Vedrana Rudan is a Croatian writer of some renown both in Croatia and a number of countries formed after the breakdown of Yugoslavia. I remember seeing her books in Belgrade more than a decade ago. I have never read any of them, but swearing seems to be her claim to fame. To the best of my knowledge, she swears in public appearances, as well. In the Balkans, this amounts to a style, I guess. Not surprisingly, Rudan’s last book is dedicated to the subject: Why I Swear (2015). Wherever I go in central Zagreb, I see the book in the bookstore windows, where it usually takes a commanding place. Annoyed by the hullaballoo, I mumble under my breath whenever I spot her last masterpiece: “Who the fuck cares?” But I just came across one of her explanations in the online edition of a Croatian newspaper: swearing is supposed to be reserved only for men in the Balkans, and she is rebelling against the male-chauvinist bias. In short, she is a fucking feminist. Welcome to the Balkans!