For centuries in Albania, young, unmarried, virgin women living in households where all the men had died or been imprisoned, swapped genders and lived as men--becoming "sworn virgins." With changing gender roles and modernization, the practice is dying out, but some sworn virgins still remain.

Take 78-year-old Pashe Keqi, for example, who became a sworn virgin at 20 after her father was killed. Pashe had a a housefull of women to take care of and a buring desire to carry a hunting rifle in public. According to this totally amazing New York Times article:

When she stepped outside the village, she enjoyed being taken for a man. “I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman,” Ms. Keqi said. “I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don’t know how to do women’s talk. I am never scared.”

But living as a man isn't all fun, games, barking orders and beating people up (OK, well, it seems in Albania it may involve a fair amount of beating people up)... 

Being the man of the house also made her responsible for avenging her father’s death, she said. When her father’s killer, by then 80, was released from prison five years ago, Ms. Keqi said, her 15-year-old nephew shot him dead. Then the man’s family took revenge and killed her nephew. “I always dreamed of avenging my father’s death,” she said. “Of course, I have regrets; my nephew was killed. But if you kill me, I have to kill you.”

Right. The moral of this story is: If a woman is going to live like a man in Albania, she'd better be willing to kill people after holding 50-year grudge. Otherwise, get back in the house and make dinner.