“Sworn Virgin” is the term given to a biological female in the Balkans who has chosen to take on the social identity of a man for life. As a tradition dating back hundreds of years, this was sometimes necessary in a society that lived within tribal clans, followed the Kanun, an archaic code of law, and maintained an oppressive rule over the female gender. Young girls were commonly forced into arranged marriages with much older men in distant villages. The freedom to vote, drive, earn money or own property was traditionally the exclusive province of men. A family suddenly without a patriarch or male heir would find themselves in jeopardy of losing everything.
As an alternative, a daughter could become a Sworn Virgin, or “burnesha”, elevating her to the status of a man and granting her all the rights and privileges of any man. In order to manifest the transition such a woman cut her hair, donned male clothing and sometimes even changed her name. Most importantly of all, she took a vow of celibacy to remain chaste for life. As modernization inches towards the small villages nestled in the Albanian Alps, this archaic tradition is increasingly seen as obsolete. Only a handful of Sworn Virgins remain.
As a portrait photographer with an interest in subjects that innately speak to the diversity of the human experience, I was fascinated with this story. This is historically one of the few examples of socially accepted gender change and it is rapidly disappearing. My desire to record the sacrifice, context and experience of these women/men set me on course to seek out some of the last burnesha. I was rewarded with a small collection of people who possess an indescribable amount 0f strength and pride, value their family honor above all else, and have few regrets for all they have sacrificed. Furthermore, their absolute transition is accepted, posited and taken without question by the people among whom they live. Photographing them was my greatest privilege.
This person, photographed in 1908, was a sworn virgins or burrnesha – practising a traditional Albanian custom that allows someone assigned female at birth to assume a male gender role by taking a vow of chastity. This tradition has been an accepted part of Albanian culture for centuries.
Check out our podcast if you’d like to learn more about this tradition
flag id: a flag with 7 stripes. in order, they are pink-red, golden yellow, green, dark sky blue, green, golden yellow, and pink-red. in the center of the flag is a large black symbol of a stylized two-headed eagle, and between the eagle's wings is a small stylized red poppy symbol. end id.
banner id: a 1500x150 teal banner with the words ‘please read my dni before interacting’ in large white text in the center. end id.
an alternate flag for burrnesha/balkan sworn virgins for @gokbukesstuff!
here's the original flag, which is just the transmasculine flag with a symbol over it - the requester wanted a flag that represented more variety of burrnesha identities while retaining the symbol, which is a combination of a common historical balkan symbol (the two-headed eagle) with a red poppy, representing 'blooming' into one's true self.
Are the burrnesha butches or gender non-confronting people ? I mostly thought they were butches since they never gave up of their status as women , just sex life with men .
That’s a good (and tricky) question.
It’s important to first realize what “butch” means historically. The term “butch” is used in lesbian subculture to refer to a masculine identity (in terms of behavior, style, traits, etc.). The thing that’s crucial to get out of this is that “butch” is strictly a lesbian attribute.
The deal with burrneshas is that their whole identity is based on the idea of escaping the harsh standards of Albania’s patriarchal system. Especially in Malsia (the highlands), where the kanun was/is widely used. The kanun, which is a code of law, places severe restrictions on what women can do in society. Under the kanun, women are not allowed to act as head of the household, inherit wealth, carry a gun, vote, and possess land. However, under the kanun, burrneshas can do all of this. To become a burrnesha means swearing to a life of celibacy and living out life as a man. Arranged marriages were also widely forced upon women, and becoming a burrnesha was often used as a route to escape that. Sometimes the decision was often pushed on them by their mothers (if the household was left without a male heir). The important thing to get out of this is that becoming a burrnesha is neither about sexuality (they are not lesbians) nor personal gender identity, which would mean that burrneshas are neither butch nor trans.
However, I don’t think that every burrnesha chose that way of life because of the need to overcome Albania’s patriarchal society. That may be the official definition of “burrnesha”, but it doesn’t seem to apply to every individual.
Some quotes from burrneshas include:
- “Kur u pyet se si ajo me të vërtetë identifikon veten, ajo i tha: ‘Unë mendoj se gjithmonë kam qenë njëkohësisht si një burrë dhe një grua’” — “When asked about how she truly identifies herself, she said ‘I think that I have always been simultaneously a man and a woman’”.
and also:
- “Disa gazetarë kishin ngritur supozimet nëse burrneshat ishin lesbike të maskuara si burra… Hakiu 71-vjeçar, thotë: “Perëndia ka vendosur të jem kjo që jam. Të qenurit lesbike – kjo nuk është ajo që janë burrneshat“, tha ai para se të shtoj se “Po të më ngatërroni mua me një lesbike, do t’ju godas“. —- “Some journalists had raised the assumptions of whether burrneshas are lesbians masked as men… 71-year-old Hakiu said “heaven has decided that I am what I am. To be lesbian - this is not what burrneshas are,” he said before adding “if you mistake me for a lesbian, I’ll beat you.”
The first quote entirely suggests a non-gender-conforming identity for that individual specifically, but I think that’s a specific case and does not have to do with the actual definition of “burrnesha”. The second quote makes it pretty clear that being a burrnesha does not have to do with sexuality. However, I think it’s interesting that in a lot of articles, burrneshas are referred to as “he”.
In any case, I don’t think it’s our place (as outsiders) to decide what burrneshas are or are not. This is clearly a very tricky issue, and I don’t think it fits even the existing standards for trans or nonbinary individuals. I think their gender identity just depends on the individual, though I think it’s important to note that it seems that the vast majority of burrneshas would not choose this way of life if it wasn’t for the freedom that it gives them (and as Albanian society has developed to provide more and more freedom for women, we’ve seen a drastic drop in the number of burrneshas).
Sworn Virgins as well as the other terms in the "culture exclusive gender” tag are genders that are specific to certain cultures and should not be used by people not of that culture. If you're not sure you're able to use this, feel free to send an ask on my ask blog [Link], I have followers that could help you out!
(Copied from this post [Link])
“Also known as Balkan sworn virgins (they are usually associated with Albania, but the tradition of sworn virgins exists in one form or another in most Balkan countries), and burrnesha in Albanian specifically. In essence, if a AFAB person wants to have the same rights and status as a man, or otherwise feel that they identity much more as a man, they would opt to being sworn virgins. As the name implies, they undergo a vow of celibacy in order to identify as a sworn virgin, and be treated as a man. For once, this is a case where the Wikipedia article for a culture gender has a lot more useful information that you would probably find in order websites (At least for English information).
As mentioned in the article, there are various motivations for someone choosing to identify as a sworn virgin. Some come from households where there were no boys, and so the family had no one else to give proper inhieritance to. Some want to avoid marriage (either to be able to marry women (sworn virgins can still marry, just not have sex), or just to avoid romance/sex in general), while others are trans men who use a cultural role in order to be allowed to transition safely. On that note, in general some sworn virgins would still go by she/her pronouns, while those who become sworn virgins to transition safely (such as myself) prefer he/him pronouns. As with trans/nb people in general, it’s always better to ask than to assume!
Unlike most culture genders, sworn virgins are an identity that is decreasing in numbers in modern times. This is because the main motivation for identifying as a sworn virgin was to gain the same rights as men (Not for ritual or religious purposes as with other culture genders). Since women are gaining more rights as time goes on in the Balkan countries, sworn virgins are being considered less and less. Still! There is a bit of a resurgence to this identity, mostly as an option for trans men or masculine-aligned nonbinary (? Not sure how to say) to be able to transition safely. Not to mention, it has being particularly help for asexual/ace spectrum trans/nb men (due to the vow of celibacy), which includes me and the other burrneshas in our chat that help me make this flag!
Last, here is a video about sworn virgins, and an article with an interview with a sworn virgin. Hope this information is helpful!”
[Image: the seven-striped trans man/transmasculine flag starting from pink, very light blue, light blue, sky blue, then mirroring back into pink. Overlayed is the heads and wings of a two-headed black eagle; each head facing the opposite direction with beaks open and holding a poppy in its wings].
Full size [Here]
Designed by: Anonymous
Color meanings: “The background is the trans man flag (since now we feel that burrnesha has become an identity mostly similar to trans man). The two head black eagle is a symbol found throughout the Balkan countries and their histories. The flower the eagle holds with its wings is a red poppy, a national flower of Albania and associated with Balkans in general (though it is commonly found throughout Europe). We mean for it as a sort of symbol of blooming forth into our true selves, as trans men, while the eagle is meant to be our pride in being Balkan and being able to continue an ancient tradition!”
Full pride gallery HERE! FAQ and “dictionary” of genders, orientations, and other related terms HERE. Send any questions to Ask-Pride-Color-Schemes!
House with a voice by Kristine Nrecaj and Birthe Templin (2024)
1h 25m
The story of sworn virgins, Burrneshas... No! That is not a story! That is a tradition lasting over centuries and still active in some parts of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro. Women born as females take a vow of Chasity whereby they swear to identify and take a role of a man in a society profoundly patriarchal. This documentary movie I have watched at the Documentary festival held in Warsaw recently, HumanDOC.
This movie made a huge impression on me. Not in a positive way. Movie itself was good, but I had no idea this exists in the world and that moved me deeply. All that was so wrong, on the other hand I emphatise with those women. All right, so what was there that moved me so much?
Women there are treated so distinctly differently from men in terms of privileges and what they ought to do and not to do, the freedom they are deprived of, that they decide to sacrifice their femininity and dress all in a masculine role. They would literally dress as men, but also act like them, take their occupations, fight with men, speak like them, borrow their way of living, way of being with people.
Their explanations were very understandable to me, they craved independence, autonomy, 'to come and go whenever they wish'. To be respected. That was not possible when being a woman. In order to have this humane need fulfilled, they had to abandon their true nature, their inner beauty, the beauty of a female that is so needed in this world. They all presented themselves as very self aware and confident about the choice they made, seemingly not perceiving any negative side of it. They see themselves as stronger being a man. I loved to watch those women, but also felt deep compassion for they had to reject themselves. At times some scenes also seemd to me quite funny, as I could see through those clothes and manerisms a woman. So they would be women pretending to be men. It was almost as if playing scenes in a movie, at times that seemed so out of touch.
In Depth Psychology, or Analytical psychology that would be a female's animus that is brought to the surface. Or a woman posted by an animus. It is described in that psychology as something negative, as woman then starts to resemble some poorly played character. The feminine side is asleep, is buried somewhere within, and covered with layers of dust. The soul has her eyes closed. However, the masculine side, the animus was also not quite masculine in a genuine way.
The one woman, however, seemed authentic in that attempt. She talked about love. She said she does not want love, that love only causes problems and that life is simpler without it. Somehow the way she was describing her attitude towards it seemed authentic. On the other side, I cannot also say if that was a matter of masculine / feminine side. That belief does not seem to fall on either side of the fence. Maybe that is why it seemed genuine, because it was not taken from the masculine side. I found that women especially interesting. There were not many scenes in the movie devoted to her and there was her just talking, only her face, not even the whole of it. Probably she did not want it another way. In her, in those short moments when she would share her conviction about love, I did not see an anima, or artificial, half baked masculinity. I saw there an animus, that was not forced. She had also an interesting face.
The problem of the movie to me is not only about losing femininity. It is about losing yourself, it is about denying who you are. It is about shaping yourself the way you see as resectable, which means turning 180 degrees the other side. I do not know how women are treated in Albania exactly and I also have not been there. But from what a movie shown, I can understand why women might want to be treated as men. If that is the only known way for them to have autonomy and respect, then I understand. It is however disheartening that this is at the cost of their identity and femininity.
I love being a woman. In the country where I live I am able to be a woman and have feminine traits, however where I work it is also expected of me to use heavily my intellect, be efficient and in general reasonable and not too emotional. I work mostly with men and the fact that on average they are very poor communicators, they have on average much much lower emotional intelligence than women, they are less responsible, they care less, they see through the situation more poorly, they are less killed at using words, they read between the lines worse, all that creates lots of problems at work, in a project. Atmosphere is tense, they would not understand each other, they would blame, they would not do what should be done. The ability that female has, i.e. the ability to understand a person and to communicate, to read people and the atmosphere, to know why something does not work in a team is golden. People are always the issue at work, women are needed to solve those issues. Men cannot do it well. Men can DO things, can decide, can be efficient and solve well. But what they will solve? What they will do? For what?
Do not get me wrong, when I say 'men' I mean rather 1:1 men and masculine energy. That is of course true that men can have feminine qualities and vice versa. However, on average and in general men have mostly masculine qualities. And world needs women, their intuition, communication, intelligence, skills in handling people, understanding big picture and connections, dependencies.
Burrneshas are brave and resilient women for taking that path, I wish however they did not have to.
“Sworn Virgin” by Laura Bispuri (2015) Facets of Patriarchy First Feature Excellent gender content and minority presence Interesting debut feature that tells the story of two women who escape "the gender-imposed hardships of their native culture," [
Interesting debut feature that tells the story of two women who escape “the gender-imposed hardships of their native culture,” [Godfrey Cheshire] one by fleeing an imposed marriage, the other by becoming a ‘sworn virgin,’ status that allows her to live her life like if she was a man, except for the fact that she may not have sex.
