ABSTRACT
In 1768, Matavai Bay, in present-day Tahiti, witnessed one of the most noted episodes of first contact: Louis-Antoine de Bougainville's expedition of the Boudeuse and the Étoile. Through this episode, this chapter considers the antagonistic role played by women in both Western and Polynesian societies. On the one hand, Tahitian women had leading roles and such unprecedented visibility that Europeans built a myth around them. On the other hand, among the French crew, one woman was disguised as a man and hidden like a stowaway: the naturalist Jeanne Barret. Opposing taboos, the visibility and invisibility of women in those episodes, and cross-cultural misunderstandings will be the main points guiding this study.
