Sworn Virgins

An odd little story from the Washington Post today about the "sworn virgins" of Albania. A Practice dating back to at least the 15th century has allowed women in Albania to swear an oath to remain a virgin. They are then allowed to live the rest of their lives as men. They are allowed to pursue any career, even hold high political office - as men. (I remember reading something about this once some time ago, but this article is, I think, more detailed then whatever I read was.) There are not many of these sworn virgins left today and very few women appear to be willing to follow that particular path. But the story is a fascinating look at an unusual cultural accommodation.

(Elvira) Dones, who lives in Rockville, had just met an adherent of an ancient northern Albanian tradition in which women take an oath of lifelong virginity in exchange for the right to live as men. The process is not surgical — in these mountains there is little knowledge that sex-change surgery is even possible. Rather, sworn virgins cut their hair and wear baggy men's clothes and take up manly livelihoods as shepherds or truck drivers or even political leaders. And those around them — despite knowing the sworn virgins are women — treat them as men.

The idea that a woman would need to forsake love and live as a man to control her own fate seems primitive to modern eyes. But perhaps, in the context of a once-upon-a-time culture, a culture before feminism, it can be seen as progressive. The existence of sworn virgins reveals a cultural belief, however inchoate, that a biological woman can do all the work of a man.

"Why live like a man?" one virgin, Lule Ivanaj, asks herself rhetorically in an English-subtitled documentary that Dones (pronounced DOH-nez) made on the women for Swiss television called "Sworn Virgins." Ivanaj looks like a man in his 50s, with short hair, thick arms and a wide metal watchband on one wrist. "Because I value my freedom. I suppose I was ahead of my time."

Dones, 47, learned about sworn virgins 25 years ago from her university classmates in Albania's capital, Tirana. The practice has existed at least since the 15th century, when the traditions of the region were first codified, according to Dones. The sworn virgins came into being for emergencies: If the patriarch of the family died and there was no other man to carry on, a provision was needed so that a woman could run her family.

An unusual cultural adaptation to a traditionally patriarchal society, apparently. Their numbers have dwindled to between 30 and 40 now and few - if any - women are following them in taking the oath.

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  By BubbaB, Tuesday, 14 August , 2007 @ 1:54 pm

  Well, other than the fact that I was afraid I would be a de facto sworn virgin when I graduated high school, I have no comment.

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