Fa'afafine may be viewed as a third gender specific to Samoan culture.
Fa'afafine are the gender liminal, or third-gendered people of Samoa. A recognized and integral part of traditional Samoan culture, fa'afafine, born biologically male, embody both male and female gender traits. Their gendered behavior typically ranges from extravagantly feminine to mundanely masculine.[1]
Fa'afafine are known for their hard work and dedication to the family, in the Samoan tradition of tautua. Ideas of the family in Samoa and Polynesia are markedly different from Western constructions of family, and include all the members of a sa, or a communal family within the fa'amatai family systems.[3]
It is a mistake to attribute a Western interpretation and mislabel the fa'afafine as "gay" or "homosexual". In Samoa, the people claim that there is no such thing as being "gay" or "homosexual."[1] Fa'afafine, as a third gender, have sexual relationships almost exclusively with men who do not identify as Fa'afafine, and sometimes with women. This third gender is so well accepted in Samoan culture that most Samoans state that they have friendship relationships with at least one Fa'afafine. Traditionally Fa'afafine follow the training of a women's daily work in an Aiga.[1][4]