A fakaleitī (or ''leiti'' or ''fakafefine'' or ''lady'') is a
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
n
male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
at birth who has a
feminine
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
gender expression
Gender expression (or gender presentation) is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender in a particular cultural context, typically understood in terms of masculinity and femininity. Gender expr ...
. The term ''fakaleitī'' is made up of the prefix ''faka-'' (in the manner of) and the borrowing ''lady'' from English. ''Fakaleitī''s themselves prefer to call themselves ''leitī'' or ''ladies''.
Although leitī in Tonga do not necessarily associate with
LGBT
LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...
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 leitī in the island kingdom.
Leitī or fakafefine are similar to Samoan
fa'afafine and Hawaiian .
The
Tonga Leitis' Association organizes the
Miss Galaxy Pageant in Tonga. They have also been involved in reforming colonially influenced laws about leitī life that remain in Tonga. In 2018 a documentary film, ''
Leitis in Waiting'', was made about leitī leader
Joey Joleen Mataele and the efforts of the Tonga Leitis' Association. Mataele also works with the Pacific Equality Project, a non-profit group advocating for the decriminalization of LGBT peoples from post-colonial laws in the Pacific Islands.
See also
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List of transgender-related topics
References
Bibliography
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External links
Like a Lady in Polynesia
{{Sexual identities
Gender in Oceania
Gender systems
Third gender
Culture of Tonga
Transgender topics in Oceania
Society of Tonga
LGBTQ in Tonga
Indigenous LGBTQ culture