“The women communicating with strange men should speak in a manner that will not arouse suspicion in one’s heart and in such seriousness and dignity that they will not let the opposite party misunderstand them, that they should not show their ornaments and figure and that they should cover in a fine manner; and that these are the orders. His highness the Prophet Mohammed did not think kindly of women who put on perfumes outside their homes and go strolling and saw this as immoral behavior.”
“Male violence is legitimized”
We asked women about the speech of the Director of the Religious Affairs regarding the woman, sexuality and “morality”…
Kızbeş Aydın, the head of Çiğle Evka2 Women’s Culture House Association:
“The Director of the Religious Affairs is not an institution authorized to give opinions on matters involving religious affairs. Therefore, I do not find these explanations appropriate. These explanations work directly towards deepening the sexual inequality and they become part of the discrimination directed at women.”
“These explanations provide the groundwork for the violence against women, they legitimize it, and they justify the implementation of violence with excuses such as “she has perfume” or “she dressed up provocatively”.
“Both men and women take into consideration”
Zozan Özgökçe from Van Women’s Association:
“These kinds of explanations are obstacles, preventing things from changing. Both men and women take into consideration what the Director of the Religious Affairs say. Yesterday 81 müftis, religious officials knowledgeable in Muslim law, met in Van in eastern Turkey. Their words are taken very seriously. Therefore, they need to be about universal stuff. Unfortunately, the men are one of the factors that we are backward. In Van a woman had gotten a divorce, but his husband was not divorcing her through religious procedure. We went to a mufti and he said how he could interfere in someone else’s chastity, that is, sexual morality [and one’s honor in most cases]. Some people see muftis as solution providers.”
“You know men give their seats to women in the buses. In Van, the women do not sit on these seats right a way, waiting for man’s warmth on the seat to go away. This is certainly scary. This has nothing to do with humanity, nor religion. In Van, we come across comments like ‘let us go ask Müfti’ a lot.”
“Neighborhood pressure is increasing”
Ayşegül Kanat, a feminist from Adana:
“There should be such an institution as the Director of the Religious Affairs, but if Turkey is defined as a mosaic [of different cultures] then all the religions must be represented in this institution; the atheist as well.”
“These explanations are very dangerous. People start seeing them as scientifically proven information and they create pressure on us [the women]. The Religious Affairs is at a very influential position. Their comments are accepted without discussions and this increases the neighborhood pressure.”(NZ/GG/TB)
