Just as I thought Turkey was forging ahead, and was finally becoming “modern”, I have only to read the local newspapers to be advised otherwise.
This is a quotation from an article in Sunday’s Zaman
“The rise in hymenoplasty doesn’t mean that the hymen and virginity have gained importance, but indicates that women are increasingly possessedof more spending power and medical knowledge and that physicians are less conservative with regard to these operations,” psychologist Dilek Akıcı Tayanç explained in an interview with Sunday’s Zaman. “Women have gained economic strength and knowledge over the years, but this development hasn’t enabled them to break the taboos regarding virginity, but to more effectively be able to protect themselves from the results of these taboos.”
So it’s only a facade. All the modern clothing, Ugg boots, miniskirts, going to university, getting jobs, and seemingly being independent, all of it fades away and we are back in the dark ages. The taboos still exist, and women have learned to circumvent them, instead of abolishing them.
Perhaps that isn’t possible in this particular country. Or perhaps it’s a very slow process. It’s certainly a challenge to the bravest of them all.
