Patterns of Misogyny in Turkey's Contemporary Political Discourse: An Analysis of the Presidential Speeches

• Autore: Devran Gülel
• Carica: School of Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK
• Pagine: 36-59

ISSN: 2612-6672

2 • 1 • 2020

D. Gulel

Patterns of Misogyny in Turkey’s

Contemporary Political Discourse

https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/NAD/index

Patterns of Misogyny in Turkey’s Contemporary Political

Discourse: An Analysis of the Presidential Speeches

Devran Gülel

Abstract

In 2010, R. T. Erdoğan publicly acknowledged that he does not believe in equality between

women and men. Following the subsequent general election in 2011, Erdoğan has solidified his

power first as Prime Minister and, since August 2014, as the President of Turkey. Thus, his

patriarchal and Islamist discourse on women has become stronger and more visible. The more

powerful Erdoğan has become, the wider hi s discourse on women has been appreciated by the

society. His discourse has started to reinforce women’s ‘place’ in society both in public and

private spheres. This article examines Erdoğan’s speeches between August 2014 and August

2019, focusing on International Women’s Day (8th of March), Mothers’ Day (second Sunday of

May), and International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25th of

November) using the framework of ‘Logic of Misogyny’ (Kate Manne 2019) to determine to

what extent patterns of misogyny inform Erdoğan’s discourse on women’s ri ghts, equality and

agency. In order to deconstruct Erdoğan’s discourse and analyse the relationship between

discourse and misogyny, this article adopts feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) as the

research method. In doing so, the article aims to c ontribute to the literature on both FCDA and

misogyny with a study focusing on Turkey.

Keywords: Misogyny – Discourse – Turkey – Erdoğan – Gender Equality

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduction. 2. Literature Review. 3. Theoretical and Methodological

Framework. 4. How do the Patterns Emerge? 4.1 Misogyny’s Nest: Patriarchy. 4.2

Alienating feminism, othering feminists. 5. Conclusion.

 School of Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK. The essay was submitted to double blind

peer-review. The Author would like to t hank Dr. Angela Crack, Prof. Leïla Chouk roune and two

anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on th e initial version of this article.