Tradition of `sworn virgins' dying out in Albania

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/05/international/i080031D41.DTL
ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
10/5/2008

Drene Markgjoni spent 12 years in a hard-labor camp, punished for her fiance's attempt to flee Albania's regime, then one of the world's most repressive and isolationist. She swore she would never suffer like that for somebody else again.

She pledged to forgo sex and marriage for the rest of her life, and declared herself a man.

That was six decades ago. Now 85, with close-cropped white hair, dressed in a man's blue striped shirt and black trousers, she greets visitors with a manly handshake. The way she walks, her confident gestures, everything about her is masculine.

A really interesting article that.
Thanks.

That was very interesting.  It seems like for some people it would be great. It probably only goes the one way though, female to male. It seems women are second class. If some guy wanted to be the women of the household, it might be a different story.

At first I read 'albania' in the title as 'alabama'.  That was confusing.

Well, dunno about you, but I wouldn't want to be a woman in that society. Sounds very restrictive.

me neither. I was just thinking about the struggle their MtF's have to go through.  Probably, the ones with the cash just leave the country.

They wouldn't have much cash by the time they left it.

I'm not sure exactly what part of Albanian society I would want to be a part of.

Strange world we live in hun?