Moko mockery is mark of misogyny
Looks. It’s an interesting word. It can mean the plural of look, or it can mean appearance. Often it implies both. I’m on this topic because of an unsolicited comment about the way I look.
Frankly, usually I don’t waste a moment of my time on these comments. No oxygen for haters, right? In the end, such comments only serve to reveal where the person is coming from – usually a place of pain and ignorance.
So let me explain. Out of the blue I get a DM from a man saying, ‘‘It’s a shame you have a tramp stamp on your face’’. He was talking about my moko kauae.
It took me a minute or two to process this. What is a tramp stamp for starters? I had to ask Ta¯ Kukara (Google). Tramp, is a well known slang word for a promiscuous woman. Apparently, a lower-back tattoo, a tramp-stamp, fashionable in the late 1990s is associated with female sensuality and eroticism. What is going on for someone to message a complete stranger and say this, in a way that sounds like it is not designed to be mana-enhancing.
So, he’s saying that I’m wearing the marking of sensuality, female promiscuity on my face.
Blimey, where to start? You see, men labelling female sexuality as promiscuity is an ancient misogynistic practice.
However, symbols of female sexuality, sensuality, eroticism are for us women to embrace as we see fit. Not an area for men to feel licensed to judge. The idea that a person feels entitled to define the meaning of a woman’s body markings and attribute their projections is abhorrent.
A moko kauae is an honour to carry. It comes from our ancestors, and brings with it a myriad ways to identify as a Ma¯ ori woman.
It is ridiculous that the distinctive Ma¯ ori marking of the face would be considered in this way. The inference I took was that this man would prefer me to conform to some other definition of beauty. On one level, I’m not surprised. This is just another example of the internet making some people feel empowered to spread their ignorance.
I pondered this at the Healing our Spirits Worldwide conference in Poiha¯ kena – Sydney. It was an extraordinary meeting of global indigenous communities about the healing practices we use to heal ourselves and our planet. I talked about my work developing resources for our wha¯ nau living with traumatic brain injury. These resources were developed with methological rigour in order both to withstand critique from our own kauma¯ tua – our own cultural experts – and to be robust in examination by mainstream science.
These tools are now in use in rehabilitation services and are helping wha¯ nau navigate their recovery in the real world. Just one small example of how translational research can make a difference (thank you NZ Health Research Council).
What was overwhelmingly visible at the conference were the numbers of Ma¯ ori women carrying moko kauae. It was magnificent. We joked that we had to travel away from home to meet up and to spend a little time together sharing our solutions to complex challenges. And our moko kauae are with us, some visible and some yet to show through the skin. It feels like mine has always been with me and last Matariki the time was right for her to emerge.
So, having deleted the comment from my Instagram DMs, I continue with the reminder, yet again, that some people still choose to try to impose their ideas of beauty and sexual expression on us Ma¯ ori women. And I have nothing to say on the matter, other than these people must stop doing it.
Don’t trample on people’s dignity.
Kaua e takahia te mana o te tangata.
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Hinemoa Elder PhD is a Fellow of the Royal Australia NZ College of Psychiatrists, and Professor of Indigenous Health Research at Te Whare Wa¯nanga o Awanuia¯rangi, and Ma¯ori strategic leader at Brain Research NZ.