Born in the Wrong Body

Dianne Landy, 25th July, 2021

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.