Sexual orientation, Gender, Societal norms, laws and attitudes regarding Polynesian culture
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In the Western American culture, a lot of us see gender as male or female with each playing specific roles in society and having certain expectations on dress and behavior. After researching some of the Polynesian cultures, I have come to find gender is viewed a little differently; they do not only have male and female, but they also have a third gender: Fa’afafine.
Niko Besnier, an anthropologist that has done extensive field work in the Pacific, states that, “the adoption by certain individuals of attributes associated with a gender other than their own is deeply embedded in the dynamics of Polynesian cultures and societies”. These third-gendered individuals have been a part of the Pacific Island cultures since before colonialists arrived, and still exist in their culture today. They are males who are raised by their families as females and live their lives as such (A Third Gender in the Pacific Islands, https://peopleofoceaniafinal.wordpress.com/). They are called Fa’afafine. Fa’afafine aren’t like transgendered people in America and elsewhere; they don’t identify themselves as women in men’s bodies. Instead, male children are identified as Fa’afafine by mothers and other females close to their family, and this decision is influenced by their behavior and possibly by a lack of girls in a family to do “women’s work” (Fa’afafine: The Pacific’s “third gender”, http://www.thefreelibrary.com). Through researching the Fa’afafine, I did find that it is an acceptable role within that group, and if you act like a woman, you will be considered a woman. Also, the Fa’afafine do have sex with men but they are not considered homosexual. Through research findings I have found homosexuality is illegal in Samoa, which is part of Polynesia. The Samoa Crimes Ordinance 1961 criminalizes homosexuality in section 58E, 58G, and 58J. Samoan culture is historically tolerant of homosexuality. In particular, there is a tradition of raising some boys in a family as a girl in order to play an important domestic role in Samoan life. This tradition means that there is widespread acceptance of the transgendered. In 2011, it was reported that Samoa will decriminalize homosexuality between consenting adults under a new Criminal Code by a government body recommendation from the Samoa’s Law Reform Commission (Human right encyclopedia, http://human-rights.in/). Krystal Austin |