Young Women in Turkey – Is Feminism Rearing It’s Head in 2009?

I was traveling in Turkey reading Where The Girls Are by Susan Douglas, a book suggested by Al Stravitsky, head of the graduate program I am entering in the Fall at the University of Oregon.  Newsweek wrote the following review:

“What a pleasure it is to find Susan Douglas….Engagingly written, Where the Girls Are provides a first-rate analysis of the music, movies and TV imagery that helped shape female psyches.

Where the Girls Are is a book about a generation of women caught between two generations, that of their mothers and that of a new age of feminism. It is a journey through time when women were beginning to feel the rumblings of feminism and  wrestling with who they were. Were they destined to follow the path of their mothers or were they destined for a  new age of women, unleashed and free of constraints.

The young women of Turkey, especially those  from very observant families, seem restless.  Are they time bombs, as it was said to me, secretly learning about the world through their cell phones, their text messaging, the internet? Do they look at their mothers and long for a different life? Are the new technologies shaping the young, Turkish female psyches? Do they want to burn their scarves?

As I read each page of  Where the Girls Are I began to recall  my own life as part of the  baby boomer generation. Every paragraph was about connection, connection, connection. Yes, I remember the Beatles, , Yes, I thought I wanted a life different from my mother’s and my grandmother’s  before her, Yes, I had grown up with a certain set of rules and yes  I felt conflicted between what I knew and the possibilities that that the media were dangling in front of me.  Thank you, Susan Douglas for giving me a clearer perspective of not only how our daughters are manipulated by the media today, but how we, as young women of the 60’s and 70’s, were blindly manipulated by the media. The magazines, the fashion models and the new feminist role models emerging, wreaked havoc in our lives.

Once I got passed being absorbed in my own revisionist history, I awakened to the realities of the women, as I observed them, in Turkey.

The more I read the more the words began weaving back and forth through what I was seeing. And as the weaving took form, I began to see a very different picture of generations of Turkish women. I tried to observe without judgment,  but just by taking the photos I was  making a judgment.

I wanted to talk to these young women and ask how they felt about their own lives and the world they lived in, but as one of the University students in Turkey later wrote to me,

“the observant youth would not be able to talk to you about the issues of the world because some of them I know, and in general, they are suppressed by their families and by the closed society they live in. They don’t get the proper education so they don’t watch the news or read the newspaper or even read anything.”

And yet – look at the cell phones they carry. and the bright colors they wear..

While visiting the Mevlana Museum in Konya to learn about the sect known as the Whirling Dervishes, we were surrounded by a sea of scarves!

One woman in particular caught my eye – the Lady in Red

She had my attention long before this photo was taken. She was not in any way submissive, She was covered from head to toe, but flamboyantly and very stylish. The color red was her message, she was in charge and she  was poised to have her way. She had her own camera and was directing her family photos. While the the family was posing for someone else, I quietly stayed in the background and and captured that moment on film.  Her expression, coquettish, her clothes, daring and  her posture, defiant. I, too, love red.

Will the daughters of  the women in these photos be content?

Are these young women unhappy, or  are they wrestling with their  discontent?



The Elections in Iran

As I write about  the women of Turkey, I am following the elections in Iran and reading Childen of Jihad, by Jared Cohen. I am listening to and watching the discontent of the youth and especially that of the women in Iran. Cohen describes articulately and in depth what Generation Connex is discovering. Youth wanting to connect to youth outside of their own world .

Are the seeds of change happening in Turkey as they are in Iran?

Thoughts….by Trudi Morrison, founder

*My Disclaimer:  In the photos I have taken, I have captured a moment but not necessarily the truth. They are a mystery. They are an art form, they tell whatever story you see, whatever personal experience you and I bring to the photo.

A THANK YOU TO OUR OVERNIGHT HOST FAMILY IN BEYSEHIR!!

Thank you Hasan, Ibrahim, Nuroly, Emine, Opuzhan (not in Photo)  and Hasan Arda( youngest son),  who welcomed us with open arms, wonderful food and multi-language conversations. Your warmth and graciousness will forever be embedded in my heart.

To Opuzhan, I welcome you and your school to the Generation Connect community.  I am sorry I missed taking your photo but as you are a 16 year old, I understand your desire to sleep in on Sunday morning.

A word or two about Thoughts….

I am neither a writer nor a photographer. I am just trying to share my experiences.

A word or two about my photos

In the photos I have taken, I have captured a moment but not necessarily the truth. They are a mystery. They are an art form, they tell whatever story you see, whatever personal experience you bring to the photo.

For me there are two stories: The story that attracted me to take the photo, the innocent, often spontaneous action and the story where I became part of the experience, the emotional response.

Please feel free to send in the story you see in any of the photos. There are always many stories to tell and I welcome them.

For me there are two stories: The story that attracted me to take the photo, the innocent, often spontaneous action and the story where I became part of the experience, the emotional response.

Why did I take this photo? I asked, as always, very politely, “May I take your photo”? I gestured with my camera and I gestured with my hand sweeping from my heart to the young woman with her baby. She appeared youthfully dressed in an old world style. I loved her mix of colors and patterns. The baby was beautiful as he dangled from her chest in his baby harness. She and her baby were festively dressed. That is what attracted me to take the photo.

Why does this experience haunt me? I looked at the photo at a later time while still traveling in Turkey and I realized that it wasn’t the photo that was haunting me. It was and is the experience that haunted me then, and it haunts me now. She seems totally disconnected to me, to the baby and to the world. It is as if I had taken the photo without her knowing it

It is polite to ask permission to take a photo of children and of families. All of the other times I had gestured and asked, “ May I take your photo?” I was welcomed with a returned gesture, a nod of the head and a look of pride that translated to the picture. It was always a momentary exchange, a momentary connection, a warm response.

This time was different. This time, I was met with what I thought was the shyness of a much younger mother. She didn’t seem to be able to look me in the eye; she swayed a bit on her feet, she looked away from the camera.

I thought she didn’t understand. But it was I who didn’t understand.

Trapped in the moment, concerned that my request was inappropriate, I was waiting for some sign; a nod, a smile, a welcome gesture, a dismissive gesture,  I was waiting for any response to relieve me of the awkwardness.  Suddenly, I was startled by the voice of the much older man leaning against the tree. With a gesture and a few gruff words in Turkish, it was clear he was ordering her to pose for the photo.

I quickly took the photo and with my usual gesture of opening my hands from my heart to say thank you, I turned to leave. As I was walking away,  I heard the gruff voice, again ordering her, and she suddenly  turned and stopped me with her hand out for money. My first thought was that her hand seemed to be dirty, in direct contrast to her appearance. In retrospect, I believe it was covered with a henna dye, which is sometimes customary in Turkey. I took the coins from my hand and placed them in her hand and anxiously walked away.

Why did this photo haunt me  for weeks after I took it. I had taken many photos of families and children, mothers and babies. Why was this photo different?

Looking back on the experience in the photo, I began to remember that this young woman was indeed very young. She did not touch her baby, she did not look at her baby. There seemed to be no connection, no look of pride. Was it her baby? was the question that emerged for me.

What was her expression? If not a look of pride, was it an expression of acceptance of her place in life? Was it disdain for the older man ordering her to do his bidding? It will remain a mystery, open to interpretation, open to your interpretation and to mine.

What I now experience in this photo is my impression of the oppressiveness of women in Turkey and throughout the world. Women, feeling unable to break a cycle, and a history of submissiveness. The look I feel from this young woman is one of anger, of defiance of the life she is trapped in and contempt for the man leaning against the tree, and for the woman, who is free, snapping her photo. I began to feel that I had not given her the respect she deserved, that I was mocking her in a sense. I gave her money that she was then forced to give to the gruff, uncaring man. Was he her father, her husband, her keeper?

I was drawn to her attractiveness and I ended up exploiting her and contributing to the world she is trapped in. I deserved the contempt I felt, as does the rest of the world for continuing to allow young women to be exploited, a world where women in many countries do not have the freedoms to choose. It is happening in Turkey and in other countries where we expect it to happen, but it is also happening in America, a country where women do have the freedom to choose.

Sometimes I feel helpless and sometimes I feel hopeful and sometimes I feel both. Most of the time I feel grateful for the freedoms I have.

I appear from nowhere and ask the magic question, Do you speak English? Youth come alive eager to communicate in English, in Turkish translated by their friends, in sign language or Turk-English if necessary. They are excited to speak, they are excited to be heard and they are appreciative to have someone listen and respect what they say.

Today we arrived at the Urfa Airport to fly to Istanbul. I spy University students in line at the check in counter and once again leap at the opportunity. Do you speak English? A little – responds a surprised young man in the red T-shirt. The young woman near him says, yes but we are all very tired. They have just finished a swim competition and they won.

We continue to talk briefly. They are from Istanbul and they are all around 20 years old. We note that we are on the same plane and as I am walking away I say that if they have any questions for me about America, to please come ask me. I starting walking to the gate and the next thing I knew, my friend in the red T-shirt came up to me and invited me to join his group of friends sitting together in the lobby. Three of the young women had been cultural exchange students in Texas, Michigan and Illinois when they were in High School. I am honored and I am appreciative to be invited into their world.

I say to them, the future of the world is in your hands, the youth of the world, your generation! They wrap their arms around the responsibility and run with it. They are warm, bright, funny, welcoming, appreciative and eager to share their opinions.

Here are the thoughts of some of the students:

Some believe that America is not good for their country. They do not like the politics. They believe that President Obama is the face of change but one leader cannot change the world. My new friend in the red T-shirt thinks that President Obama believes that he is more important than he is. We clarify that to mean that President Obama wants to make changes in the world but the world is very complicated and he is only one leader in a world of many leaders.

They wanted to know if I knew of Ataturk, their revered leader who made reforms in Turkey in the 1920’s that still exist today. It was expressed that they will wait and see if President Obama will succeed in making change, but they stated emphatically that if Ataturk came to America, there would be change.

I asked what they thought of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and they said that they thought that Israel was a Little America and that the Palestinians were poor and nobody takes care of them, not even the Arab world.

When I asked them if they feared that what happened in Iran could happen in Turkey, they said no because “we will not let it happen”.

I have only connected with primarily conservative Muslim and Christian  youth, I hope to have the opportunity to connect with the more observant Muslim youth. That is going to be more difficult, but I believe important in order to have a balanced understanding of Turkish youth in today’s world.

The students I met want to continue the conversation I look forward to hearing their comments in replies on the blog.

Thank you Yavuz, Ekin, Nisan, Yavuz, Barany, Ozlem, Meric, Engin, Mutluerkan and your friends for sharing your lives. I welcome you to Generation Connect!

Peace, Harmony and Good Wishes to you all!

Continuing the Conversation This is a wonderful exchange  with one of the youth I met in Turkey recently. I kept it as-is so that you can see it:
Hello Trudi,
This is Ekin ,one of the students you met in Urfa airport. I am really glad to have met you. What you do for Generation Connect is amazing! I personally thank you so much for caring about our thoughts and listening to us.

I did not understand the part in the blog where you said  “I have only connected with primarily conservative Muslim youth, I hope to have the opportunity to connect with the more observant Muslim youth.”  Because I think our group is one of the student groups in which religion is in the third even in the fourth place in our lives. I remember stating that we go to Bogazici University which is one of the best schools in Turkey. If you are informed we have to take an exam to be accepted to a college like SAT but a much harder one since the competition is so great and the schools are too few. So the students who get accepted to the University we go are the ones to take this exam and get any place  in the first thousand of a million people. I never claim that having been taken this exam and getting a great place makes the students better in thoughts and views but there is a great possibility that most of the students have the opportunity to observe and criticize in a way more educated way. I do actually make judgements about the system since it make the opportunity-lacking students not get any proper education. I don’t want to make you think the education is so horrible in Turkey. It is indeed great for the most part. Well I found a way to compare the high school education in USA and in Turkey. The high school I went to I was seen as “a nerd who never studies” because it was too easy for me. So we go back to the subject of competition. It makes people
study harder so the life standards gets bitter in Turkey.

I again thank you for your attention. Talk to you soon.
Ekin
—-
Dear Ekin,

Thank you so much for writing back!  While still in Turkey, I emailed all of you and I originally sent you the blog I wrote before I put it on the website. I wanted approval and corrections from you first so I didn’t misrepresent you. My emails within Turkey must have been blocked, as I didn’t hear from you.

What I meant by conservative was that religion was not the central part of your lives and that I wanted to also talk to youth who’s religion is the central, most important part of their families. What terms should I use to describe you versus those young people of Turkey? I would appreciate it if you would correct what I wrote.  I would also like your permission to add your email to the comments section on the website.

I just returned home on Wednesday night and have not had the opportunity to write about my experiences in Turkey, especially with youth. I will try to finish this weekend.

I know you are in the middle of finals for the next two weeks. When you are finished I would like to invite you and your friends to become part of Generation Connect as representatives of youth in Turkey. I am reorganizing now and will keep you informed.

Meeting you, your friends and other youth were the highlights of Turkey. You have a very beautiful and very interesting country.

Thank you again. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you.
——
Hello Trudi,
I think I got it the way around but now I can see why. Thank you though for explanation. So what I was trying to tell you is that the observant youth would not be able to talk to you about the issues of the world because some of them I know and in general they are supressed by their families and by the closed society they live in. They don’t get the proper education so they don’t watch the news or read the newspaper or even read anything. If they make comments on anything they just tell you what they hear from the family leader or a leader they see as an icon or a trustful person who maybe just a figure for them but nobody else educated. You can of course put my commentary on the blog but I think I was just mistaken
by the structure of the sentence that you said “conservative and observant”.
Well how did you like Izmir my hometown?
Take care
—–
Hi Ekin –

Thank you for the explanation.  I began to understand that I would not be able to talk to the very religious youth. Your emails are going to be great on the blog. Can you think of a better way to describe your group, a word or phrase other than “conservative”?  Well educated, muslim and Christian youth versus very observant Islamic youth, perhaps?
—–
Trudi,
Well we read and learn about the religions in a more objective way. well Most of us dont I do accept that I am one of the few. Here is another thing I have a lot of relative who are indeed religious but this not an obstacle for me to stop learning about the human discoveries one of which is religion. I claim that we have the opportunity and guts(!) to think and talk freer than the people who are under pressure. I dont really know how we can refer to us and them. You can just leave it like this. It wouldn’t hurt:)

Today, May 14th is my daughter’s 26th birthday. Lauren is in a master’s program in Jerusalem and the Israeli / Palestinian Project Coordinator for Generation Connex. Today’s visit to a Shrine in Istanbul was especially meaningful because it is her birthday.

The Shrine we visited is a place for celebrations. With these celebrations it is traditional to give out candy. The saying that goes with this ritual is ” Let us eat sweets – then we will speak sweetly.”

This was my wish to my daughter on her birthday and to all those around me. It is such a lovely way to think about life.

Happy Birthday Lauren – I love you.

May, 7, 2009
What is planned on a trip is interesting. What happens on the journey is what makes it memorable. For my first days I have been fortunate to connect with the people of Turkey in small, but personal ways, ways that continue to make me smile and warm my heart.The world is filled with connections. We just need to extend the olive branch and reap  new friendships.

As we met our group at the airport after very long flights from the West Coast of the United States., we were  boarding yet another plane to travel to our first destination, Gaziantep. The man next to me on the plane spoke no English, I spoke no Turkish but we tried to communicate in our own awkward way. I then read my book and he tried to sleep. All around me tired people, including my husband, Dick, were trying to grab a little sleep to make it through the crowded ride to our final destination of our first day. Everyone that is, except for the small, unhappy child with the very caring parents sitting right behind me

As those who know me well, I wear a harmony ball representing earth around my neck. It brings me a sense of peace and harmony in my life . When I am feeling happy or stressed or chaotic, I bring it close to my ear to listen to the chimes and I feel calmed and centered. Each young adult who has become part of Generation Connex Movement has been given a harmony ball with the vision that one day youth will ring their chimes in harmony in every country of the world  at the same, precise moment. The chimes heard around the world for peace, harmony and good wishes for all.

I listened to the crying child, the struggling parents and the rustling of the tired people near me. I took my harmony ball off and began to distract the baby behind me with the sound of the chimes. As my hand tired from holding it behind my head, I handed it to the parents to continue to use it. The baby quieted, the people slept and I read through the flight. As we were nearing the time of arrival, I began to wonder if I was going to be able to retrieve my necklace. And just as I had that thought, I heard the baby cry followed by the sound of the chimes and I knew I was not going to take the harmony ball home with me. It would be a gift, a gift to Amani, the baby I will forever be connected to. The last image etched in my memory is of the parents placing the necklace around the neck of their beautiful child and the warmth of their smiles.

Always expect the unexpected. As we departed for the ancient city of Antakya, or Antioch, I realized I had forgotten  my camera and my tape recorder.

After visiting the second largest mosaic museum in the world we went to a great Turkish restaurant that was packed with local residents having lunch. As our lunch courses began to arrive, a group of students from a nearby high school swarmed in and filled two tables. I could barely keep my attention on the conversations around me as I waited to leap out of my seat to the tables being filled by the young Turkish students. (more…)

I have barely been home for two weeks from Israel and I am off again to Turkey for a three-week journey around much of the country, by land and by sea.

It is that ten-hour time difference I am thinking of at the moment. However, that thought fades away as I receive word from our guide on where to go in Istanbul, before we meet up with our tour, to talk to teenagers and continue the conversation that began with American, Israeli and Palestinian youth in April. Apparently, Ortakoy Square  and Istiklai Street by Taksim Square is where Turkish youth hang out or populate the area and most of them speak English.  Erol, our guide, has consented to help me with translations in the more rural areas of Turkey when he is able.

Thank you Erol!

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