonna come alive to nut in your mouth. But i don’t like being that vulgar with my words. major bruh moment :/

To me; hibiscus flowers = femininity. & teuila (the ginger flower on my shoulder) = masculinity. And both r samoan at least. Gripping the bathroom sink like i just coughed something up cause i wanted to invoke hanahaki disease. Years back, I heard of a version where it’s caught when you have a secret that’s killing you, not just a crush. Something about it just stuck with me, and it’s always popped up in the art I make about my dysphoria. That and the ninja turtles for some reason.

[greetings-inferiors]

I saw your Dragona post. I actually think Dragona is trans but not a trans girl. She is Mahu. There's a 3rd gender in Hawaiian culture known as Mahu. Mahu are neither male or female but have traits and embody both of them. With the cultural significant I don't know if I would want to call Dragona a trans girl (personally!!) as I feel it would erase Hawaiian and indigenous culture as Mahu are not girls nor boys but their own gender. Mahu was also used to refer to amab people and with the story taking place in Hawaii I like to think Dragona is Mahu. Just my own headcanon :)

That actually makes a lot of sense!! Obviously I don't know much about that (not an excuse, I could research at any time (°~°`)) but that would make a fair amount of sense, it might explain why Dragona wouldn't talk about it as much, and why Jodio is so adamant about Dragona being his brother (because idk if this is just me being stupid but they seem to have different fathers? Either that or Dragona is just really tanned. It could be Dragona has native Hawaiian heritage, and wants to reconnect with it). If it was the case, and he executed it well, this would be (another) MASSIVE Araki W.

If I'm to be a bit selfish for a minute, obviously I'd like/prefer her to be a trans woman (because that's what I am lol), but we'll see! And at the end of the day, that's what headcanons are for.

[miffchoro]

the way pleakley could’ve been a good opportunity to shine light on the mahu community of hawaiian culture…

but you make him a white man

honestly i don’t expect much from them anyways, especially considering they even watered down the original movie

[kingrosalani]

I wanna see the queer youth grow old

so they can tell you the lies the government sold

when the leader of the country grew cold

that even catholic bishops became tired and old 🖊