Stana Cerovic

Stana Cerović (1936–August 1, 2016) was a Montenegrin sworn virgin in rural Montenegro. He was part of the practice that permitted Albanian and Montenegrin people who were assigned female at birth to take on the gender role of men. By the time of his death, he was known, incorrectly, as the last such virgin in the country.

Biography Stana Cerović was born in 1936 near Šavnik, Montenegro, as the daughter of Anda and Milivoj Cerović. He had four sisters and two brothers. Both brothers died in childhood, and Cerović promised his father that he would continue to look after the family and live as a man. He began dressing as a man, and only socialised with men. Cerović began to smoke when he was five, and worked in the fields on his father's farm at seven. At a young age his mother was resistant of the masculine qualities that Cerovic's father was reinforcing, and before Cerovic's oath was taken, his mother continuously tried to change his dressing, and the chores he carried out. including being taught to shoot by his father.

This was all part of becoming a sworn virgin, a traditional Balkan cultural institution whereby females would take on the role of men and remain unmarried and without children throughout their life. Over time, this practice became accepted, because it was not regarded as conflicting with any of the three major religions practised in the Balkan region; Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Although many sworn virgins were forced into the practice due to familial needs, or blood feuds, Cerović was proud of his masculine identity and believed that it was nature that was at fault for his biological sex. When Cerović was around 17 years old, The local authorities arranged for him to be moved to a care home in 2016 at a house in Risan for the elderly poor. It was reported by Montenegrin state television in early August 2016 that he had died. to be the last sworn virgin in Montenegro.