article
Effeminate males and changes in the construction of gender in Tonga
Pacific studies • 17 (2) • Published In 1994 • Pages: 39-69
By: James, Kerry.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a historical account of male effeminacy and transvestitism in Tonga. The traditional term for male effeminacy was FAKAFāFINE and referred to men who did women's work and enjoyed women's company. The modern term FAKALEITĪ which means 'act like a lady' refers to a wide range of behavior, which also includes male prostitutes, homosexuals, transvestites, etc. James reviews early written accounts by travellers and missionaries and finds little mention of FAKAFāFINES. He also interviews elderly informants whose memories, going back to the 1920s, do report on boys who wanted to be with women and showed interest only in women's work. FAKAFāFINES enjoyed gossip, dressed modestly, and married women. Sex between men was, and still is, looked down upon in Tonga and according to some informants was not practiced by FAKAFāFINES. In the sixties, urbanization and commercialization challenged gender conventions and opened new roles for effeminate men. Although some FAKALEITĪ occupy high positions in government and are discrete in their behavior, others hang out at hotels, participate in beauty pageants and cabaret acts, and attract attention. James relates his own observations of FAKALEITĪ in the city of Nuku'alofa and in towns of the Vava'u region. The cabaret acts poke fun at the limiting macho stereotype of Tonga males and critique conventional sexual mores for their strictness and double standards. James attributes the noted increase in male effeminacy to a crisis in Tonga male identity resulting from social changes.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Homosexuality
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tongans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2006
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Polynesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard; 2004
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1981-1982
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1806-1990
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Tonga
- NotesAdditional notes
- Kerry E. James
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 84643929
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tongans