Being ‘Like a Woman’:Fa’afāfineand Samoan Masculinity

Abstract

Fa’afāfine are Samoan males who enact varying degrees and types of feminine behaviour. In this paper I draw on ethnographic data from both Western Samoa and Aotearoa/New Zealand and argue that while femininity is often presented as the defining feature of fa’afafine identities, masculinity is also a consequential component of what it means to be fa’afafine. The ways in which fa’afāfine are understood as gendered is a complex and sometimes contradictory intersection of ‘males’, ‘men’, ‘not-men’, ‘not-women’ and ‘like women’. However, rather than being a ‘third gender’ I suggest that fa’afāfine sit ‘across’ the binary that typifies the Samoan gender framework, simultaneously embodying masculinity and femininity. I then outline how Westernisation and migration have affected this embodiment. For some individuals, this has resulted in a greater repudiation of masculinity and conformity to heteronormative femininity, while for others it has allowed them to identify as both ‘fa’afafine’ and ‘masculine men’.

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