What Women Think About Women-Only Beaches

There is still ongoing debates about women beach in Antalya opened last week. 

Women from Antalya Halkevi and Student Collectives form Akdeniz University will organize a demonstration on 24 August and women and men together will swim in the sea in Sarısu. 

Antalya Halkevi Branch Chairperson Ayten Ceyhan, stated the reason of the demonstration. “Lots of people from all over the work come to Antalya and swim in the sea. Nobody feels uncomfortable with that. We couldn’t understand why they needed a women beach. We worry about one more thing. They will separate public transport and we will separately-as women and men- travel in the city. Instead of separating women and men, my offer that they prevent violence against and rape of women due to dissuasive laws,” she said. 

Is women beach necessary or not? Is it a service for women who live in conservative environment and cannot go to the sea or is it a way of imposing conservatism? Does this situation gather women together or exclude them from the society? Is it the demand of women or enforcement of the government?

bianet asked women from different environments and occupational groups about their ideas.

“Covering body at mixed beaches, swimsuit at women beach”

Fatma Zehra Kucur (Student, Kocaeli): When there are men around us, we cannot swim in the sea. As you know, they feel as if they are free to stare at women and they do stare at us. That’s why, I think, we need women beaches. I’m searing headscarf and feel more comfortable. I go to the mixed beaches, but I cover my body. When I go to the women beach, I wear swimsuit.

“We would feel comfortable at a women beach”

Elif Çekiç (Cleaner, İstanbul): Sometimes I cover my body, sometimes not. For example, there is no women beach in Çınarcık, but a small place where women bath. However, it is a very bad place. That’s why, we prefer to go to the mixed beach. But if there are villagers around us, we cannot bath there because we are afraid of probable gossips about us. We go to the sea at the time when they don’t come. We sometimes wear swimsuit and sometimes swimsuits with short. It depends on presence of our acquaintances. So, we can comfortably bath if there is a women beach.

“Neighborhood pressure may appear”

Ayşe Devrim Başterzi (Psychiatrist, Mersin): I think that existence of a women beach as a public space is important for those who cannot comfortably go to the sea. But I’m also worried about the possibility that this place creates a neighborhood pressure and encourages all women to bath there. So, this new beach may create its own pressure later. This is a worrisome practice because opening beach with a ceremony and accompany of some parliamentarians this may be the forerunner conservative practices which put women in limited public spaces or create for them special spaces. For short-term, this practice enables some women to get involved in public spaces, but in long-term it forces many women to go there. It may again bring up the honorable-dishonorable woman dichotomy. 

“I would feel more comfortable”  

Zühre Gül (Cook, Antalya): I am OK to this kind of beaches. This way, women will feel more comfortable while sunbathing. I normally go to mix gender beaches, but I would feel more comfortable in a beach like that. Just like there are nude beaches in some countries, the idea of “women-only” beaches didn’t sound absurd to me. 

“Worrisome that decision was taken by authorities” 

Filiz Karakuş (Socialist Feminist Collective, İstanbul): It is worrisome that such decision are taken by conservative authorities. But it is also important to encourage women to have their own spaces. Anyway, it is still worrisome that women are put into prison and inspected under a rapidly growing conservative administration where flirting is discouraged and moral values are imposed. 

“If you want social policy, open beaches to the poor” 

Serpil Kemalbay (İmece Women Union, İstanbul): I regard this effort as a means of luring women into conservative policies rather a public service. It would be naive if we consider what AKP is doing as social policies, which is indeed a series policies that heighten walls between men and women. Another dimension of the issue is that if these beaches have excluded the poor by commercialization. If you want social policy, open beaches to the poor.

“In these hot days, I wouldn’t object a beach exclusively for women"

Nebahat Akkoç (KAMER founder, Diyarbakır): There is a lake called Hazar in Diyarbakır. People from other cities come there as well. Some places have seldomly their own pools. There women and men can swim together. However, such thing never happens in Lake Hazar. The same thing is for Lake Van. A woman swimming in a lake is something to protest. I think hundreds of women can’t have the chance to swim even in Antalya. If they are going to turn all beaches into gender segregated ones, we must oppose to it. However, this is only one beach. If women can swim in the water in these hot days, I wouldn’t object a beach exclusively for women.

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.