Week 7

This is a video of a beauty pageant in American Samoa. This isn't any regular beauty

pageant either because the contestants are fa'afafines. That's right the third gender

of the Samoan culture. This video is of Lola doing a little stand up skit to persuade

the audience that she is the best candidate for this Miss Corona beauty pageant. This

beauty pageant is set up for exclusively fa'afafine. You might think that is gender

discrimination, but the Samoan culture generally doens't discriminate on such issues

so basic as gender. That is why this third gender is still accepted and flourishes in

and throughout the community. As you can see there are many men in attendance of this

pageant, because the fafa isn't considered gay or in other words they are socially

accepted, which would be completely different in the United States at a similar drag

queen pageant. Men in the crowd would be in attendance because of their own sexual

orientation, not for entertainment value such that the Samoan culture brings in this

beauty pageant.







Another video about the fa'afafine. They along with other transvestites from other

cultures have come together to gain rights towards equality. Their ultimate goal is

to bridge the discrimination that they face in western societies. Mainly the

fa'afafine is only accepted in Western and American Samoa, but is slowly and surely

becoming a more common occurring thing in more western societies.