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Mana Wāhine Kōrero:
Born in the wrong body

By: Admin

25 July2021

Tuia te rangi e tū iho nei

Tuia te papa e takoto ake nei

Tuia te kaupapa ki te whai ao

Ki te ao mārama, hui e, taiki e! 

Ko Takahue te awa

Ko Tahawai te hapū

Ko Te Rarawa te iwi

Ko Kurahaupo te Waka

Tihei mauri ora!

Born in the wrong body.

This statement is in direct conflict with Māori creation and spiritual beliefs. We are who our Tupuna called for. We are created for a purpose of greater good.  We are our Tupuna. Our rich history is full of love stories between the sexes. This love is clearly recorded as LGB not LGBT. There is no evidence of transgender ideology in our past.

Māori societal roles were decided by sex. There are always exceptions, and our stories point to these as exceptions, not givens. 

Māori women were not born in the wrong body; 

When they were Chief of their tribe

When they Signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi  

When they Signed the Suffragettes Petition of 1893

When they dug Te Maara

When they fought side by side with the men in battle.

When they Commanded war and raiding parties

When according to Whakatohea history, Muriwai was to save the Waka Mataatua,

“Kia whakatane au I ahau” *


They were all Wāhine Toa.


They never needed;

To be recognized as men

To have unnecessary body modifications

To usurp anyone from their tribal placing

To seek constant validation 

To have unnecessary Titles/Pronouns

They were Wāhine Toa in their own right

To suggest that we are now born in the wrong body is ridiculously childish and insulting all in one colonised myth

Undermining the very core of our culture.

Ko Di Landy ahau, nō reira tēnā koutou katoa!

*The men were away looking for land. She didn’t want to be a man. She wanted to gain the strength of a man. To break those certain tapu that restricted women from doing certain things on a Waka. This was Muriwai. Or Other tribes refer to her as Wairaka.

Admin note: Di Landy attended the Speak Up For Women event in Wellington on 15 July 2021. At this event a person made the claim that the place name “Whakatāne” commemorates a trans man. This whakaaro is Di’s response to that claim.

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10 replies
  1. Barbara
    Barbara says:
    July 25, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    Kia ora mo to korero Di.

    Reply
    • Dianne Landy
      Dianne Landy says:
      July 25, 2021 at 7:07 pm

      Nga mihi Barbara.

      Reply
  2. tracey
    tracey says:
    July 26, 2021 at 8:55 am

    Tautoko- this notion that if a woman behaves in a way that harmful stereotypes attribute to a man- this new ideology says she must BE a man. Thanks for challenging the notion that all Maori think as Dr Kerekere thinks in her thesis. The assumption of a hive mind is insulting for any group

    Kia Ora

    Reply
    • Dianne Landy
      Dianne Landy says:
      July 26, 2021 at 7:42 pm

      Nga mihi Tracey. There is a very scary world being born. We must challenge these changes.

      Reply
    • Jan Rivers
      Jan Rivers says:
      August 2, 2021 at 7:31 pm

      I note that even in her PhD thesis Kerekere has said there she could not find evidence of gender identity as a concept. What she actually wrote that is relevant to this was:

      Other than the shared finding of the term ‘takatāpui’ itself around the same time as Lee Smith; the only evidence of takatāpui existence in historical Māori narratives has been found by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku in
      her research on mōteatea (traditional incantations, songs and chants) and whakairo (carving)
      (Te Awekotuku 2005:8).

      And

      There is not yet evidence that Māori had diverse gender identities or that
      takatāpui played specific roles in pre-colonial times; notwithstanding any roles which have
      developed over the past 150 years.

      We know that Lee and Ngahuia were talking about same sex intimate relationships when they researched the word takatāpui So the ‘gifting’ of it to mean queer, the whole issue of supposed “indigenous genders” appears to have been raised up to a level of credibility that does not appear to be supported by the evidence. Leaving the way open to young trans-activists to erroneously equate Whakatane with their movement and to fail to understand why this is not only innaccurate but a serious insult.

      Reply
      • Dianne Landy
        Dianne Landy says:
        August 2, 2021 at 8:22 pm

        Tena koe Jan, this ideology is undermining the very core of Maori culture. It wasn’t enough that the word takatapui was ‘gifted’. The ideology is making insulting demands of my Kuia and Kaumatua. It is demanding cultural practices and rituals are changed.
        “Don’t weaponise my culture to fit your narrative” SWS.
        As always, I don’t speak for all Maori. No one does.

        Reply
      • Tracey
        Tracey says:
        August 3, 2021 at 9:27 am

        Thanks for this Jan-

        Reply
  3. Michelle
    Michelle says:
    July 26, 2021 at 5:44 pm

    Nga mihinui. As Ngati Hinepare, I can only imagine what lies will be told about my ancestor, given her status and the mana she held. I’ve already heard the lies being told about my Tipuna Kahungunu regarding his sexual orientation. What irks me most about all of this, is the blatant arrogance with which these lies are being spread. This is coloniser behaviour and coloniser mindset. This misrepresentation of iwi and hapu seeks to destroy what remains of our culture and our cultural knowledge. We must not stand by and let this insidious gender identity propaganda bring undone what remains of Maoritanga. Ka pai e hoa.

    Reply
  4. Felicity Stacey-Clark
    Felicity Stacey-Clark says:
    July 27, 2021 at 1:52 pm

    I have heard this nonsense from TRA’s before, and it needs to be challenged on any occasion it is raised

    Reply
  5. Caroline
    Caroline says:
    August 1, 2021 at 4:01 am

    Such a powerful response. Kia Ora. KIA KAHA.

    Reply

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