- Fakaleiti
A fakaleiti (or "leiti" or "fakafefine" or "lady") is a
Tongan man who behaves in effeminate ways, in contrast to mainstream Tongan men, who tend to be very masculine.It is commonly said that Tongan
parent s with too manyson s and not enoughdaughter s will dress one of the boys as agirl and assign him to perform girls' chores, such as housecleaning. There is little evidence that this characterization is correct, since Tongan parents rarely wish one of their children to grow up as a "fakaleiti", and some "fakaleiti" grow up in families with many girls and few boys. Mainstream Tongans never consider "fakaleiti" as women, although they may indulge their claims of being "like women". Mainstream society treats "fakaleiti" with a complex mixture of impatience, mockery, tolerance, and occasional admiration for their dress-making, hair-dressing, and decorating skills, particularly in the context of beauty pageants. Parents of children who become fakaleiti often worry that their child will not be treated well by others, but they can also see themselves as fortunate because there will be someone to take care of them in their old age, while other children are busy with their own families.Although fakaleiti in Tonga do not necessarily associate with transgender or gay and lesbian identities in the Western world, those who grow up in Tongan migrant communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States may find a greater level of community and affinity to similar identities than fakaleiti in the island kingdom.
The term "fakaleiti" (with a long "i" at the end) is made up of the prefix "faka-" (in the manner of) and the borrowing "lady" from English. "Fakaleiti"s themselves prefer to call themselves "leiti" or "ladies".
External links
* [http://www.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=4CFE923C-4559-4468-B8017560C17A353B The Guide - Fingering Machismo]
See also
*
List of transgender-related topics References
* Besnier, Niko. 1994. Polynesian Gender Liminality Through Time and Space. In "Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History". Gilbert Herdt, ed. Pp. 285-328. New York: Zone.
* Besnier, Niko. 1997. Sluts and Superwomen: The Politics of Gender Liminality in Urban Tonga. "Ethnos" 62:5-31.
* Besnier, Niko. 2002. Transgenderism, Locality, and the Miss Galaxy Beauty Pageant in Tonga. "American Ethnologist" 29:534-566.
* Besnier, Niko. 2004. The Social Production of Abjection: Desire and Silencing Among Transgender Tongans. "Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale" 12:301-323.
* James, Kerry E. 1994. Effeminate Males and Changes in the Construction of Gender in Tonga. "Pacific Studies" 17(2):39-69.
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