Fa'afafine: The boys raised to be girls

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In Samoa, gender identity is largely based on a person's role in the family and if one family has numerous sons and no daughters, it's not uncommon to raise one of the boys as a girl. Because these boys would perform tasks that were strictly the work of women they were raised as if they were female. Although their true gender was widely known, they would usually be dressed as girls.

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Fa'afaine or the practice of males adopting female gender roles and the attributes traditionally associated with women is deeply embedded in much of Polynesia. There are up to 3000 Fa'afafine – men raised as girls – currently living in Samoa.

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Jaiyah Saelua is an American Samoan international football player and the first fa'afafine player to compete in a men's FIFA World Cup qualifier