Fakafifine are people from

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

, who were born assigned male at birth but who have a feminine gender expression. In Niue this is understood as a

third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...

, culturally specific to the country.

Etymology

The term comes from Niuean and is composed of the prefix ''faka-'' (in the manner of) and the suffix -''fifine'' (woman) and is defined in ''Niue Language Dictionary'' as 'to behave like a woman' or 'to be effeminate'. A related term is ''fakataane'' which means 'to behave like a man'. Fakafifine is included in the acronym MVPFAFF+ ( mahu,

vakasalewalewa Vakasalewalewa are people from Fiji, who were born assigned male at birth but who have a feminine gender expression. In Fiji this is understood as a traditional third gender identity, culturally specific to the country. Etymology The term comes f ...

, palopa, fa'afafine,

akava'ine Akava'ine is a Cook Islands Māori word which has come, since the 2000s, to refer to transgender people of Māori descent from the Cook Islands. It may be an old custom but has a contemporary identity influenced by other Polynesians, through cros ...

, fakaleiti or leiti, fakafifine, and other), coined by

Phylesha Brown-Acton Phylesha Brown-Acton (born February 1976) is a Niuean fakafifine LGBTQ+ rights activist. In 2019 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her work with LGBTQ+ communities from Pacific countries. Biograph ...

, to "enhance Pasifika gender diversity awareness in addition to the term LGBTQI".

Notable fakafifine

(born 1976), human rights activist.

References

{{Gender and sexual identities Gender in Oceania Gender systems Niuean culture Third gender Society of Niue Indigenous LGBT culture