becoming "men"

in november, a friend came back from an international feminist conference in albania and among various stories about the event and the place [btw, there are some great women doing amazing amounts of necessary work over there, just as in other countries] she told me of an interesting custom that can still be found in parts of albania: by taking a vow of celibacy, certain women can "choose" to become men and are not only accepted as such by their communities but they get the social status and all the privileges that otherwise, as women, they would never get to enjoy. i was totally intrigued... it sounded so interesting and slightly mysterious! 'cause i'd ever only heard about widely accepted social practices where biological males become "women" and not the other way around. but now i've finally remembered to look it up. this paper called "sex and gender - balkan's sworn virgins" seems to be the most useful and comprehensive resource. i'll just quote from it:

Sworn virgins (Serb. tobelije, ostajnice, virdžine; Alb. virgjinéshë) are women who, as children or dolescents, give up their female identities and vow to become male. Accepted and even revered in their communities, they take on the lifestyle, appearance, and rights of men.

Geographically, sworn virgins are located mostly in the territories of Montenegro, Kosovo, Metohija and North Albania, i.e. in the areas where patriarchal way of life and clan-tribal social organization was preserved. Ethnically, most sworn virgins belong to Slavic (Serbian and Montenegrin), and Albanian populations, although some authors are of the opinion that this custom also occurs among Turkish and Roma populations. This custom is not related to religion, as there are sworn virgins who are Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim.

Reasons for becoming a sworn virgin

The most comprehensive typology to date has been made by Ljiljana Gavrilović. According to this author, their common denominator is that they vow to live their lives in celibacy, which brings about a change in their social, and in some cases gender status. The vow can be temporary or for life, and based on the type of the vow, one can distinguish between several types of virdzinas:

First type consists of the girls who renounce their right to marriage and become sworn virgins because of the shortage of male family members, and they have this status until one of the younger male family members grow up (usually a younger brother or a cousin). The vow of this sort is usually not given in public, but the girl informs the community of her new status by cutting her hair short and using male clothes. As long as the vow is in force, these women acquire limited legal and business privileges, e.g. they have the right to attend tribal councils, although without the right to vote. They can marry later, but it rarely happens in practice.

Second type consists of the girls who vow to be sworn virgins for a certain period because the male family members are engaged in a blood feud (vendetta), and are not allowed to leave the house to perform their everyday duties. After acquiring the status of the sworn virgin, such girls are allowed to perform duties which are normally reserved for men. They are also allowed to get married once the vow expires.

Third type consists of Albanian girls who vow celibacy in order to avoid unwanted arranged marriage. In Albania, breaking an engagement is a legitimate reason for starting a blood feud. The vow is given in public in this case, the girl is not allowed to marry, and such sworn virgin assumes male role in the family and social identity of a man. Should she break her vow and marry a man, the family of her ex-fiancé is allowed to start a blood feud.

Fourth type is particularly interesting, because it doesn’t include virgins, but divorced women who vow not to get remarried. They vow is given within the 2 families and doesn’t have a public character, but should such person remarry, her ex-husband’s family is entitled to a blood feud. They cut their hair short, but don’t use men’s clothes; usually associate with women and perform chores reserved for women, but are allowed to associate with men too.

Finally, fifth type consists of girls who vow to live in celibacy and take over male social role because the family has no male offspring. Many sworn virgins who belong to this group are declared to be sons immediately after birth and are raised as boys. The vow is not given publicly in this case, moreover, the real sex of these virgins can remain a complete secret for their community. In public and private common law they are entitled to al the privileges men have.

The main flaw in this classification is that it suggests the existence of much more institutional rules than exist in reality. It suggests that there was a highly developed and precise common-law mechanism which would automatically activate in each single case, which hasn’t been confirmed in practice.
As for the attempts to scientifically explain sworn virgins in the Balkans, the research has focused primarily on the matters of the origin and genesis of the custom.
Some authors believe that the recent appearance of sworn virgins in 19th and 20th century has its roots in antiquity (in the ancient virgin cult, or remnants of matriarchal society), while the others see it as a result of specific socio-economic relations existing in patriarchal societies.

i also found a couple more sources that synthesize what's known:
* "crossing boundaries: albania's sworn virgins"
* a description of "sworn virgin"
* "what is a sworn virgin in albania?"
* and some more info in a piece about research on blood feuds, which touches on an important issue: is this custom in any way a breaking down of the sex and gender binary, or does it only serve to reinforce it, because in this case the only way "out" or "around" a person's sexual gender designation has actually already been regulated and formalized, socially, and it can only happen by switching from one rigid gender role to another, and nothing else:

Professor Littlewood questions whether their gender is perceived as male, female or ‘other’. He said: “Whether we take the emergence of phenomena like a third sex as more or less likely with traditional binary gender classification, it nevertheless appears that sworn virgins have less classificatory autonomy than lesbians in more pluralistic societies, constantly tending to be represented as women who have become men. Male and female still appear as powerfully contrasted and determining categories in Northern Albania, as we would expect if sworn virgins are women who became men rather than some separate third sex. Sworn virgins are always described in terms of male or female attributes: never in terms of anything altogether other.”

there's a wealth of fascinating issues here, but what fascinates me most of all, i think, is the fact that this practice and the idea behind it show in the most transparent of ways that, yes, we do assign gender to people and this is directly related to the hierarchies of power and values that we already have in society. it's an unequivocal admission that gender is a tool of the patriarchal order of things. which is more honest than what we're used to: we all know at some level that in our society the same holds true, but we pretend it doesn't, or that it's not an issue.

the other thing that this practice seems to spell out very clearly is that what makes a "man" (what really counts) is the not being a woman. it's so interesting to me to have it be an obvious fact that, basically, for a female person it's enough to renounce all "womanly" things in order to become a "man." and of course in this context the converse cannot be true because 1) why would anyone want to become a "woman" at all in a patriarchy? (when by definition "women" hold inferior status) and 2) a "woman" is actually not equivalent to "not a man" anyway. the main conclusion that i draw from all of this is that in essence our working definitions of the two genders are: "women" means those people who are inferior in status and "men" means those people who are not women. and that just deconvolutes so much!

regarding the whole "third sex" issue, here's some background and contextualization from the syllabus of an "anthropology and gender" course:

...differences in gender-related behavior [...] exist among various human societies and that have existed throughout time. The criteria used for defining being a man or woman varies dramatically from one society to the next, and even within the same society through time. The role of men and women in American society, for example, has changed sharply in the past 40 years, more so in some socioeconomic groups than in others. Changes in gender roles have, likewise, occurred in many other societies, both today and in the past. Moreover, many human societies recognize 'Third Genders" (i.e., neither man nor woman) that are not recognized in the U.S. or in other Western countries. A cross-cultural study of the variation that exists in the very definition of sex and gender categories, as well as in the behavior associated with specific individuals within those categories, raises a number of significant and provocative questions about the nature of gender-related behavior and about our society's views regarding sex and gender. What does this variation have to say, for example, about the biological vs. social basis of gender-related behavior, including homosexual vs. heterosexual behavior? What does the variation say about commonly accepted beliefs about gender-related behavior in American society? Many people believe, for example, that men are inherently more aggressive and violent than women and that women are naturally more nurturing than men? Are these beliefs supported by research, or are they merely stereotypes created by the traditional structure of gender relations in American society? This course will explore these and other related issues by examining the difference between sex and gender in various societies. This distinction will perhaps be most clearly highlighted by examining the various forms of sexuality that exist in human societies.

The course begins by distinguishing between sex and gender and by questioning the biological basis of gender-related behaviors. We will explore both empirical and methodological issues surrounding attempts to assign a relative importance to biological factors in determining gender identity or in explaining gender-related behavior. We will then examine the social construction of gender in various societies, including in the contemporary U.S. "Third Gender" (or trans-gender) groups or subcultures that highlight this construction will be explored in some detail. These will include the Berdache (Two Spirits) among Native Americans, the Hijras of northern India, Fa'fafines in Samoa and Sworn Albanian Virgins in Kosovo. ...

and here's another more in-depth introduction to the social constructionism of gender (as well as "sex"!), by thinking girl.

a professor from university of bradford in the u.k. has written about the "sworn virgin" custom after doing some research, and the following info provides some contemporary context:

The tradition of the Balkan 'sworn virgins' has existed in Albania for centuries. Sworn virgins are women who, as children or adolescents, give up their female identities and vow to become male. Accepted and even revered in their communities, they take on the lifestyle, appearance, and rights of men.

This fascinating custom has been investigated at first hand in remote villages in North Albania. Antonia Young, Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies, attached to the South East European Studies Research Unit interviewed five of the 'virgins'.

She finds the popularity of the custom, which stemmed originally from a shortage of adult males, has revived in recent years; one reason for this is the return of the blood feud to the Northern Alps.

Antonia believes that this revival also throws an interesting light on the role of Albanian women generally; a role that has changed dramatically since the fall of communism.

In post-communist Albania equal opportunities for women, which had been enshrined in communist law, have been steadily eroded. Women no longer receive equal pay and the number of female deputies in the People's Assembly has fallen from 40 in 1975 to nine in today's government.

The women of Albania have responded to these changes in a number of ways. In remote rural communities age-old traditions such as that of the sworn virgins offer some women the chance to enjoy the same privileges as men. In the cities new women's movements have been formed; groups like the Democratic League of Albanian Women organised by former exile Flutura Hasko.

Antonia Young's studies show that equal opportunities no longer exist for women in post-communist Albania. But using a variety of very different strategies women are proving that they have every intention of subverting this situation to win back their rights.

this review of young's book gives some further commentary:

Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins
By Antonia Young, Oxford, New York, NY, 2000. 163pp.

by Nancy Ries
In a patriarchal society, where women's lives are tightly constrained, all marriages arranged (sometimes from birth) and where the perpetuation of the male line in a family or clan is essential, what choice does a woman have if she doesn't want to marry her betrothed? What can a family do if it has no sons to carry on the lineage and protect the family's interests and honor?

The way Albanians have traditionally solved these problems is the topic of this intriguing study by Antonia Young, research associate in the sociology and anthropology department. Most Albanians accept as a fact of life that in certain circumstances, women can become men. They do this by taking an oath of lifelong celibacy, donning men's clothes, adopting male gestures and habits, performing men's labor and taking on the role of protector and guardian of family honor. After the oath (the breaking of which is inconceivable), these "sworn virgins" are accepted as men for the rest of their lives. They speak, swagger, drink and smoke as men do, discussing local politics at the cafe. They host guests, arrange marriages, guard property and avenge insults to the family's honor -- no small function in a culture where inter-family blood feuds are an inescapable feature of life and may persist for generations. "Sworn virgins" may even go to war.

All of this is remarkable considering that women in Albanian society are normally quite subservient: they take no part in family decision-making, silently serve while male family members eat or host guests, have no public role and may be sequestered to protect their honor. Among biological females, only "sworn virgins" can inherit homes or property, sit in cafes or take up arms.

Young traces the history of the "sworn virgin," using reports from many students of the Balkans past and present. She contextualizes this phenomenon within the broad anthropological literature on transgenderism, using examples from India, Samoa, East Africa and Native America. Her own extensive interviews with "sworn virgins" and their families and neighbors in Albania and Kosovo stand at the heart of this book, however, providing a vivid sense of one of the most fascinating aspects of an extraordinary civilization, now in the throes of profound and often violent change. In the end, Young poses a key question: might the ancient institution of "sworn virgins" be one that helps families recover from the loss of so many husbands, brothers, and sons in the 1999 massacres of Kosovar Albanians?

so much interesting stuff... i've got to read that book!
and, i must see this movie!