“Manhood” crushes man the most!
TAYFUN ATAY
This article is the product of a “manly” position which views masculinity as a problem not only for women, but also (even more so) for men. Although it shares the basically feminist assertion that masculinity is a practice of power that involves inequality towards and oppression of woman, it never the less deals with this question of masculine power in relation to man.
Men, as much as women, suffer from patriarchy and feel the burden of masculine identity deeply and most painfully. In order to uphold this idea, the article calls attention to personal reflections on becoming man, by drawing upon the narratives of some writers and scholars as well as the experiences of the author himself. These are contextualized on the basis of the very principle of “the personal is political”.
Throughout the text, emphasis is placed both on the “historical” nature of patriarchy (meaning, it is not eternal in the past and not eternal in the future) and on the cultural relativity of “hegemonic” masculinity (meaning, it does not appear as such everywhere and every time), by applying the evidence coming out of the anthropo-archaeological findings and ethnographic (cross-cultural) researches. All in all, the article aims to convince and warn the reader that every step taken on such an “hegemonic” way of “becoming man” results in falling away from “being human”.
The hidden face of “hegemonic” masculinity: Thoughts on the formation and crises of masculinities in the socialization process
HİLAL ONUR – BERRİN KOYUNCU
This study aims at exploring the hidden face of “hegemonic” masculinity by focusing on the socialization process that is believed to play a crucial role in the construction of masculinity and on the homosocial structures that support and legitimize that construction. By doing so, this study tries to reveal the universality of the construction of masculinities in the socialization process and its legitimization through the homosocial structures. In relation to this attempt, this study also includes an analysis of the crisis in masculinity that refers to the erosion in the central tenets upon which masculinity is based and comes out as a result of the changes in the global economic restructuring and the developing gay and women’s movements. In this paper, it is argued that analysing the construction of masculinities in the socialization process and revealing their crises and risks will help us to rethink about the stereotype masculinities and will open new vistas for men to adopt critical view on the socialization process and homosocial structures when reconstructing their masculinities at the individual and institutional level.
Pursuing the hegemonic masculinity
KURTULUŞ CENGİZ - UĞRAŞ ULAŞ TOL – ÖNDER KÜÇÜKURAL
This article tries to discuss the conditions and main characteristics of hegemonic masculinity in Turkey on several data including observations, focus and discussion group meetings and deep interwiews which are realized as the preliminary works of a research project entitled “Masculinity in the Axis of Household and Market” (The research project is being directed by professor Serpil Sancar and financed by TÜBİTAK). The interwiews are conducted mostly with young people (18-30 ages) and concentrated on the appropriation of the hegemonic masculine identities by stressing the gap between the hegemonic masculinity narrative and the experienced masculinity. The hegemonic masculinity is discussed with its attributed features such as hard working, independence, toughness, endurance, determinance, success and power in the axes of labor market and household. In this context, bread winning, being a household head or a father, being the working member of the family outside home are to be discussed as the major dimensions of masculinity. In fact, the article desires to underline the legitimization and normalization processes of the masculinity within the ideological sphere and power relations in the axis of two separated life worlds: household and the market. We argue that these two domains function as the main determinants in the production of docile and productive masculine bodies for the requirements of the market.
The “Barred One” Manifesto
BÜLENT SOMAY
The “Barred One” Manifesto is in itself a reference and an alternative to Luce Irigaray’s “Not One”, proposing a Hegelian Aufhebung to the question of gender, rather than Irigaray’s mere exclusion. It consists of eleven theses with argumentative addenda, starting with the proposition that, “The history of humanity is the history of the gradual separation of the sexual act from the reproductive act, or, in other words, of desire from instinct,” and leading to the tentative hypothesis that what we call “male sexuality” is a hindrance to this gradual separation, whereas what we call “female sexuality” actually quickens and enhances it. The inescapable conclusion (starting from that hypothesis) is that the real Aufhebung lies in the subversion of male sexuality, which leads to the crossing out or “barring” the phallic signifier (the 1), and an affirmation of female sexuality regardless of biological sex, which joins everyone in the identification with and desire of women, making everyone lesbians.
The construction of Islamist masculinity
HİDAYET ŞEFKATLİ TUKSAL
This article is an attempt at understanding the relationship between the fundamental texts of the religion and the masculine mentalities of those men who were reared through the common socialization processes and rituals in Turkey in their youth in the 1970s and 1980s. It focuses solely on Turkish men in the last 20-30 years of a tradition that has persisted over 1400 years. It is well known that in the 1990s Islamism in Turkey evolved into a new process, becoming integrated to the secular system to a significant degree, and largely liberalized. However, it is also evident that the mentality background in terms of the constructions of masculinity and femininity has been preserved, and that a powerful resistance to change has been felt on this issue. Hence, this article aims to find a way to understand today’s conservative democrats, who still cling to the “Islamist” codes despite the fact that they have largely altered their political stance. It describes the probable masculinity constructions facing those Islamist men who have complied with the call of “Back to the Quran” trying to grapple with the Revelation and texts strictly related with it.
Masculinity at home!
CENK ÖZBAY – İLKAY BALİÇ
It can easily be observed in the daily usages of masculinity that it is in a contemporary crisis. Although it may be grasped as ephemeral and superficial at the first glance, such a state of crisis might mean competing demands, resistance, and continuous negotiations not only related with how men appear physically, but also with the very gender/power/knowledge system they embedded. One of the basic aims of this essay is to translate some fundamental arguments on multiple masculinities into Turkish social science audience as well as to demonstrate that home is also a crucial side like the public sphere (traditionally manhood is imagined with) where such ideas on masculinities and embodied selves of men are reproduced, navigated, and challenged.
Even a quick scrutiny of famous and well-sold readers on masculinity can reveal how each topic possible to conceive on men’s lives is elaborated with theoretical profundity and empiric richness, while all related articles and books treat as if men do not have homes to live in. We simply read this relative silence and unasked questions as departures for further examination about how men live at home, how they interact with other household members, who set the rules about what should and what should not be done by men at home, at where the acceptable boundaries of hegemonic masculinity drawn at home, how such boundaries be redrawn and blurred, what is the role of home as a space in reproduction and transmogrification of masculinities, and so forth. Our essential claim here is that despite the endless representation of the division between public/men versus private/women dichotomy, we should be aware of masculinities need to be elaborated at home, too. It is highly relevant especially with regard to current debates on reconstructing classical values of nuclear family, men’s increasing emotional roles/expectations within it, and upper-middle class fathers’ search to create social as well as spatial position for themselves to comfort with such values at stake.
Even a quick scrutiny of famous and well-sold readers on masculinity can reveal how each topic possible to conceive on men’s lives is elaborated with theoretical profundity and empiric richness, while all related articles and books treat as if men do not have homes to live in. We simply read this relative silence and unasked questions as departures for further examination about how men live at home, how they interact with other household members, who set the rules about what should and what should not be done by men at home, at where the acceptable boundaries of hegemonic masculinity drawn at home, how such boundaries be redrawn and blurred, what is the role of home as a space in reproduction and transmogrification of masculinities, and so forth. Our essential claim here is that despite the endless representation of the division between public/men versus private/women dichotomy, we should be aware of masculinities need to be elaborated at home, too. It is highly relevant especially with regard to current debates on reconstructing classical values of nuclear family, men’s increasing emotional roles/expectations within it, and upper-middle class fathers’ search to create social as well as spatial position for themselves to comfort with such values at stake.
The image of man in the Turkish poetry
YÜCEL KAYIRAN
Researching into the image of man in the Turkish poetry implies plunging into a problematic area. This question requires taking into account the criticisms developed by the feminist standpoint on the one hand, and doing justice to the image of man that lies beyond the limits of those criticisms on the other. The Turkish poetics is one based on masculine domination and expressing gender discrimination. The images in the spiritual realm of poetry signifying the divergent statuses of men and women in the society originally stems from the Latin poetry rather than the ancient Greek poetry. The image of man in the ancient Greek poetry has the mythological and fatalist character rather than reality. The image of man in the Turkish poetry in the Republican era is more akin to that of the Latin poetry than that of the ancient Greek poetry. In the Turkish poetry in the Republican era the image of man appears to constitute two intermediary lines: the image of man as a savior/revolutionary/Republican subject; and that of depressive mood in relation to passion. The first image had a powerful perception of selfhood in the early 20th century, whereas this selfhood seems to dissolve by the end of the century. This might be described as the transformation of the transcendental into the individual. The second image represents the gloomy mood of the passionate man resulting from the fact that he has not been able to experience love.
Power, technology and masculinity
EROL MARAL
This article is an attempt to explore the relations between the concepts of power, technology and masculinity. Its framework is based on the argument that technology and gender are socially constructed concepts and they become intertwined with relations of power during that construction process. My main argument is, contrary to a common belief, technology cannot solve social problems, power relations and inequalities on its own, for it is not independent of the social forces and circumstances that shape it. As part of the process in question, technology and masculinity, which can be broadly defined as male gender identity, become interrelated during the same process.
The relation between technology and masculinity, and its aspect of power is considered not as a one-way relation, examined as concepts that affect, shape and reproduce each other continuously. Foucault’s understanding of “power”, Gramsci’s concept of “hegemony”, the feminist literature on gender, social construction of technology theories and Connell’s theory of “hegemonic masculinity” are the main sources used in creating my approach to the subject. Using these resources, my aim is to draw attention to the relation between masculinity and technology as a first step to question its existence.
The relation between technology and masculinity, and its aspect of power is considered not as a one-way relation, examined as concepts that affect, shape and reproduce each other continuously. Foucault’s understanding of “power”, Gramsci’s concept of “hegemony”, the feminist literature on gender, social construction of technology theories and Connell’s theory of “hegemonic masculinity” are the main sources used in creating my approach to the subject. Using these resources, my aim is to draw attention to the relation between masculinity and technology as a first step to question its existence.
The rise of “men’s films” in contemporary Turkish cinema: Masculinity in crisis
NEJAT ULUSAY
Since the mid-1990s, Turkish cinema has seen the rise of “men’s films”. Although it is unusual to typify films as “men’s pictures”, this categorization is used for the purposes of this essay, for the films explored feature leading male characters and stories revolving around these figures. With regard to these films, this paper examines the ways in which male identities are constructed and represented through failing characters embodying the features of a gender identity crisis. Turkish “men’s films”, some of which have had remarkable box-office results, arguably follow the patterns of “buddy films”, a sub-category of Hollywood action/adventure genre. Generally speaking, in the majority of domestic “buddy films” the narrative focuses on the relationship between a (real or symbolic) father and a son; and the masculinity crisis is depicted through the crisis of fatherhood. One of the most striking aspects of contemporary Turkish “men’s films” is the representation of women. The major role attributed to the female figures of these films is prostitution; and female characters usually betray their lovers and husbands. Also, these films show male chauvinism and feature an excessive use of dirty language. The rise of “men’s films” in contemporary Turkish cinema can be understood by taking the cirisis in Turkish society into account; and it can be argued that these films can be considered as partly a respond to another trend, the rise of “women’s pictures” in the previous decade, the 1980s.
“You lost it Tahsin, long years ago”: Masculine fantasies in Yeşilçam
TÜMAY ARSLAN
The relation Slavoj ˇZiˇzek contemplates between cinema and social reality is remarkably different from one of reflection or construction. This is because he reckons cinema as a fantasy screen, a space of social fantasy, which, in turn, has to do with the fact that he invokes a psychoanalytical theory of ideology, distinguished by its emphasis on what goes “beyond interpellation.” According to ˇZiˇzek, the dimension “beyond interpellation” comes into existence simply because both subject and object are divided by a deep antagonism. As he puts it, there always remains a leftover/surplus from the mechanisms of symbolic and imaginary identifications. Which means both subject and society (object) are bound to fail to achieve completeness. It is this failure, par excellence, which makes room for fantasy. Paradoxically, what is leftover from the ideological meaning is the last support of ideology and it is this pre-ideological kernel of enjoyment social-ideological fantasy implies, manipulates and produces. To be brief, fantasy, according to ˇZiˇzek, is an inalienable component of ideology. Accordingly, ˇZiˇzek argues that the criticism of ideology must follow two complimentary procedures. The discursive, symptomatic reading of ideological text has to concur with “traversing”, “going through” the social fantasy which supports ideology.
Yeşilçam’s masculine fantasies, which were quite popular in 1970s, show exactly how masculine ideology operates through the pre-ideological kernel of enjoyment. As a symptom of social crisis, these fantasies point to the attempt to overcome social, political and sexual antagonisms by virtue of identifying the “invisible” Master as the embodiment of all the antagonisms, of social impossibility in other words. The identification of the “invisible” Master as the embodiment of all the antagonisms serves to conceal the fact that the impossibility of society is inherent. Disavowing the immanence of the impossibility of society, fantasy invents a positive cause for the incompleteness in question. It produces the illusion that the full completeness of society may be achieved through the annihilation of the “invisible” Master. Masculine fantasies draw their strength from the following: first, the fantasmatic construction of sacrificed jouissance or jouissance “stolen”, and second, the Law and its obscene supplement. Films analyzed in this essay have revealed that there are two main discourses constructing masculinity in Turkey. Both are deeply rooted in self-crisis. While first is the discourse of the neurotic and the pervert, which is based on the radical repression of sexual difference, second is the discourse of the repressed.
Yeşilçam’s masculine fantasies, which were quite popular in 1970s, show exactly how masculine ideology operates through the pre-ideological kernel of enjoyment. As a symptom of social crisis, these fantasies point to the attempt to overcome social, political and sexual antagonisms by virtue of identifying the “invisible” Master as the embodiment of all the antagonisms, of social impossibility in other words. The identification of the “invisible” Master as the embodiment of all the antagonisms serves to conceal the fact that the impossibility of society is inherent. Disavowing the immanence of the impossibility of society, fantasy invents a positive cause for the incompleteness in question. It produces the illusion that the full completeness of society may be achieved through the annihilation of the “invisible” Master. Masculine fantasies draw their strength from the following: first, the fantasmatic construction of sacrificed jouissance or jouissance “stolen”, and second, the Law and its obscene supplement. Films analyzed in this essay have revealed that there are two main discourses constructing masculinity in Turkey. Both are deeply rooted in self-crisis. While first is the discourse of the neurotic and the pervert, which is based on the radical repression of sexual difference, second is the discourse of the repressed.
Who’s on top? Masculinities at work in German and Turkish Germany
JENNIFER PETZEN
In the continuing debates surrounding the identity of the European Union in the context of migration and multiculturalism/culturalism, stances on gender and sexuality, and homosexuality in particular, are increasingly becoming one of the litmus tests for a modern European identity. In particular, German political discourses have mobilized the acceptance of homosexuality as a way to define the (un)suitability of migrants and their descendents to integrate into German society. Examining LGBT groups’ demands for acceptance of homosexuality reveals how white German and migrant and/or Muslim masculinities are discursively deployed against each other to support the claim that migrants are incapable, and ultimately unworthy, of achieving a European identity. Drawing on debates around migration, multiculturalism and integration in Germany, the paper examines how discussions on sexual and gender rights in Europe produce discourses that fashion migrant masculinities -especially Muslim ones- as being particularly dangerous to German and European identity.
Masculinities at internet
AYÇA ALEMDAROĞLU –NESLİHAN DEMİRTAŞ
For many people, the internet technology and cyberspace offer a vast area of freedom where people may find a chance to behave and present themselves in ways that are detached from the power relations shaping the real world. In this study, we have questioned the potential of the cyberspace in providing freedom from the ‘real’ social boundaries. We have examined Mynet, one of the most popular chat room servers in Turkey, and questioned the liberating potential of the cyberspace by looking at the ways in which masculinity is displayed. We have questioned masculinity predominantly in the context of flirt relation formed with women and our primary question is the ways in which the dominant form of masculinity is reproduced or challenged within the chat rooms. We have interviewed over forty people with male nicknames and attended certain chat rooms over a period of three months. We observed that internet chat rooms undeniably provide a space where both women and men may express themselves more freely than the real world, nevertheless the exercise of the relative freedom in cyberspace is mostly bound to secrecy and remained anonymous. Moreover, during the research we experienced that men’s approach to women is generally informed by the dominant masculine mind that acknowledges women as sexual objects while at the same time defines ‘worthy woman’ by chastity.
