Fakafefine: Men who are like women. Incest taboo and transsexuality in Tonga (Polynesia).

In Polynesia, transvestite and transsexual behaviour is common among men. The upbringing of boys and girls is one of the social rites initiated by mothers there. The "male" alternative - coping with aggression via cannibalistic rites - exerts no attraction on the "fakafefine", who instead idealize their relation to their mothers. With reference to interviews with "fakafefine", Heinemann points up the unconscious significance of this behavior, the function of incest defence, the oedipal avoidance involved and the fear of fusion with the seductive mother. As a social rite, it is a guarantor of the incest taboo between the siblings at the head of the ruling can and hence of the community.