I interviewed with my best friend in Çanakkale. He is the guide and light of me in this inequal and limited world.
- In Turkey, what do people do or say (or not do or say) if they want to be seen as gay [lesbian] [straight]?
- It is really hard to be openly gay in Turkey since the Turkish people are usually behaving as homophobic- actually they are unaware with this side of the world. Gay people often use social media platforms to be open about their sexuality and easily communicate with others.
- How is this different in another country? How is it similar?
- As you know, there are some countries just like Holland that has given LGBT community the equal rights. So it is easier for people in those countries to be open about their sexual identities.
- Why do people sometimes want to be seen as straight [bisexual][lesbian]? Why do they sometimes not want to?
- If they are comfortable in a society (or around a group of people), they are not afraid or ashamed of being open about themselves. But if they do not feel comfortable and be aware of the fact that they are going to be judged, they prefer to be identified as a straight.
- In Turkey/your university, which gender identities seem natural or acceptable? Which do not? How can you tell?
- Homosexual gender identity is acceptable. Others are usually not acceptable. In my opinion, it is a result of religious and political position of Turkey.
- How safe do you think your university or practicum school is for LGBT students? How do you know?
- I do not think that it is safe to an LGBT student at my university -or any universities in general- because LGBT community does not have equal rights in Turkeey. People are afraid and they prefer not to go out publicly because they simply do not want to be a target for any act of bullying.
- What do you think to be an ally to LGBT students mean?
- Being an ally to LGBT students means that you publicly show respect for those students and set an example for the other- to be respectful, maybe. It also means that you believe in equality and support love around- not hate. "Love is love."
- Do you think it’s important to be an ally to LGBT students?
- Yes. I really believe that it is important for straight people to be publicly open about their support towards LGBT people so that others can see that it is not just gay people who thinks that it is okay to be gay. Their support means a lot to the LGBT community.
- Who can be an ally in your university or practicum school?
- Anyone who believes in equality and believes that love has no gender!
- What are some examples of things people can do to demonstrate being an ally in our school?
- They can have conversations about being an ally, show their support towards LGBT community publicly and join student organizations (of course, if possible).
- Do you have anything to add?
- Homosexuality does not kill but homophobia does. Let's send love around since love is love.
I just saw myself in this little girl in webinar 2! I was always insisting on playing with my brother’s cars and thanks to my mother, she did not limit me with those babies that companies tried to sell. However, when I began to go to school, I saw all girls were playing with babies and it made me believe that I had to play with babies, as well. The society forced me to do the things that it wanted to do even in my early ages. When I began to question, gender equality became my favorite topic. I just became a feminist and here it can be added that feminism defends the gender equality, not just women rights when compared to all the misunderstandings. So, we can say that women are always born as feminists and the "real" men are also feminists.
We, people living in Turkey, need to broaden our understandings towards it. We should not be limited in gender equality, as well. We should exceed our understandings through the term “social inequality” at first. Even though this term is always associated with women, we should emphasis men who cannot do anything except for the behaviors that society forces them, just like a “manly man”.
“Men cannot cry, men cannot behave emotionally, men win the bread for family and come home. Women cannot have a mouth to talk onto men, women cannot go outside late, women cannot get dressed as they want, women stay at home and cook for their lovely men.” Anyone cannot judge me by my sentences here since they are used to hearing all these in their daily lives. What about the situation for working mothers? Do we really believe it is different? I say, no. In this country, a working mother comes home and takes the baby from the babysitter, the babysitter runs away, the husband comes home, turns on the television and does nothing except for lying and waiting for the mother to cook, feed themselves, do ironing, do cleaning, wash clothes, wash dishes and after all, die peacefully. We all have those types of families in our surroundings, do not try to search for miles away, they are just the closest to you. We have got accustomed to them so intensely that anymore we cannot see any wrong things. However, all of them are wrong. Babies are getting older without love, women are getting tired without help and men are getting lonely with family. It can be added that babies are growing up in families that indicates all types of gender inequality. Here, we, teachers, take the roles. But, how?
Education can put anything into right way. Teachers identify students’ preconceptions and go for them every time possible. Real teachers cannot accept the definite discrimination between boys and girls in the classes. Teaching the truth starts here. There can be some students who are forced to discriminate themselves from the opposite gender or even do not feel themselves relax with them. By conducting them together in an activity or opposite genders into one desk, teachers can make them avoid this discrimination inductively. In my practicum site, the students were so relaxed and comfortable that even though I did not say anything related, one fifth grade of boy acted like a girl in a drama activity. If I kept going with those children, I would insist on doing it each and every drama activity. By this, they would be more familiar with opposite gender. Therefore, they could be available to see the reality, there is no difference between genders. The important thing is to be human beings.
The coursebook I have analyzed is for 6th grade students prepared by Ministry of National Education. In general, gender equality is suggested and people with special needs are emphasized. Also, some units have environmental issues in reading parts and pictures. However, there is no other people than whites. There could be photos of different ethnic origins. There could be different religions, as well (there is a woman with scarf in one unit, which is good.). There is nothing about LGBTQ+ people and I have not been shocked since it was a coursebook for public school, but still, there could be photos of those people.
Let’s look at each unit one by one and emphasis the important issues step by step.
The first unit is Life that is about daily routine activities. The first thing I examine is that the people in the photograph are always white, there is no other ethnic origin. Also, the families in the photos occur by children with mother and grandmother, not father and grandfather. This makes me believe that it is indicated the active role of women at home, not outside, which I totally disagree. Since the unit is about daily routine activities, they could demonstrate a man who cooks, washes dishes, takes care of children. It makes the social justice process visible and emphasized. However, the best thing in the unit is gender equality in the photos. At first, they tell the unit by using a girl, but just then, they have an exercise by using a boy.
The second unit is Yummy Breakfast that is about food and drink. The unit begins with a family photograph with mother, father and children, which makes sense compared to the previous unit. Since the unit is about food and drink, people’s pictures are limited in number but still, the unit has children’s photographs equal in gender, just as in the previous unit. This unit, also, has a photograph of a child with special needs. This is important since it takes the whole students’ attention inductively.
The third unit is Downtown that is about buildings mostly. The unit is more likely to talk about environmental issues since it is about the place we live in. In one page, one small, therefore less-developed city and one big and developed city are compared. In this comparison, it can be understood that we, people, are damaging the natural environment and limiting our life place.
The fourth unit is Weather and Emotions as it is understood by its name. The people in the photos are equal in gender. There is something I have thought to add. The topic is so close to environmental issues, but I could not see anything related except for a picture of drought.
The fifth unit is At the Fair that is about the toys at the fair. There is nothing about social justice in this unit. Just the photos of people are equal in gender as it is suggested in all the units. However, there could be photos of a father and a daughter or a mother and a son so that we can see more gender equality photos by emphasizing men roles in a family.
The sixth unit is Occupations that is about occupations and dates. The topic is open to talk about gender equality more than any other topics. It is important to match a mechanic and a woman or a cook and a man, but there is no matching like that. All occupations are suitable for stereotypes that people have in their minds in our society. In the title, there is a photo of a woman with scarf, which emphasizes the religion differences and good for social justice. In a reading paragraph, the mother is said to be saleswoman, which is too sexist in language. Instead, sales assistant term can be used.
The second unit is Holidays that is about different holiday activities in different places. That means nothing seems to be about social justice, however, there could be. There could be photos of places before and after human touch, or there could be crowded family photos in holidays, but there is nothing.
The eighth unit is Bookworms that is about things that can be read and prepositions. The only thing about social justice is having a photo of a girl with special needs. Others are as usual just equality in gender.
The ninth unit is Saving the Planet that is deep into environmental issues. It is the best one for me since it teaches not only English but also how we can control our world to be better place. It gains the students the ability to change the world in a positive way. I like that topic so much.
The tenth topic is Democracy that is about vote in general. It involves the topics of equality and child rights, which is good to have place in a coursebook. There could be more knowledge about environmental issues, as well, since it is about vote and someone can defend people by saying positive solutions to environmental issues.
 Hello! I am Gökçe Çiçek Cevher. I am 22 years old. I was born on May 23, 1997, in Trabzon. I studied in three different schools, from 1st grade to 8th grade. I graduated from Beşikdüzü Anatolian Teachers’ Training High School in Trabzon. Since the school was fifty kilometers away from the city center, I had to stay in a dormitory, where lots of different people from different cities came and this helped me to learn different cultures. I took part in a Comenius Project in high school and had the chance to go abroad and meet different people from different countries. |
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After graduating, I went to Çanakkale 18th March University and studied the preparatory class there. While living there, I met lots of different people coming from different areas of the country, from Diyarbakır to Edirne. Once again, I had the opportunity to meet and learn to respect other cultures. Also, I had foreign teachers in that university and experienced a foreign individual’s culture from firsthand.
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As I could not witness my little brother growing up, I decided to return home after five years and continue my bachelor’s degree in Trabzon University. Nowadays, I am a senior student in this department. I have taken part in some local movies, series, advertisements and video clips, also I have modelled for some boutiques. My hobbies are travelling, watching movies and reading books. Additionally, I have been dancing tango, bachata and salsa as a profession for two years.
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Meeting and living with people from different countries, cities and cultures shaped me into a person with an open-minded mindset and that is why I want to participate in this project, to share this way of thinking with others. Based on this, I would like to cover all issues related to prejudices towards LGBT community and sex discrimination.
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