The title and description of this album exemplify a much broader trend in representations of Hawai‘i, in which its islands and people are characterized as “seductive,” “exotic,” “erotic,” or otherwise sexually inviting (Trask, 143). This trend originates as early as first European contact with Hawai‘i, when white explorers incorrectly interpreted Hawaiian dress, family structures, and practices such as hula to indicate sexual promiscuity and lack of morality. When Hawai‘i was annexed by the United States, non-Hawaiians often characterized the Hawaiian people as romantically and sexually inviting.

Throughout the 20th century, Hawaiian-themed clubs, bars, and hotels began to appear and hired both Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian musicians and dancers to entertain patrons. Instruments such as the steel guitar and the ukulele became wildly popular in the mainland U.S., as did hula dancers and “tiki” themed bars and clubs (Imada, 177). While Hawaiian musicians were responsible for innovations in Hawaiian instruments, many “Hawaiian” songs written and performed by non-Hawaiian musicians became popular and often contained racist and hypersexualized lyrics and themes (Troutman, 150). These sexualized songs rose in popularity along with the “hula girl” figure, a cliché that differed wildly from traditional hula.

Native Hawaiians have practiced hula for thousands of years and its forms have many different meanings, some of which are sacred (cf. Stillman). Though both men and women of all ages dance hula, the stereotypical “hula girl” in pop culture is a young woman, typically wearing a grass skirt, a coconut bra (or no top at all), a flowered lei, and a flower in her hair. The woman on the cover of Seductive Sounds of Hawaii evokes the hula girl image. In the stereotype of the “hula girl,” the art of hula is severed from its roots and meaning and is instead transformed into a sexualized, commodified performance for tourists, club and bar patrons, and other customers.

This trend has been well-documented and has been harmful to Hawaiian people, yet it is impossible to identify a single person or group of people responsible for its origin. The market for Hawaiian music demanded music that conformed to a certain stereotypical sound and certain imagery. Please see below for further resources.

For more information and a video on traditional hula, see Hula: Preserving Native Hawaiian Language and Culture.

Further Reading

• Hix, Lisa. 2017. “How America’s Obsession with Hula Girls Almost Wrecked Hawai‘i.” Collector’s Weekly.
• Imada, Adria L. 2012. Aloha America: Hula Circuits through the U.S. Empire. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
• Stillman, Amy. 1998. Sacred Hula: The Historical Hula ʻĀlaʻapapa. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.
• Trask, Haunani-Kay. 1999. “‘Lovely Hula Hands’: Corporate Tourism and the Prostitution of Hawaiian Culture.” In From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai‘i (Revised Edition), 136–147. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
• Troutman, John. 2016. Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.