‘When they do that kind of bad things to me, I feel that they encourage me to be strong and be who I am’: How transfeminine people in Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands experience discrimination, acceptance and a sense of place

Abstract

Data on transfeminine participants from a 2016 Pacific Multi-Country Mapping and Behavioural Study evidence high levels of verbal, physical and sexual abuse, as well as discrimination. In interviews from the same study, accounts of hardship were frequently countered with assertions of happiness and talk of acceptance. This paper analyses these accounts and, in particular, the ways in which interviewees viewed and managed their place in society. Data provide insights into the factors that support transfeminine occupation of a positive place in some contemporary Pacific settings, highlighting negotiation between modern and traditional, and local and global, cultures and values.

Keywords:

• Discrimination
• self-esteem
• transgender
• resilience
• Asia-Pacific

Acknowledgements

We thank participants and data collection teams in the three countries. The Samoa Fa’afafine Association, the Tonga Leitis Association, and the Te Tiare Association (the Cook Islands) provided feedback on the manuscript. The input of community representatives is greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 Transfeminine Cook Islander people were previously referred to as laelae. Because of the negative connotations of that word (Alexeyeff and Besnier 2014), the term akava'ine is now more commonly used.

2 When referring collectively to the participants in this study, the term ‘transfeminine’ is used for brevity. There is no ideal English word to encompass fa'afafine, fakaleiti and akava'ine. We use ‘transfeminine’ rather than ‘transgender’ or ‘transgender women’. The phrase ‘transgender women’ implies identification as women. The term ‘transfeminine’ has emerged to encompass a spectrum of femininity and is less insistent on alignment to a specific gender (University of California 2016; Oliphant et al. 2018; Peitzmeier et al. 2017). For these reasons, we consider it more appropriate to capturing the diversity of gender experiences and identities discussed here.

3 Leitis is short for fakaleitis – literally, ‘ladies’. The term fakaleiti contains a somewhat tongue-in-cheek allusion to ‘the way of English or white ladies’.

4 Among the other five interview transcripts, some referred to experiences of discrimination but did not mention any positive aspect; others spoke of being happy and fulfilled as a transfeminine person and did not describe experiencing discrimination.