Week 8

Seeing that there wasn't too much on my particular topic within the current month. I opted to talk about a post in the Anchorage Alaska news. This basically states that the definition of the fa'afafine, pronounced (fah ah fee nay). It also describes how anthropologists argue the exact origins of this rare third gender, but do know that they do reside in the American and Western Samoa. It is actually not uncommon for many of the Pacific Islanders to have this so-called third gender in their communities.

Being that the fa'afafine is incapable of having children of their own they generally excel professionally. Many of these fa'afafines go on to become teachers and educators. Other notables is that they generally live with their extended families and tend to care for their aging parents because of the skills of being a good housekeeper and babysitters.

Sexuality and the fa'afafine is quite the complicated topic. They are seen as women, but have the ability of a man. Fa'afafines see themselves as women. Some fa'afafines go on living their lives as a woman with a man and others leave their female identity behind and marry a woman so that they can procreate. Due to the Western culture and it's influential effects society and the media's perceptions of what is proper and what is not? Many of these fa'afafines have been so moved by western society and have decided to alter their own bodies in order to achieve a more permanent physical change.

I found this particular article at this website