Trans Gauguin

''...Gauguin confessed himself 'so remarkably lonely' among all these respectable colonial officials and their families. A good reason for their avoidance of him, no doubt, was his singular appearance and dress. As if long hair which grew down to his shoulders and ill became his masculine features were not enough, he wore a brown velvet suit, purple shoes, and an artist's broad-brimmed hat...

For his part, Gauguin differed greatly from every other European the natives had ever seen by wearing neither a white (colonial) linen suit, black frock coat, nor uniform, nor even a white topee. Since his hat and hair were both rather elegantly feminine, they promptly and fairly reasonably concluded he was a mahu, a certain type of male transvestite rather common in Tahiti and frowned on only by the missionaries. Actually, these deviates enjoyed marked respect and were much in demand both as marriage partners and as domestic helps for their skill in cooking and other domestic work.''

Bengt Danielsson, Gauguin in the South Seas


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahu_%28person%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mahu&defid=799381

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa%27afafine

http://www.genders.org/g28/g28_gauguin.html