Albania – Virginity Pressures Lead Many to Restorative Surgery

Banned by gynaecological clinic rules, most operations are performed in
secret. While they are not banned or mentioned in any piece of the Albanian
law, medical secrecy is the code doctors use in handling the procedure by those
who request it.

According to Tirana based gynaecologists and sociologists, this has become a
growing phenomenon in the past 20 years. Experts outline that much of the
problem may be due to a high Albanian male emigration to Western Europe.

It is not hard to find someone to carry out the operation. “It is not legal,
but we list it as a simple gynaecological check-up,” explains the gynaecologist
who prefers to remain anonymous. Questioned as to whether this she performs
such operations or not, this  gynaecologist answers: yes she does it
because she has “no choice.”

The added value of
virginity

“It is a very complex phenomenon that does not concern girls coming from
rural areas only,” says Rubena Moisiu, head of the Kiço Gliozheni clinic
in Tirana. “Anything but, in fact. The majority of operations take place in
Tirana and the major urban centres of the Country,” added Moisiu.

Many Albanian men who emigrate look for wives in their home country. They
often keep long-distance relationships, because of this female virginity is
back in vogue in the region as a synonym of faithfulness and potential trust in
the female partner, as well as a good omen for difficult distance
relationships.

“It is not only due to the phenomenon of male emigration,” said a
gynaecologist from Tirana who prefers to keep her identity hidden. “It is
directly connected to the chauvinism rooted in Albanian society. Male sexual
freedom is well accepted, while female sexual freedom becomes a disadvantage
once women get married,” she continued.

Moral gynaecology

‘Until the 1950s in Albania women felt like they had to ‘hang out a
blood-stained sheet’ after the first wedding night to prove virginity to a
husband, relatives and neighbors. Today the pressure for women to be virgins in
Albania society has returned. “Some women even come to the clinic accompanied
by their partners, who want to verify their young wives’ virginity when they do
not bleed during their first sexual act. This happens in 38% of cases,” the
anonymous gynaecologist outlines.

“These are desperate girls whose future, whose happiness, depend on trivial
things such as this. It is not their fault, it is the men’s fault: it is them
[the men] who have this type of patriarchal and backward mentality,” she adds.

Less than 20 minutes under a local anaesthetic, a cost of 200 Euros ($265
USD) in a private operation at a public clinic, and women are ready to lose
their virginity again. In private clinics, however, the costs are higher.
According to gynaecologists, many women use the private medical settings for
their surgery escaping any possibility of their surgery being included in
informal statistics gathered and published by the Albanian media.

Of course as all operations go, this one also has side effects that should
not go unmentioned. “With this operation women are prone to infections and
inflammations of different kinds. During the sexual act, the haemorrhage can be
greater than normal and, in extreme cases, it can lead to the woman’s death,”
the gynaecologist explains.

Since the fall of Communism, the way young Albanians
relate to each other has undergone radical changes as it has moved toward
greater sexual freedom. Many sociologists have defined the phenomenon as a full
“sexual revolution.” It is not comparable to the Western model though as it is
devoid of Western based feminist features or left-wing political ideologies.

The current ‘so-called’ sexual revolution in Albania finds women today in
weaker socio-economic conditions compared to 20 years ago. In an Albanian
society that increasingly promotes values that are typically male and better
suited for power politics and economic capitalism, women are often completely
excluded from positions that include leadership or decision making.

According to the latest statistics most Albanians lose their virginity
around the age of 13, the lowest age surveyed among countries in the Balkans.
Additional data published by Albania’s Public Health Institute shows that most
youngsters live their sexuality naturally and without feeling any moral or
religious pressures from society.

This data however is in obvious contradiction with the ‘return to virginity’
trend. Vocal public opinions of young men filling the Albanian blogosphere with
statements about the ‘need for virginity’ seem to be inconsistent with the
public Albanian data on sexuality and society.

Blogosphere,
virginity and sexuality

“I’d never marry one of the girls I’ve had, I wouldn’t trust them,” said a
man who adds his comments on one of the numerous Albanian public forum threads
on the subject. While another man compares his relationship with a woman to be
similar to the one he has with his “brand-new” car, he compares the advantages
of virginity with buying a “new not used car.” Despite extreme and numerous
chauvinistic comments by young men, there are few women, or others in Albania,
who try to make people see the hypocrisy of the idea of a woman’s
‘re-virgination.’

Forum comments are mainly posted by very young people and feature a sexual
model where the man is traditionally less penalized by society, while the women
remain ‘vulnerable.’ “It is the same kind of vulnerability of some rural and
patriarchal societies that have not undergone industrialization and
urbanization,” explains Zyhdi Dervishi, university professor and author
of “Women in the Eye of the Storm,” a compendium that covers the history
of women in Albania.

The legacy of the
regime

Albania’s cultural legacy, still rooted in the country, has not provided
many positive contributions to women. The regime of former Stalinist dictator
Enver Hoxha, who was in office from 8 November, 1941 until his death on 11
April, 1985, has reinforced the most traditional aspects of Albanian society:
the sense of clan-family and sexuality bound by a sense of honor. This
distinction also given the idea of ‘chastity’ its own ‘political value’ in
Albania.

Virginity was, and still is, considered a moral value going hand-in-hand
with a clean political record. It is also still considered anything but
private. Often in numerous cases communities make decisions about the most
personal aspects of a relationship, instead of the couple themselves, who make
their own decisions.

“In the Balkans we have not had the same social development as in Western
Europe,” outlines Dervishi. “…In a way we can say that virginity holds more or
less the same value it did in 19th century Western Europe.”