27. Marked woman

On Christmas Day I walked up to Taksim. I had some time before meeting my dinner/drinking companion, so I wandered up and down Istiklal Street for awhile, then I went to sit on the railing in the little park in Taksim Square. It was dark and there was much activity, as you would expect on a Saturday night in central Istanbul, so I felt as I normally like to feel when I'm out in the city: anonymous, merging with the lights. I only sat on the railing for three minutes or so as it was greatly hurting my backside. I got up and started to walk towards the meeting place - the tram stop. As I got up, a young guy - he couldn't have been any more than university age - passed close to me, and half-breathed, half-crooned in honeyed tones into my ear (in English) "Who are you waiiiiiiting for?"

(The first thought that stormed through my head was, "How would you like me to rip off your **** and shove it down your throat?" If only I could have overcome my shock and rage in time, I really think I could have made him run. :)

Well, you wouldn't have thought I could be so conspicuous in the busiest part of a city of 15 million people, but there I was, a yabancı woman alone in a park, and this is marked in Turkey. I really love walking, but I don't do it much anymore. I have slowly become somewhat of a recluse and a hermit. I have periodic anxiety attacks. I don't understand why in my life I have to feel like a bug under a microscope.

This incident in itself is minor, but it comes on top of years of memories of old men throwing themselves half out of trucks and thrusting their tongues out, the gropes and 'rubbing ups' on the tram, the humiliation of trying to walk in a skirt past a group of watchful men in a windy city, the incessant interest in my tights, the men passing close enough to brush my body, the men trying to pin me against the wall at the bus stop in the morning, trying to force me to take up less space, the men stopping in their tracks, turning and staring - and walking on, stopping, turning and staring, the men staring out the bus windows, raising their eyebrows expectantly before they understand the meaning of my middle finger, the young men circling me in the shopping centres, the workers on campus looking and laughing and looking again with their mates in the cafeteria, that unblinking lizard look, all the sleaze and intrusion of this endless, endless staring, I am Truman in the fishbowl, I am marked.

15. A sensible approach...or just reverse gender discrimination?

'Purgatory' by D2 Photography, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

I have just read a rather disturbing article on the BBC News site.

In it, British Justice Secretary Jack Straw (an idiot, in my humble opinion) argues that male offenders should be punished 'more harshly', whereas female ones should be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the community. This is based on the very 'scientific' statement that 'male prisoners are very different to female ones.'

Uhhh, how?!

The article mentions that many women offend because of issues of low self-esteem and a lack of self-respect. I would argue that the exact same things can lead men to offend. Isn't that what Jackson Katz was arguing in Tough Guise? Certainly people with healthy self-esteem would not become child abusers, would they, whether male or female? The article mentions that since women are usually the primary caregivers, it would be wrong to incarcerate mothers. But don't children need the love and support of both parents? We should not assume that children do not suffer when their fathers are sent away. In the summer when I was in America, I watched a news programme about a charity that works with African-American children whose fathers are imprisoned. It was difficult to see the suffering that entailed.

One of the reasons for the explosive growth of the prison industry in the UK and especially in the USA is a lack of commitment to true rehabilitation and an overemphasis on (often mediaeval) forms of 'punishment'. So advocating support for one sex over the other just seems to be blatantly discriminatory; all offenders should be given the requisite support.

* By the way, if you're interested in these issues, I HIGHLY recommend the book Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor. Shocking and mind-blowing don't even begin to describe it...

14. Gender equality in Turkey? Not in our lifetime...

I thought I'd better post something, otherwise Beri might catch up with me and I'll have to buy him a Coke. :)

This week we've begun the transition from media to gender by examining the film Tough Guise. Many interesting points about gender have already arisen in our class discussions, and I'll blog more about these a bit later. But first, I thought you might be interested in some information on the status of women in Turkish society.

In the recent Global Gender Gap Report (2009), published by the World Economic Forum, Turkey was ranked 129 out of 134 countries surveyed - in other words, Turkey is at the bottom of the world league table when it comes to promoting and protecting women's rights. To make matters worse, its position has fallen over the years - it ranked 123 out of 130 in 2008, 121 out of 128 in 2007 and 105 out of 115 in 2006. As you can see, its position has changed only relative to the bottom. You can see the country profile by clicking on Turkey here. Can you guess which country was ranked first? Have a look at its country profile and compare.

The report looks at equality in terms of economic participation, education, health and political empowerment. You can read Gila Benmayor's opinion piece in the Hürriyet Daily News here. The HDN also lays claim to being "Turkey's most feminine newspaper."

Once you've had a look at the report, I hope you'll start trying to answer the obvious question: Why? I look forward to reading your analyses...