Tag: 3rd Gender

Miss Fa’afafine: inside Samoa’s transgender beauty pageant

By Iona Salter in Samoa

Miss Fa'afafine 2016PHOTO: Percilla Mulinu’u Ulberg is a contestant in Samoa’s annual Miss Fa’afafine beauty pageant for transgender people(Supplied)
    MAP: Samoa

Homosexuality may be illegal in Samoa, but the annual transgender beauty pageant is a mainstay of the island nation’s social calendar.

Miss Fa’afafine takes its name from the Samoan word for the society’s “third gender”, which literally translates to “in the style of” (fa’a) “woman” (fafine). Continue reading “Miss Fa’afafine: inside Samoa’s transgender beauty pageant”