Christianity:

      Samoa was a land of great indigenous peoples who lived in nature and believed in many spirits. That was, of course, only until 1830 when the English Christian missionaries arrived. The missionaries of the London Missionary Society and their leader John Williams arrived in Samoa with Fauea, their Samoan guide they met in Tonga who was trying to find a ride home. With Fauea there, the Samoans welcomed these strange visitors. Once a relationship had been established and they started to teach the Samoans how to speak English, the missionaries then began talking about Christianity, and taught the Samoans how to read the Bible. They were astonished by the Biblical stories and most began to accept the idea of monotheism or one God, rather than polytheism of many gods. This concept changed everything in Samoa, and was ultimately the main push for Westernization. The Samoans began wearing clothing and acting like civilized society with the creation of churches and schools. This was also when the role of the fa'afafine, or the third gender role in Samoa in which born males are raised in female gender roles, began to change.

      Before the missionaries, the fa'afafine were simply found as useful because they could raise children and do house chores as well as do yard work and maintenance, depending on what the family needed. When the missionaries saw the women of the island and their little clothing and sensual behaviors, they were not pleased and told them they needed to become more modest because God was not happy. As the years went on after the missionaries first arrived in Samoa, their society progressed and followed the changing behaviors of other countries during the 1900s. This was when the fa'afafine began using the loophole of the missionaries rules about modest women in Christianity, because the fa'afafine were not technically women so they could still be sensual and wear bold clothing and makeup. This is how the Samoan fa'afafine are today, as bold, friendly individuals who although are accepted by their society as equal genders, some of the elderly frown upon the flamboyant nature the fa'afafine have took on. 

Bibliography:

Robson, Andrew

      2009: Malietoa, Williams and Samoa's Embrace of Christianity.
      Oshkosh, WI: The Journal of Pacific History.

Filmmakers Library
      2000: Paradise Bent: Boys will be Girls in Samoa. Electronic document,  
      <http://flon.alexanderstreet.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/View/1641452>,
      accessed July 18, 2013.