Earlier, I noted the passing of Stana Cerović, one of the last recognized members of the South Slavs’ ancient trans-male / third-gender category, and described how even before Stana’s death, younger transgender people in the Balkans have come to be treated as a new phenomenon, severed from historicity and often attacked. Today, let's look at one of those “new” trans people, “Major Helena” — forty-something activist Helena Vuković, who is well-known in the Balkans but little-noticed in English-language media.
Like many trans women, Helena long knew she was not a man.1,2 As a child, she grew her hair long to curl it, and put on feminine clothes when no one was around.1 At 13, she found a copy of the book Šta treba znati o polnom životu (“What one needs to know about sexual life”), which helped her realize she was transgender.2 However, again like many trans people, she found herself in a hostile culture that expected her to be nothing but masculine.2 In an effort to conform, she married young and joined the Serbian military, rising to the rank of major: “uniforma je trebalo da ubije Helenu,” she said: the uniform was supposed to kill “Helena”.2,3 It couldn’t.
