Les RaeRae et Mahu : troisième sexe polynésien

Contexte Dans la société polynésienne/tahitienne, il existe unecondition sociologique et anthropologique appelée RaeRae ou Mahu. UnRaeRae est un homme se comportant et se considérant comme une femme. LesRaeRae et Mahu sont des bons exemples de transsexualisme ou detransvestisme liés à la culture. Être Mahu a une signification culturelle, reconnuedans l’histoire de la société polynésienne, et n’est pas le synonyme d’une conditionmédicale ou psychiatrique. Être RaeRae, c’est pousser la transformation jusqu’àl’éventuelle hormonothérapie et la chirurgie, en conservant le rôle social traditionnel duMahu mais en étant susceptible d’être influencé par les rencontres avec lesphénomènes de prostitution et d’homosexualité à risque.Revue de la documentation scientifique et méthode Recherche dansdifférentes sources (MedLine, PsycINFO, google scholar), y compris les thèses universitaires(source DUMAS) avec 20 références françaises et anglophones au total.Résultats et contenus Nous décrivons le phénomène, lecontextualisons et décrivons les hypothèses socioculturelles. Nous retenons une référenceliée à une connaissance implicite des rituels polynésiens en particulier sur lessacrifices : ce qui permettait aux Mahu de ne pas subir le sacrifice dont lesvictimes étaient des hommes. Une discussion générale doit être envisagée autour du DSM-5avec l’entité du transgenre. La description contribue à une réflexion sur les limites qu’ily a à considérer le genre comme binaire plutôt que comme un continuum non régi par lamédicalisation et la psychologisation d’un élément de culture, identifiable d’ailleurs dansd’autres espaces culturels, dont ceux des Amérindiens.Background On numerous islands of the Pacific, under variousnames, there are people considered to be neither men nor women but half-men/half-women. InFrench Polynesia, there is a sociological and anthropological condition calledRaeRae or Mahu. A RaeRae is a man who behaves as and considershimself to be a woman. RaeRae and Mahu are good examples of culture-boundtranssexuality or cross-dressing. Being Mahu has a cultural meaning, recognized inthe history of Polynesian society, and cannot be considered as a medical or psychiatriccondition. Being RaeRae extends the transformation to possible hormone therapy andsurgery; the traditional social role (education, tourism) of Mahu is retained butin some cases is influenced by prostitution and at-risk homosexuality.Bibliographic sources and method We conducted a literature searchusing several medical, social, and anthropological bibliographic sources (MedLine, GoogleScholar, PsycINFO, DUMAS). We used the terms RaeRae, Mahu, Polynesian androphilia,and Polynesian sexuality. We found 20 articles and theses. Some articles discuss avery similar condition in Samoa (fa’afafine). In addition, Mahu seems tobe a derogatory term for a male homosexual or drag queen in the HawaiianIslands.Results and contents RaeRae and Mahu is broadlydefined as men with sweetness [OK?] or women who are prisoners of men’s bodies. There isevidence of their presence and social functions in ancient times. The arrival of themissionaries and Christian morality resulted in the emergence of a new moral and sexualorder. RaeRae and Mahu remain present and visible today. They areintegrated into local professional and cultural life and are accepted, as long as theirsexuality remains unspoken and invisible, which is more difficult for RaeRae. Wedescribe the phenomenon and its context and the sociocultural hypotheses. We retain areference connected to tacit knowledge of Polynesian sacrificial rites: Mahu didnot undergo sacrifices the victims of which had to be men. A general discussion must beenvisaged concerning the DSM-5, transgender identity and stigmatization. For instance, inHawaii, people who identify as transgender continue to suffer high rates of violence, sexualassault and discrimination. The description contributes to an investigation of the limits ofconsidering gender as binary; rather, it is a continuum not governed by the medicalizationand psychologization of a cultural feature, which is also recognizable in other culturalareas including among the Amerindians. Studying RaeRae and Mahu inPolynesia means agreeing to confront the binary concept that structures and divides theworld into two categories of gender and sex, male and female, just like grammatical genderin French. Examples from other cultures include the new half in Japan,muxe or muché among the Zapotecs of Tehuantepec, woubi in Côted’Ivoire, femminielli in Italy, ladyboys or kathoeys in Thailand,natkadaw in Myanmar, hijra in India and Pakistan, khounta in ArabIslamic culture, and in Canada and the USA, agokwa among the Ojibwa, andikoneta in the Illinois language. Mahu, or transgendered individuals andtransvestites, were in fact viewed by the ancient Hawaiians as a normal element of the oldsocial culture that preceded missionary days and American and French military missions.Mahu were not merely tolerated; they were regarded as a legitimate and contributorypart of the ancient Polynesian community