Gendered Identities
Criticizing Patriarchy in Turkey
Contributions by Canan Aslan Akman, Verda Irtis, Gökçe Bayindir Goularas, Nahide Konak, Burçak Cürül, Tolga Yalur, Serap Durusoy Edited by Fazilet Ahu Özmen, Rasim Özgür Dönmez
Publication date:
16 May 2013Length of book:
204 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
241x160mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739175620
This study is an effort to reveal how patriarchy is embedded in different societal and state structures, including the economy, juvenile penal justice system, popular culture, economic sphere, ethnic minorities, and social movements in Turkey. All the articles share the common ground that the political and economic sphere, societal values, and culture produce conservatism regenerate patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity in both society and the state sphere. This situation imprisons women within their houses and makes non-heterosexuals invisible in the public sphere, thereby preserving the hegemony of men in the public sphere by which this male-dominated mentality or namely hegemonic masculinity excludes all forms of others and tries to preserve hierarchical structures. In this regard, the citizenship and the gender regime bound to each other function as an exclusion mechanism that prevents tolerance and pluralism in society and the political sphere.
It is good news that factors which undermine the status, identity, well-being, personal security, and rights and liberties of women in Turkey are being discussed more and more in terms of competing and multiple realities and repressions. However, Gendered Identities: Criticizing Patriarchy in Turkey is one of the most compelling volumes published in recent years addressing the most prominent factor responsible for this general problematic— patriarchy. The collection’s deconstruction and analysis of patriarchy and its potent influence on democratization, civil rights, economics, the justice system, and women's struggles against violence is a must read for all of us working on Turkey in interdisciplinary areas. It is an indispensable work for anyone wanting to understand the depths and nuances of the often-under-analyzed yet powerful force of patriarchy in Turkish studies.