In a small village in Montenegro, Stana Cerovic made a decision that would shape her entire life: to give up love and any intimate relationship in order to preserve her family’s surname.
Stana belonged to an ancient Balkan tradition known as “sworn virgins”, in which some women took on the male role when there were no sons in the family. In exchange for inheriting land and maintaining the lineage, they had to promise to remain virgins forever.
She wore men’s clothing, was treated as a man in her community, and kept that promise until her death in 2016, at the age of 85. Her story recently went viral again and has left many people shocked by the enormous sacrifice she made throughout her life.
