1 Month in Tahiti Pt3: Men in Bras

For the purpose of explaining my comment in Pt2 about that 'man in a bra' who ripped the final button off my shirt, I introduce to you the cultural anomaly that is the 'Mahu'.

In Tahiti, whether you're born with female tendencies or not it's possible that you may be committed to a life of lingerie by your parents. Yes, by your parents.

If you are the 2nd brother born and you have no sisters then thank your lucky stars you ain't Polynesian. If you were the second born male in a family of traditional Pacific island natives then your parents would from day one bring you up as a girl. It was entirely a sentence of convenience for the fair distribution of the family's chores. All you got to decide was to what extent that you embraced it. 'to bra or not to bra?' that was the question. You'd think they'd just do the washing and that be that, but.

These 'gents' actually constitute a third gender here, no one blinks an eye. There are Males, Females and 'Mahu'. And incredibly (well, for me since being a small minded pseudo Glasweegian) the Mahu are sought after for prominent customer service and secretarial positions within the workplace. The latter I'm sure for their Lewinsky esq proficiency with the boss's cigar.

The most disturbing thing for me though was just how male they looked; think big New Zealand type rugby player, wearing board shorts and a bra. Zero voyeurism, but still camp in gesture.

With no adams apple removal surgery and that warrior like physic at least this post isn't finishing with the words; "honestly I didn't realise until......"

Unmistakable*

* image taken from web. As many of the blog pictures have been however I didn't wish any doubts about this one!

1 Month in Tahiti Pt4: Loosing my religion