https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3378-381X
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ABSTRACT
This study looks into a rising realm within Turkey’s culture industry, namely Islamic-oriented self-help culture, and explores the marriage advice offered by Islamic self-help authors and therapists on social media. Based on a discourse analysis of social media posts and the comments by followers, the study traces the meanings and discussions produced around problems in marriages in order to understand how Islamic self-help discourse relates to the hegemonization of a neoconservative understanding of gender relations in contemporary Turkey. The findings suggest that Islamic self-help advice on marriage bears ambivalences. On the one hand, it naturalizes traditional gendered power relations in marriage, glorifies an imagined ideal masculinity, and makes women responsible for ‘healing’ the problems in marriage. On the other hand, it raises discussions on previously silenced problems in marriages and advises women to improve their self-confidence and psychological strength, even though within the confines of traditional gender roles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 All translations are by the author. Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Erkeğin erkek olduğu yerde gelin kaynana kavgası olmaz” August 7, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mt-MExFbgk&list=PLhZuPLIJpOIUOh1w20S33Qb4w50htdOUZ&index=13.
2 Ibid.
3 According to TURKSTAT’s 2021 data, the rate of marriage has decreased by 20 percent and crude divorce rate has increased by 47 percent in the last 20 years. The data marks ‘irresponsible and indifferent behaviour’ as the most common reason of divorce. See https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Marriage-and-Divorce-Statistics-2021-45568.
4 Morgan, “The Crisis in Masculinity.”
5 Ünal, “The Masculinist Restoration Project,” 68.
6 Atalay, “Partners in Patriarchy,” 431.
7 Coşar and Yeğenoğlu, “New Grounds”; Acar and Altunok, “The ‘Politics of Intimate’”; Akyüz and Sayan-Cengiz, “ ‘Overcome Your Anger’”; Cindoğlu and Ünal, “Gender and Sexuality”; Altunok,“Neo-conservatism”; Güneș-Ayata and Doğangün, “Gender Politics of the AKP”; Koyuncu and Özman, “Women’s Rights Organizations”; and Yılmaz,“ ‘Strengthening the Family’.”
8 Kandiyoti, “Locating the Politics of Gender.” Also see Sarıoğlu “Vigilante Violence,” 56, for an analysis of vigilante violence and the lenient government response to such violence as indicating “an attempt to regain the lost patriarchal power”.
9 Kandiyoti, “Locating the Politics of Gender,” 109–10.
10 Kocamaner, “Regulating the Family,” 498.
11 Ibid.
12 Adak, “Expansion of the Diyanet,” 207.
13 Enloe, The Big Push, ix.
14 Nehring et al., Transnational Popular Psychology.
15 McGee, Self-help, Inc.
16 Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s,” and Baydar Çavdar, “Yerli Kişisel.”
17 Bölükbaşı, “Postmodern Tanrı Misafiri.”
18 Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s.”
19 Millet, Sexual Politics.
20 Bryson, “‘Patriarchy’.”
21 Walby, Theorizing Patriarchy, and Bryson, “‘Patriarchy’.”
22 Enloe, The Big Push, ix.
23 Ibid., 91–3.
24 Kandiyoti, “Bargaining with Patriarchy”; Sharabi, Neopatriarchy; and Moghadam, “Turbulent Times.”
25 Kandiyoti, “Bargaining with Patriarchy,” 278.
26 Ibid., 274.
27 Ibid., 282–3.
28 Hasso, “Bargaining with the Devil.”
29 Brown, “American Nightmare,” 697.
30 Yazıcı, “The return to the family,” and Acar and Altunok, “The ‘Politics of Intimate’.”
31 Kocamaner, “Strengthening the Family,” 676.
32 Acar and Altunok, “The ‘Politics of Intimate’,” and Cindoğlu and Ünal, “Gender and Sexuality.”
33 Kandiyoti, “Locating the Politics of Gender,” 110.
34 Ibid., 109.
35 Akyüz and Sayan-Cengiz, “‘Overcome Your Anger’.”
36 Atalay, “Partners in Patriarchy,” 436.
37 Güneș-Ayata and Doğangün, “Gender Politics of the AKP,” and Koyuncu and Özman, “Women’s Rights Organizations.”
38 Adak, “Expansion of the Diyanet,” 204–5.
39 Ibid., 200.
40 Ibid., 208.
41 See Kalpaklıoğlu, “Guiding the Female Body”; Kocamaner, “Regulating the Family”; and Maritato, “Performing İrşad.”
42 Kocamaner, “Regulating the Family,” 504.
43 Ibid., 504.
44 Ibid., 504.
45 Kalpaklıoğlu, “Guiding the Female Body,” 241.
46 Kocamaner, “Regulating the Family,” 504.
47 Donzelot cited in Kocamaner, “Regulating the Family,” 499.
48 Kalpaklıoğlu, “Guiding the Female Body,” 245.
49 Rimke, “Governing Citizens,” 63.
50 Riley et al., “The Gendered Nature,” 7.
51 Illouz, “Saving the Modern Soul,” 117.
52 Kenney, “Selling Success,” and Hoesterey, “Marketing Islam.”
53 Jamil, “This is a gathering of lovers,” and Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s.”
54 Özdemir, “Kişisel Gelişim.”
55 For a detailed and in-depth analysis of how religious discussions and forms were integrated into popular culture and various forms of self-help culture in this period, see Baydar Çavdar, “Yerli Kişisel Gelişimde Eğilimler.”
56 For an analysis of the gendered dimensions of these books, see Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s.”
57 For analyses of Islamic women’s catechisms, see Çetin, “Kültürün Öznesi,” and Perşembe and Gürkan, “İslam Kadın.”
58 Islamic-oriented marriage advice authors are usually trained in fields such as psychology, child development, family counseling, and spiritual counseling. ’Spiritual counseling’, which connotes a combination of religious advice with a therapeutic and psychological rhetoric, is being established as an academic field through graduate programs in some Turkish universities. For a report on the institutionalization of spiritual counseling in Turkey, see Baygeldi, “Türkiye’de Modern.”
59 Kalpaklıoğlu, “Guiding the Female Body,” 235. Kalpaklıoğlu argues that the female preachers’ advice is not strictly defined by the Diyanet’s official interpretations, but has room for interpretation based on preachers’ points of view.
60 See Civelekoğlu, Evlilik Kader, Mutluluk Tercihtir; Tongar, İyileşen Evliliğim; and Kılıç, Dengi Dengine Evlilikler.
61 Lazar, “Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis.”
62 Ibid., 141.
63 Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s.”
64 Riley et al., “The Gendered Nature.”
65 Tongar YouTube channel, “Evliliğimizde neler yapmayalım?” January 5, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9Xq_A5iho.
66 Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Eşimin sevgisini hiç hissetmedim” March 14, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgY0xo-GEuQ.
67 Civelekoğlu Instagram post. January 13, 2022, available at https://www.instagram.com/p/CYqlfNHFQK3/.
68 Kandiyoti, “Bargaining with Patriarchy.”
69 Tongar Instagram post, February 21, 2022, availabl at https://www.instagram.com/p/CaNauwtKq3e/?utm_medium=share_sheet.
70 Tongar, İyileşen Evliliğim, 169–74.
71 Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Erkekler neden ikinci eş ister?” December 15, 2020, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG8bC7iLKAk.
72 Hochschield, “The Commercial Spirit.”
73 Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Ne olacak bu mutsuz evlilikler?” May 18, 2020, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jdtzbpxpY4; Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Birey olmadan Saliha bir eş olmaya çalışırsan köle olursun” May 16, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yBRTvuwnGI.
74 Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Birey olmadan Saliha bir eş olmaya çalışırsan köle olursun,” May 16, 2019, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yBRTvuwnGI.
75 Civelokoğlu, Evlilik Kader Mutluluk Tercihtir, 68.
76 Civelekoğlu YouTube channel, “Kocaya itaat etmek”, March 22, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Evzetn4lk.
77 Kılıç, YouTube channel, “Güçlü Kadın Olmak”, January 19, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YWf4doM084&list=PLQMIRI7XS9jFi0tDN30bznSQzgd6X3aFw&index=6.
78 Kılıç Instagram post, December 4, 2021, available at https://www.instagram.com/p/CXDObFrtZn0/; Kılıç Instagram post, December 25, 2021, available at https://www.instagram.com/p/CX557hBt4ry/.
79 Sayan-Cengiz, “Gender in Turkey’s.”
80 Tongar YouTube channel, “Eşit miyiz eş miyiz”, January 11, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXFDXr6usdg.
81 Enloe, The Big Push.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Feyda Sayan-Cengiz
Feyda Sayan Cengiz is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Manisa Celal Bayar University. She received her PhD in Political Science from Bilkent University in 2014. She was a Visiting Researcher at Columbia University’s Department of Anthropology from 2009 to 2010. She has taught at Istanbul Bilgi University, Işık University, and Mardin Artuklu University. She is the author of Beyond Headscarf Culture in Turkey’s Retail Sector (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) as well as journal articles in several national and international academic journals. Her research focuses on politics of gender and its reflections in popular culture, Islamic culture and lifestyle in Turkey, gender and populist politics, and self-help culture.