'We Are Here' Initiative: Applaud women's courage!

"You will never walk alone" (by Dilara Açıkgöz/csgorselarsiv.org)

Click to read the article in Turkish

After a group of women exposed the harassment and sexual assault of a number of prominent male literary figures in Turkey such as Hasan Ali Toptaş and Bora Abdo among many others, several women have followed suit, voicing the harassment, sexual assault and mobbing of other men in Turkey's literary world as well as from other professions.

The movement of the women has turned into a campaign titled "May you lose sleep," implying that the men who sexually assaulted women should worry about when their harassment would be revealed.

CLICK - 'Me too' movement in Turkey's literature: 'May they lose sleep'

Amid this recent "me too" movement in the country, "We Are Here" Initiative, founded by women photographers, has released a written statement and said, "We are the subjects of our own lives, we don't have to justify ourselves – Question the actions of the perpetrator, not the survivors."

The full statement of the initiative is as follows:

'We stand by our friends'

"We started to talk about our personal experiences with sexual violence under the roof of the #metoo movement. As women photographers, we condemn the statements that blame the survivors and whitewash the perpetrators. Once again, we stand by our friends who share their stories!

"We live in an unjust male dominated system that rigorously abandons women and non-binaries and tries to make us invisible by erasing us from our society and history.

"Being invisible means not being accepted as a subject and is a method that patriarchy consequently uses to silence opposing voices. We, with all our diversity and colors, stand up against male violence, because we've finally had enough! We are expanding our solidarity in order not to let the male dominated mentality feeding on rape culture any longer!

'Sexual violence linked to power relations'

"It has never been easy for women to talk about the violence they have experienced, because for centuries we have been raised with fear, trained to be silent and to be ashamed. We will not stay silent any longer, and the more we speak and reveal, the more you'll be ashamed of yourselves. The ones who need to be held accountable are the perpetrators, not the survivors!

"Sexual violence is linked to power relations and can happen anywhere. It can be used to humiliate, intimidate, frighten, punish, pressure, or dominate an individual. Sexual violence is also likely to be seen in any structure, relationship or environment that supports power relations and is constituted of hierarchy. The field of photography is not an exception!

"The perpetrator can be anyone; he can be a well-liked, well-connected photographer we all know and love and whose work we appreciate. The perpetrator's position in society can in no way justify violence and cannot be used to question the credibility of the survivor.

"We do not accept that any disclosures of abused women can be considered immoral in the public eye, as well as we do not accept that perpetrators continue to be acknowledged by an intellectual environment.

"Beyond the physical dimensions of sexual violence, we know that mobbing, harassment, and psychological terrorization are experienced widely and destructively. We also raise our voices against various forms of male violence conducted by male executives or our colleagues.

'Question the perpetrator!'

"It may take time for the traumatized person to fully understand the violence they experienced and to be able to name it. Every question directed to the survivor that starts with «Why?» drags us to justify the actions of the perpetrator – that is what we call 'rape culture'.

"Question the perpetrator, not the survivor; support the survivor's pursuit of justice, applaud her courage instead of making up excuses!

"It is our right to feel safe and to be safe in our work environments, in public space and every other environment we find ourselves in. We urge everyone to stand up for our rights and take responsibility in order to stop violence."

(EMK/SD)