Your Albanian Aunt, er, uh, Uncle?

Found this fascinating piece in The New York Times this morning.

Pashe Keqi recalled the day nearly 60 years ago when she decided to become a man. She chopped off her long black curls, traded in her dress for her father’s baggy trousers, armed herself with a hunting rifle and vowed to forsake marriage, children and sex.

Apparently, in traditional rural Albania, a woman could "become a man" by swearing an oath of lifetime virginity. This had some practical value beyond merely confusing future genealogists and census takers. The practice actually served to keep families together. Read the rest here.