Portraits of Albanian Women Who Have Lived Their Lives As Men

4:59 AM

“Sex is biologically determined but gender is a social construct” is a very famous dictum of the feminist criticism. But here is a group of females – sworn virgins who have chosen to tread the men’s path without distorting their female anatomy. They have challenged the patriarchal norms of the society that gives a license to do anything and everything to men alone, be it work, smoking, drinking and merry making, sex, family, and decisions – domestic or societal. Jill Peters, a committed photographer, captures detailed glimpses of these ‘burrneshas’/ ‘virgineshas’ from the mountainous villages of Northern Albania for her dream project “Sworn Virgins of Albania”.

The making of these burrneshas can be seen as a lively feminist protest against the male atrocities. At a deeper level, becoming a burrnesha is the only ‘safe alternative’ left for girls to escape from the arranged marriages that were fixed by their family when they were still children. It protected them from the resulting blood feud caused due to the dishonor of the groom’s family, as per the norms of their tribal clans. Gradually, these sworn virgins are seen to start enjoying their ‘male lives’ by adopting many cultural and conventional practices that are exclusively for males, like smoking and drinking, business, and decisions. They even start cropping their hair short and dressing up in cloaks and trousers. They can carry guns and can also participate in blood feuds. As is obvious, they are highly honored in the Albanian society and the burrneshas price their family honor as the most cherished thing in their lives. The practice has existed or is still continuing (to a lesser degree) in Northern Balkans though it is also found in western Balkans like Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia etc. According to National Geographic’s 2002 documentary TV series, Taboo, only less than 102 sworn virgins exist in the world.

‘Women speak, but not to be heard!’ This is strangely the predicament of a patriarchal society in which we live, no matter you are in a developing or a developed nation. These shes living as hes have very constructively dared to change this notion.