My last Bora Bora post.

One thing that I noticed while in Tahiti was the number of men dressing like women. I found it interesting that I came across 3 working among the staff in only a few days. I was surprised at the tolerant nature of such a small society.

Turns out, it is part of their culture. One of our traveling companions found out that the ‘mahu’ or ‘third sex’ hold a very special place in the Polynesian society:

In the South Pacific island paradise of Tahiti – traditionally a conservative place with a missionary background – reporter Trevor Bormann finds a society that’s not only multi-cultural and multi-lingual – it’s also multi-sexual. He meets the Mahu – Polynesia’s ‘third sex’: people of ‘ambiguous gender’ who physically remain men but act like women.

The Mahu have been a part of Polynesian life for hundreds, possibly thousands of years. ‘Its always been the case in some families that the eldest boy would be raised as a girl’ says Bormann. ‘The Mahu take on traditional female roles like cooking and helping to raise the children.’

Mahu are not just tolerated in Tahiti culture, they hold a very special place in it. They are thought to possess the virtues of both men and women. In modern Tahiti effeminate men are maintaining the custom and role with pride.

‘I am proud of being a Mahu because in Polynesia we belong and we are recognized in this society’, says Coco, a Mahu. ‘We belong in everyday life.’

Read more here. Interesting.