[1][2][3][4][5][6] The term comes from Fijian and translates as "acting in the manner of a woman"; it has connotations of a traditional cultural way of life.
A related modern term is qauri, which is used to collectively describe all non-heteronormative male-bodied people in Fiji.
[12][11] Activist Shaneel Lal argues that prior to colonisation, vakasalewalewa were integral to native Fijijan society.
Lal claims that colonisation stripped Fijians of their rich queer identities and conditioned them with homophobia, transphobia and queerphobia.
[3] In Geir Henning Presterudsten's study of qauri communities, they reported that many rejected the label of vakasalewalewa, believing it to be "old-fashioned" or "restrictive".