Samoa's 'third gender' delicately balances sex and religion

Strongly built and wearing a floral dress and false eyelashes - and self-named after American singer Beyonce - Lee Hang can’t help but make an entrance, especially when she arrives for Sunday church in her best dress. Genetically male, Lee Hang is a Samoan fa’afafine, a term that translates as “in the manner of a woman”. Fa’afafine is a “third gender” in Polynesian culture, according to the Samoa Fa’afafine Association, and has been a part of island life for as long as anyone can remember. Most villages have fa’afafine, with an estimated several thousand across Samoa’s islands.

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