Abstract Foregrounding Native Hawaiian commoner women and their motivations orients our attention to how they became the primary traders of goods and sexual services with Euro-American sailors at the end of the eighteenth century. These women strategically placed themselves in direct contact with newly arrived visitors, adopted and adapted suggestive behaviors, and learned the English language and mannerisms. In doing this, they turned ships’ decks into shipboard markets for the accrual of material goods while seeking to ensure the best possible exchange rate. To understand how these women moved through their world necessitates an understanding of their sexual practices. This approach orients our attention to why this trade was not stigmatized and widespread in Hawaiian society. In fact, knowing their male relatives promoted the barter of sexual services transforms our understanding to show how this trade operated within Native Hawaiian sexual practices, but now for material gain.
