Fa'afafine: Difference between revisions

A prominent Western theory, among the many anthropological theories about Samoans, was that if a family had more boys than girls or not enough girls to help with women's duties about the house, male children would be chosen to be raised as ''fa'afafine'';<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/people/hazy.htm|title=Charting the Pacific – Fa'afafine – Samoan boys brought up as girls|website=www.abc.net.au|access-date=2016-06-20}}</ref> although this theory has been refuted by studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/3179/thesis.pdf?sequence=7|title=Ia e Ola Malamalama i lou Faasinomaga, A comparative Study of the Faafafine of Samoa and the Whakawahine of Aotearoa-New Zealand|date=2013}}</ref>

It has been estimated that 1–5% of Samoans identify as ''fa'afafine''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37227803|title=Samoa's 'third gender' beauty pageant|first=Yvette|last=Tan|date=September 1, 2016|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref> Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand estimates that there are 500 ''fa’afafine'' in Samoa, and the same number in the Samoan diaspora in New Zealand;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/160363|title=3. – Gender diversity – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand|first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu|last=Taonga|website=teara.govt.nz}}</ref> while according to SBS news, there are up to 3000 ''fa'afafine'' currently living in Samoa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/07/16/faafafine-boys-raised-be-girls| title=Fa'afafine: Boys Raised to be Girls ten minute news video about faafafine in Australia|date=26 August 2013| }}</ref>

There has been legislative activity initiated in Samoa by the Samoa Faafafine Association, with faafafine lawyers Alex Su'a and Phineas Hartson Matautia, on issues of LGBT rights in Samoa. Their efforts to repeal homophobic and transphobic laws inherited from the British and New Zealand colonial administrations have met with partial success.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol09no1/5.shtml| title=Discriminating on the Grounds of Status: Criminal Law and Fa'afafine and Fakaleiti in the South Pacific | journal = Journal of South Pacific Law | year = 2009| last1 = Su'a | first1 = Alex| last2 = Farran | first2 = Sue}}</ref> Marriage equality for fa'afafine is still unlawful in Samoa; and despite marriage equality legalization in the U.S., it is still not recognized in the US Territory of American Samoa.

* [[Shigeyuki Kihara]] – a contemporary artist whose work has been featured in numerous museum exhibitions art galleries around the world. Her solo exhibition, Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs (2008–9), was the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]'s first exhibition of contemporary Samoan art. Kihara is co-Editor of the 2018 book ''Samoan Queer Lives''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littleisland.co.nz/books/samoan-queer-lives| title= Samoan Queer Lives published by Little Island Press}}</ref>

* [[Marion Malena]] – a multiple beauty pageant winner and performer from American Samoa currently living in Seattle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews40_42/page6.cfm |title=New Miss UTOPIA crowned |work=Seattle Gay News |date=2012-10-19 |accessdate=2014-02-18}}</ref>

* [[Jaiyah Saelua]] – [[American Samoa national association football team|American Samoan soccer player]]. Saelua was the first fa'afafine player to compete in a men's [[FIFA World Cup]] qualifier. Saelua featured in a UK documentary ''[[Next Goal Wins]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014/02/20/video-next-goal-wins-trailer-details-worst-team-in-the-world/|title= Next Goal WIns |work= [[NBC Sports Radio]] |date=2014-02-20|accessdate=2014-02-28}}</ref><ref name="Hollywood">{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/world-match-centre/news/newsid/202/829/9/index.html|title=Hollywood treatment for American Samoa|date=13 March 2013|work=[[FIFA]] World|accessdate=5 June 2014}}</ref>

* [[Amao Leota Lu]] – performance artists, activist, community leader<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dan-taulapapa-mcmullin| title=Poetry Foundation poet page for Dan Taulapapa McMullin}}</ref>

* ''Sugar Shirley'', a character in Sia Figiel's novel ''Where We Once Belonged'' (1996).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yamamoto|first=Traise|date=2000-10-01|title=Where We Once Belonged (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/14610|journal=Journal of Asian American Studies|language=en|volume=3|issue=3|pages=384–386|doi=10.1353/jaas.2000.0042|issn=1096-8598}}</ref>

* ''Sinalela'' (2001), a fictional character in the short film ''Sinalela'' by Dan Taulapapa McMullin, awarded Best Short Film in the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.freewaves.org/video/sinalela|title=Sinalela &#124; Freewaves Video Archive|website=archive.freewaves.org}}</ref>

* ''Jerry the Faafafine'' (2011), a thematic figure (influenced by the poetry of Taulapapa) in an artwork series by Tanu Gago.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pimpiknows.com/tag/jerry-the-faafafine/|title=Jerry The Fa’afafine &#124; PIMPI KNOWS}}</ref>

*{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26089486|title=The evolutionary puzzle of homosexuality|date=18 February 2014|accessdate=18 February 2014|author=William Kremer|publisher=BBC News}}