Balkan sworn virgins

This article is about a Balkan gender role. For people who take oaths of celibacy for religious reasons, see sworn virgins.
Sworn virgin in Rapsha, Hoti, Ottoman Albania, 1908

Balkan sworn virgins (in Albanian: burrnesha) are people who are assigned female at birth and who take a vow of chastity and live as men in patriarchal northern Albanian society, Kosovo and Montenegro. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Bosnia, Dalmatia (Croatia), Serbia and North Macedonia.[1]

In times when women had a prescribed role, burrnesha gave up their sexual, reproductive and social identities to acquire the same freedoms as men. They could dress as men, be head of the household, move freely in social situations, and take work traditionally open only to men.[2] National Geographic's Taboo estimated in 2002 that there were fewer than 102 Albanian sworn virgins left.[3] As of 2022, while there were no exact figures, twelve burrnesha were estimated to remain in Northern Albania and Kosovo.[2]

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  1. ^ "Stana Cerović, poslednja crnogorska virdžina" [Stana Cerović, the last Montenegrin virgin] (in Serbian). National Geographic Serbia. 28 June 2016. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b McLean, Tui (10 December 2022). "The last of Albania's 'sworn virgins'". BBC News.
  3. ^ "National Geographic's Taboo". natgeo.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2009-11-11. (trailer: "Taboo S1E9: Sexuality (Documentary)" (video 1h 36'). National Geographic – via YouTube.)