http://www.metafilter.com/tags/HighAlbania Posts tagged with 'HighAlbania' at MetaFilter. Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:47:44 -0800 Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:47:44 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/31055/Exwomen%2Din%2DAlbania <a href="http://www.jolique.com/gender/crossing_boundaries.htm">Sworn virgins.</a> "A sworn virgin is called such because she swears—takes a vow under the law of the <a href="http://www.frosina.org/infobits/code.shtml"><i>Kanun</i></a>—to become a man. From the day she takes this vow (which is sometimes at a very early age), she becomes a man: she dresses like one, acts like one, walks like one, works like one, talks like one, and her family and community treat her as one. She is referred to as he. He will never marry and will remain celibate all of his life." If you find this stuff intriguing, by all means read Alice Munro's great short story "The Albanian Virgin" (from <i>Open Secrets</i>, 1994); you might also want to check out <a href="http://www.atla.com/member/librarians_tools/reference_reviews/review1002.html">A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture</a>, where there's much more cultural weirdness, and Edith Durham's classic <i>High Albania</i> (online <a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/durham/albania/albania.html">here</a>), from which I first learned of these mannish gals. Oh, and there's a <a href="http://www.cinegraf.com/Current/Women_Without_Wings/women_without_wings.html">movie</a>! tag:metafilter.com,2004:site.31055 Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:47:44 -0800 Albania AlbanianVirgin AliceMunro anthropology culture EdithDurham gender HighAlbania Kanun swornvirgins virgins women languagehat