Culture and Society » Race and Ethnicity in Society » Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
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Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jun 15, 2005, 5:58am

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.

Austrian historian Karl Kaser saw the reason for the existence of the custom in the extremely vulnerable patrilineal inheritance and family-relations system. Sworn virgins neutralize the “structural flaw”, i.e. the lack of male offspring. As the logic of patrilinear system doesn’t allow her to perform this role as a woman, she is symbolically turned into a man.

Photos:
1.
[image]
Mikaš Karadžić, of Montenegrin Drobnjak clan (her name is unmistakably male)

2.
[image]
Unknown "Virdžina' from Northern Albania. She was the guide to the English travelogue-writer Bernard Newman in 1930s, and it took him several days to discover that she was not a man.

3.
[image]
Hata-Smail Jusufi, of Lugađi village in Metohia (Kosovo). Born around 1890. She herself made the decision of becoming a sworn virgin.

4.
[image]
Hir Ljuš, of Donji Crni Breg village in Metohia. Born around 1900. She became a sworn virgin when she was 17.

5.
[image]
Drko Memić (1910-1956), born in Gusinje (Montenegro). She was from a family with no male children, and was treated as a male since birth.

6.
[image] [image]
Škurtan, and Haki, both from a village in North Albania.

The photos and somewhat adapted text taken from: http://www.anarheologija.org/clanci/sarcevic2/index.php

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A tangle of multiple transgressions: The western gaze and
the Tobelija (Balkan sworn-virgin-cross-dressers) in the 19th and 20th centuries

By Aleksandra Djajic Horváth (Department of History and Civilization, European University Institute, Florence, Italy)

Abstract

This paper focuses on travelogue representations of tobelija, Balkan sworn-virgin-cross-dressers, from the second half of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth centuries. The tobelija, a socially approved female-to-male cross-dresser, takes centre stage in many of these accounts, epitomising all that is exotic, strange, and primeval about the remote and mountainous regions of the Western Balkans during this period.
Under the controlling and classifying gaze of the western European traveller, the tobelija materializes in verbal and visual narrative as a strong, armed, and masculinized single woman. Salient to these accounts is the travellers’ mapping of
Western understandings of gender onto the local peoples: by categorising them as women, the tobelija are disciplined into binary Western gender discourses.

Full text

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"SWORN VIRGINS": CASES OF SOCIALLY ACCEPTED GENDER CHANGE
by Antonia Young, Colgate University and Bradford University, UK

Abstract

Well documented in the past, the phenomenon known as "sworn virgins" was thought to have been eradicated under the Communist regime.2 They are not always recognizable, for once their parents, or they themselves usually as children or adolescents, make the vow to become male they dress and behave accordingly, and as such are totally accepted and even revered within their communities. The reasons for this female-to-male cross-gender role are various. Early records refer predominantly to this as the only acceptable alternative to not marrying the man to whom a woman was betrothed (thereby saving the honour of all involved). Until the l920s, up to 30% of the male population died violent deaths, putting a specially high value on male descendants. Not infrequently the shortage of boys was redressed by designating a daughter henceforth to become a son. This tradition has remained alive in the Northern Albanian Alps, where blood feuds are being revived.

The following paper results from both archival and empirical research over a period of several years.

Full text

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Less "bookish" links:

What is a sworn virgin in Albania?

Crossing Boundaries: Albania's Sworn Virgins

Serbian movie "Virdzina", examining the conflict between personal wishes and duties of a young sworn virgin in the Balkans
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by nockwasright on Jun 15, 2005, 9:34am

Two questions
1) are you using the present tense to mean this phenomenon is still going on now (which seems unlikely, expecially as organised cetralised state can not allow blood feuds)?

2) can it be that more than Sworn Virgins these girls are Tricky Lesbians? The women in the pic look very lesbian to me.
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by mimidamoon on Jun 15, 2005, 9:43am

Wow, thanks for this post Circe! I never ever heard of this! I find it hard to believe that some of these pictures' subjects are of female gender...pictures 3 and 4 are totally male when you look at them.

Does it maybe have something to do with pagan practice? As in taking on the role of honouring Artemis, the huntress from Greek mythology, as she swore off men and was a virgin goddess?
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jun 15, 2005, 12:54pm


Quote:
Two questions
1) are you using the present tense to mean this phenomenon is still going on now (which seems unlikely, expecially as organised cetralised state can not allow blood feuds)?

Organized centralized state in the Balkans? ;D hehehe
You should check out the Dinaric and N. Albanian Alps in the map, I think it can clarify many things ;)

As for the tense, I used present in its generic meaning :)

I don't know if the "phenomenon is still going on", probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised if the custom still sporadically survives in the secluded remote villages in the mountains.


Quote:
2) can it be that more than Sworn Virgins these girls are Tricky Lesbians? The women in the pic look very lesbian to me.

Well according to the site I took the pic from, most of these women felt quite comfortable with their new gender.
I suppose that some of them were forced to assume male roles, for the reasons stated above, and that later it was impossible or even undesirable for them to revert to the role that would coincide with their sex. Here you must bear in mind that we're talking about extremely patriarchal societies here, where women exercised little or no rights, and even less freedoms...

However, I think it's also quite obvious that some of them were transsexuals.

This woman, Durđan Ibi Glavola, of Prizren, admitted that she had always felt to be a man.
[image]

The woman in the first picture, Mikaš Karadžić was treated as a boy since birth (her family didn't have male offspring), and she considered it a grave offense to be called a girl. She was even allowed to be buried in male clothes (which was unthinkable of at the time). Physician Milan Jovanović Batut, who recorded her case, also wrote that she hadn't had menstruation, so it's quite possible that she suffered from some hormonal imbalance...
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jun 15, 2005, 1:04pm


Quote:
Wow, thanks for this post Circe!

:)

Quote:
Does it maybe have something to do with pagan practice? As in taking on the role of honouring Artemis, the huntress from Greek mythology, as she swore off men and was a virgin goddess?

Well, some authors suggest that it might be a remnant of an old pagan virgo cult, or even of matriarchy, but these claims remain in the realm of speculations, as there is no way to prove any of them.

I don't think it has anything to do with the pagan practices, but rather with "the needs and mentality of clan-tribal societies in which the phenomenon occurred".

Kaser's explanation seems like the most viable one to me.
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by nockwasright on Jun 15, 2005, 1:07pm


Quote:


I suppose that some of them were forced to assume male roles, for the reasons stated above, and that later it was impossible or even undesirable for them to revert to the role that would coincide with their sex. Here you must bear in mind that we're talking about extremely patriarchal societies here, where women exercised little or no rights, and even less freedoms...


I believe sex orientation is one of the most powerful instinct. I never could believe there were environment made homosexuals, and now science is confirming what common sense always said.

All the above stated reasons to make a sworn virgin, even in a patriarchal society, seems quite shallow to overcame sex drive to me. Become a men to prevent a faida? Giulietta Capuleti should have done it. ;)

It looks like a nice society trick to accomodate sapphism in a painless way. I bet the virgins hang around each other and listen to Ani Di Franco songs. ;)

Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by lurker4now on Jun 15, 2005, 1:14pm

is there is a connection with the Amazon women?
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jun 15, 2005, 1:16pm


Quote:
I believe sex orientation is one of the most powerful instinct. I never could believe there were environment made homosexuals, and now science is confirming what common sense always said.

All the above stated reasons to make a sworn virgin, even in a patriarchal society, seems quite shallow to overcame sex drive to me.

Yes, definitely the most successful sworn virgins were the ones who had sex vs. gender issues :)

The ones who weren't comfortable with their new roles probably didn't stick around long enough to be included in the case-studies ;)


Quote:
It looks like a nice society trick to accomodate sapphism in a painless way. I bet the virgins hang around each other and listen to Ani Di Franco songs. ;)

I'm not sure "accommodating sapphism in a painless way" was the main reason for the existence of the custom.
However, I'm sure the girls managed to find a way to vent some of those pent-up feelings ;)
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jun 15, 2005, 1:18pm


Quote:
is there is a connection with the Amazon women?

You got me there! ;D

I doubt it, but have no way to prove or disprove it...
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by murphee on Jun 16, 2005, 11:47am

I see it also as a viable outlet for women who don't follow the norm: women who don't want children, husband and family life, Lesbians, those who are asexual, those who dislike sex, those who are extremely spiritual, those who want to live the life of a man.
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by shunya on Jul 6, 2005, 6:54am


Quote:

Quote:
Two questions
1) are you using the present tense to mean this phenomenon is still going on now (which seems unlikely, expecially as organised cetralised state can not allow blood feuds)?

Organized centralized state in the Balkans? ;D hehehe
You should check out the Dinaric and N. Albanian Alps in the map, I think it can clarify many things ;)

As for the tense, I used present in its generic meaning :)

I don't know if the "phenomenon is still going on", probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised if the custom still sporadically survives in the secluded remote villages in the mountains.


It doesn't say anything about how widespread this interesting custom still is, but an article on Albania in National Geographic vol. 192, no. 2, February 2000, features the following photograph:

[image]
(My apologies for the bad quality, but my scanner can't handle too shiny paper ...)

The caption reads:

"Living as a man for the past 30 years, Pashkë became a 'sworn virgin' when the last male of her family died, leaving her to tend the family's name and property. Following the code in the Kanun of Lek Dukagjin, a 15th-century text that still governs the life in much of northern Albania, Pashkë relinquished her womanhood and began dressing and functioning as a man in society."
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by nockwasright on Jul 6, 2005, 8:55am

Great pic shunya! If this doesn't prove that the sworn virgin are born virgin actually, nothing will.

Or someone thinks that abstaining from sex and cutting hair short would have reduced a normal woman to that sort of Dustin Hoffman of the Balkans?
Re: Sex and gender - Balkan's Sworn Virgins
Post by dada on Jul 6, 2005, 9:10am


Quote:
Or someone thinks that abstaining from sex and cutting hair short would have reduced a normal woman to that sort of Dustin Hoffman of the Balkans?

The Balkans is the land of wonders - anything is possible ;D
;)




Awesome picture shunya, thanks! :)
I guess that proves that the custom still survives in some parts of Albania.