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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignmentedit
Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 August 2021 and 13 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Vitamin dean.
Latest comment: 2 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I have discussed this topic with Samoan friends and they definitely translate fa'afafine as homosexual. That is modern Samoans use it as a term covering all forms of homosexual acts and orientation. This article confines it to transgender issues only. Possibly it's use has changed with time. But the comment below that the article is poorly written is correct. It needs tending to by someone who knows more about it. One problem I perceive could happen is that this is where Wikipedia's tendency to be "copypedia" hits the stops in that if no one who really knows anything about it has had any works published on it, then the article can never be improved. It is also possible that any academically accepted and published works on it are out of sync with the common day to day use of the term by the modern Samoan community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.198.145.187 (talk) 19:08, 20 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
Further to this, on talking to a Samoan/Tokelaun friend, he said that "fine" (pronounced feenai) means woman and fa'afa means like. Makes sense as most Polynesian languages have similar sounding words for the same thing. eg Wahine (Maori), Vaine (Cook Island). So the correct translation is like a woman. That means the term refers specifically to feminine or effete homosexual men. I guess, Wikipedia with its endless demands for citations, confines the material to what academics think. Alas, and I find, working among a Polynesian community, that what academics think and teach about their culture is often highly inaccurate.
Respectfully all of the literature points to Fa'afafine falling into the category of androphilia. They are attracted to males almost exclusively with limited attraction to females. Fa'afafine behavior is present at childhood and whether reinforced or rejected by family members continues into adulthood. Fa'afafine cannot fall into as narrow a category as homosexual or transgender because there are many expressions and many different choices that fa'afafine choose. Some choose to live a life as very feminine while some live lives that could pass for masculine. Anecdotal evidence is tempting to use but growing up in a Samoan family and community you see many different expressions that fall under the umbrella term Fa'afafine so perhaps a broader term is required or at least a broader understanding Vitamin dean (talk) 09:09, 15 December 2021 (UTC)Reply
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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 August 2021 and 13 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Vitamin dean.