this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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So I have a coworker who is half Hawaiian and half Native American and we were talking about things they'll call white people over there and he just says "we'll sometimes call them "Mฤhลซ", don't look it up cause it's a slur."

And of course I looked it up and I'm just like ??? It's just the Hawaiian third gender? Everything about the term seems cool to me. Like, there's alot of cultural significance behind the word, in the past Mฤhลซ were held in very high esteem and had an important role in their culture and it only started getting used in a derogatory way because of western influence. He said it's like calling someone the F slur in Hawaii. So I challenged why he thinks of it as a slur and he got pretty uncomfortable with the conversation. I asked him if it's a slur than what's the "socially acceptable" Hawaiian term for trans folk there and he had no idea. Probably because bad actors have done their best to make the very existence of trans people socially unacceptable.

It's just a case of transphobia mixed with colonization. Westerners have made them uncomfortable with the idea of a nonbinary gender system, and tried to erase the existence of other genders in every culture they come across. It's just the equivalent of being called gay: something only straight cis people or internalized homo/transphobic people would take issue with. I think a step towards decolonizing their culture would be reclaiming the term and refusing to see it as a slur, and after doing some digging it does look like there's efforts to reclaim it as part of their cultural identity.

If there's any Native Hawaiians here who can provide more input and context here it would be appreciated.

Edit: Gonna repost this gender map I included in a Mega post I made ages ago:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=8.016975588774075%2C64.4248907814756&z=2&mid=1zDWxhBN5aOofwpE-FkZWQsiFDlE

top 21 comments
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[โ€“] SuperZutsuki@hexbear.net 50 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Christianity and Western mores really fucked up Hawaii. I hope trans Hawaiians can reclaim mฤhลซ in the future.

[โ€“] Hestia@hexbear.net 7 points 5 days ago

I really hate my inherited culture. It revolves around destroying other cultures and erasing identities.

[โ€“] kristina@hexbear.net 36 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

There's slurs like this in every language against trans people, some are just basic descriptions but said as a slur. Fun one is Chinese calling you a shape shifter. Some hindutva people have taken to calling people hijra as an insult as well, there was a big kerfuffle in indian parliament over that one recently

[โ€“] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Fun one is Chinese calling you a shape shifter.

but that sound cool

[โ€“] kristina@hexbear.net 24 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

It's also a reference to an old poem/story which would be kinda cool if it wasn't meant in a mean way.

[โ€“] silent_water@hexbear.net 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Some hindutva people have taken to calling people hijra

I was thinking of this one as well. it makes me unreasonably angry because it was once a celebrated position in society, pre-colonization.

[โ€“] Hestia@hexbear.net 9 points 5 days ago

In pretty much all non-western cultures, gender queer people people were respected and had an important role in their societies before westerners got involved.

[โ€“] SpiderFarmer@hexbear.net 19 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Fucking hell. I thought India has historically been chill with third genders. I suppose colonialization and the like changed that, huh.

I am not a gender scholar, I just used to read some sociology texts for funsies as a kid.

[โ€“] kristina@hexbear.net 28 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Hijra still hold an important spot in many Hindu religious services but they are often treated very poorly and are expected to beg for money. There's even a bit of conflict nowadays between people who identify as trans and people who identify as hijra with hijra historical customs. The British empire fucked hijra over hard of course

[โ€“] silent_water@hexbear.net 18 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

only until the br*t*sh

[โ€“] SamotsvetyVIA@hexbear.net 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

khanith (ุฎู†ูŠุซ) is also a slur (or became one), and gets used against gay males

[โ€“] AF_R@hexbear.net 34 points 5 days ago

Nah your research is pretty accurate. Locals and even Hawaiians use it commonly with a negative connotation, but when used respectfully and in-context, there is no negative connotation (unlike f*****).

[โ€“] da_gay_pussy_eatah@hexbear.net 31 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm not kฤnaka, but based on my understanding it kind of depends on intent. Some cis people will use "trans" as a slur, after all.

[โ€“] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 8 points 5 days ago (2 children)

not doubting you but i don't think i've seen trans (derogatory) in the wild, and cant think of how that works lexically.

[โ€“] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's often the T-slur that's used. It's replaced the gay F-word for a lot of conservatives since it's socially acceptable while the other gets them fired.

[โ€“] kristina@hexbear.net 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

people who just want to talk about transmissions: oooaaaaaaauhhh

[โ€“] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 10 points 5 days ago

Yeah unfortunately caught in the crossfire. I forget where, but some car podcast or radio show or whatever got banned from social media out of nowhere one day when they were accidentally caught by the auto mod lol

[โ€“] Hestia@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago

I personally give wholesome auto-mechanics a T-slur pass

[โ€“] Outdoor_Catgirl@hexbear.net 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

"the transgenders" used like "the blacks" is?

probably, i was thinking more like gay as pejorative as a 1:1 replacement

[โ€“] D61@hexbear.net 17 points 5 days ago

A bit like the different usages of the term "two spirit". One is for transgender and another is for mixed race parentage.