Rosalind Russell vs. the Albanian sworn virgins

Monday, cigarette #2
Connecticut Hall, 10:45am

The first thing Caitlin said when I showed her this article from the Yale Globalist was, "Wow, that woman looks just like Radclyffe Hall":

Without hesitation, Sanie steps into the building, orders a raki — the national drink — and catches up on the news with some male friends. Not a single female is in sight, as no woman would dare enter this pub. But in this realm of the “man’s world”, Sanie stands out because, biologically, she is a woman. This is a scene from Sworn Virgins, a documentary about Albanian women who take an oath of virginity and adopt a masculine appearance in order to obtain the rights and freedom of men.

The Guardian's article on 'sworn virgins' is better, because it has the longest quotations from the Virgjineshe themselves. Some of them are hilarious:

Rabë Lajqi, 77

I wanted to be a man and I was completely like a man, always. There was no love and I never regretted it. I had a gun and the men were afraid of me. Once, I was cutting trees in the forest and a guy came up demanding that I stop. He said a woman shouldn't be in the woods by herself, never mind doing man's work. I pointed my rifle at him and told him, should he ever come within 100 yards of me again, he would be a dead man. Ha! How he ran. Nobody ever bothered me again.

I'd like to marry now, but it's too late. If I was younger, I'd put on a dress, flirt with the men and find myself a husband. I am the only proper Virgjineshe in Rrugova now. Mirë is not strong like a man. She was only a shepherd. She never really worked like a proper man of Rrugova.

"Kajtaz" (Mirë Lletë) Lajçi, 64

When I was eight, I told people my name is Kajtaz [a boy's name]. My family had many animals and a lot of land, and I decided to support my father and my brothers. There is no better gift for a shepherd than the respect of one's father. Working like two men, I have gained everyone's respect and the right to say whatever I want. Nobody has ever mentioned marriage to me!

Rabë told you she is a strong man, did she? What she didn't tell you is she was engaged to a man from another village when she was a child. He died and they never met. Maybe her father, who arranged the engagement when she was born, didn't tell her anything, but the fact is she was engaged and is therefore a woman.

Three basic responses to these articles (and this one and this video) spring to mind:

#1, The Fossils: "This is outrageous! Women can't become men, so they should stay home and perform their own damn gender."

#2, The Feminists: "This is outrageous! Woman shouldn’t be kept from doing things just because they’re women. The notion of 'a man’s world' is absurd and destructive."

#3, Whatever Subcategory of Post-Feminism Includes Me: "This is outrageous! While it's true that women should be materially discouraged from doing un-feminine things, it’s fine if the occasional exception violates these boundaries. But it shouldn’t look like that! The best way for a woman to make it in a 'man's world' isn't to masculinize herself, but to trade on being on the only woman in the room! Rosalind Russell among the reporters in His Girl Friday, not Demi Moore in A Few Good Men!"

(Question for those who've seen His Girl Friday: Try to imagine Rosalind Russell in a room full of male and female reporters instead of a room of just men. Does her sly, breezy, self-possessed sense of humor work the same magic?)

When the Globalist talked to the Washington Post reporter who wrote this article, he gave them this quote: “I don’t know if the 'sworn virgin' says anything about the Albanian society, other than that they recognize that women can do everything that men could do.”

Maybe so and maybe not, but Zumbrun's take is complicated by the fact that even the 'sworn virgins' who are no longer sure about the whole tradition are still adamant that "once you make [the decision], you should stick to it." As one of them says, "I wish I could have children of my own, but I can't be a woman now." Does it make sense to say that the take-away message here is that "they recognize women can do everything that men could do" if, after becoming 'sworn virgins,' these women don't even believe they can do everything women can?