Overview
What fa'afatama means.
Fa'afatama — also written fa'atama — is a Samoan word for a Samoan person. Fa'a means in the manner of. Tama means boy or man. Assigned female at birth, living in a masculine place in Samoan life, not making the same claim a Samoan man makes and not obliged to explain the difference to anyone. Wikipedia records the literal meaning as "in the manner of a man" and describes fa'atama as natal females who align with a third gender or masculine role in the Samoan Islands.
It is the counterpart of fa'afafine, and it is the less visible half. The same Wikipedia record says plainly that fa'atama do not enjoy the level of acceptance fa'afafine do, with some growing support. The first dedicated association, The Rogers Club, was formed in Apia in 2018 and named for Mama Roger, a former president of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association; the 2020 short film The Rogers of Samoa is about them. Older word on record: fa'atane, now fallen out of use.
Now the closed part, plainly. If you are not Samoan, this is not your word. Not by feeling, not by admiration, not by being a masculine woman or a trans man. Fa'afatama is bound to aiga, to village, to language and to obligation that nobody can opt into. It is also not a translation of lesbian, butch or trans man, though some fa'afatama use one of those words as well, and some refuse them. The community, on record, prefers its own terms to Western ones.
A Samoan gender for people assigned female at birth who live in a masculine role; the counterpart of fa'afafine.
Fa'afatama in one line
Origin
Where the word comes from
Fa'atama and fa'afafine are indigenous Samoan gender categories that predate European contact; they are not coinages by a named individual but longstanding roles within Samoan fa'a Samoa (the Samoan way of life). Colonial missionaries and administrators, first from the London Missionary Society and later German and New Zealand colonial rule, brought Western binary gender and sexuality frameworks that had no equivalent term for fa'afafine or fa'atama, and pushed to suppress or reinterpret these roles through Christianisation and colonial law; fa'afafine has historically had far more visibility and cultural space than fa'atama, and fa'atama's more recent public organising (such as the Rogers Club, founded in Apia in 2018) is partly a response to this longstanding imbalance.
Because fa'atama is specific to Samoan culture and kinship, it is not a general translation for "trans man" or "masculine non-binary," and Samoan and diaspora communities have pushed back against Western researchers and media flattening it into imported categories; many people who fit the description prefer to use the traditional term itself rather than an English equivalent.
Signs people describe
Common experiences
None of these is a test. Most people recognise a few and shrug at the rest.
You were the one sent to help the uncles, not the aunties, and no adult treated it as a problem to solve.
You are Samoan, and "tomboy" was the English word people used about you for years before anyone said fa'afatama.
You have heard fa'afafine discussed at every family occasion and yourself discussed at none.
Palagi people ask whether you are a lesbian or a trans man.
"I'm fa'afatama" is the honest answer, and they hear it as an evasion.
In one weekend you wore the men's ie faitaga to a funeral and were told off by a cousin in Samoan-accented English, and both were ordinary.
Church every Sunday, and you know exactly which pew and which shirt keep the peace.
In New Zealand or Australia the forms give you boxes, and none of them is the one you live in.
You found a club of people like you late, and the relief was mixed with anger that it took so long.
Pronouns
Pronouns
Samoan does not gender its pronouns; ia covers he, she and they. In English, many fa'afatama use he/him and some use she/her with older relatives or in church without taking it as a wound. Many are simply called by name. Follow the family's lead and do not correct anyone in front of their mother.
Consider another path
This might not be your word if…
- 1You are not Samoan. That is the entire answer and it is not a soft no. Your own people may have a word; if not, the open vocabulary has plenty of room.
- 2You were assigned male at birth. Fa'afafine is the word people would reach for.
- 3You are a Samoan woman attracted to women who lives as a woman. That is its own thing and not a lesser version of this.
- 4You are drawn to the idea of a fourth gender more than to the actual content — the church, the family, the silence, the chores.
Close by
Related identities
Fa’afafine
Same culture, opposite direction — assigned male at birth, living in a feminine role. Far more visible, far better organised, and the association and annual week are named for both. Not a synonym and not interchangeable.
ReadFakaleitī
The Tongan neighbour, which Wikipedia lists as a cognate word. Different country, different people, different politics. Swapping the two is sloppy, not respectful.
ReadMāhū
An older Polynesian category from Hawai'i and Tahiti. Belongs to its own peoples and is closed in exactly the way fa'afatama is closed.
Read
Transgender Male
Genuine overlap, different framing. Trans man is a claim about gender backed by medicine and law that travels to any country. Fa'afatama is a position inside Samoan life that does not travel and never required a clinic. Some people hold both.
ReadMVPFAFF
An acronym coined by Pacific activists to hold these Pacific words together without dissolving them into LGBTQIA+. You can sit under it and still be specifically fa'afatama.
ReadQuestions people ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between fa'afafine and fa'afatama?+
Direction. Fa'afafine are assigned male at birth and live in a feminine role; fa'afatama are assigned female and live in a masculine one. Fa'afafine are older in the written record, more visible and more accepted. Wikipedia records that fa'atama do not yet enjoy the same acceptance, though support is growing and they now have their own association.
Is fa'afatama the same as being a trans man or a lesbian?+
No, and not unrelated either. Both English words are individual claims that travel anywhere. Fa'afatama is a Samoan social position with family and obligation attached. Some fa'afatama also use trans man; some are attracted to women and some are not. The community, on record, prefers its own word to Western ones.
Can a non-Samoan be fa'afatama?+
No. It is a Samoan word for Samoan people, tied to aiga, village and language. Being masculine, being trans or loving Samoan culture does not open it. Part-Samoan and unsure is a real question — and one for your family and community, not for a web page.
The flag
No page on lgbtqia.wiki; cultural identity with no community flag found; other wikis closed or blocked.
Sources
- Faʻatama — Wikipedia Literal meaning, definition, lower acceptance than fa'afafine, precursor word fa'atane, The Rogers Club (Apia, 2018, named for Mama Roger), the 2020 short film, cognate words, community preference for traditional terms. Fetched and read.
- Faʻafafine — Wikipedia The counterpart entry; used for the fa'a- prefix and for the relationship between the two words. Fetched and read.
- Paradise Lost? Social Change and Fa'afafine in Samoa — Johanna Schmidt Ethnographic account of colonial and missionary pressure on fa'afafine/fa'atama gender roles and social change in Samoa. Fetched 2026-09-06 (abstract/summary).
Still figuring things out?
Twenty questions, four minutes, and a few words worth trying on.