Reviews - Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins

6 reviews for:

Women Who Become Men: Albanian Sworn Virgins

Antonia Young

3.93 AVERAGE

lavamonstret's review

3.0

The subject is a very interesting one. I would have wished that it would have been more personal and more about the "virgins" life rather than research book.

jmsr418's review

4.0

challenging informative slow-paced

I read this as part of my dissertation research (focusing on clothing and gender identity construction). This book was really interesting, and really does a good job of describing the Albanian society and it's patriarchal rules and strict codes of honour, and everything that stems from that.

Although at some points it felt like it deviated slightly from talking about the 'sworn virgins', the description of other aspects of society, e.g. bloodfeuds, the economy and general fashions of dress helped to contextualise the phenomenon. I found especially interesting that economic concerns (i.e. heading a household) are far more important than individual desires/gender identity/sexuality to a woman's or her family's choice for her to become a 'sworn virgin'. Young also brought in some cross-cultural comparisons which allowed for further analysis of the 'sworn virgins' tradition.

Overall, an enjoyable read which I learnt a lot from - especially about wider Albanian society, which I wasn't necessarily expecting to from the book title.