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A Feminist Reading of Limon and Zeytin: Motherhood and Gender Roles

Year 2021, Issue: 12, 45 - 62, 31.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1032276

Abstract

The analysis of motherhood and gender roles has been one of the most crucial concerns for feminist theory. Throughout history, the conventional understanding of gender roles has resulted in the oppressed women in society. There are also the repercussions in parents’ roles in marriages mostly resulting in inequality in the division of labour due to the internalized roles that see men superior to women. This belief has affected and directed numerous marriages as a false model where the woman is loaded with all the domestic work as a housewife and man is the sole breadwinner who is exempted from domestic work and has loose connections also with childcare, which is also included in domestic affairs. As the wife and thus mother becomes the projected figure, it becomes quite hard to mention the possibility of the division of labour in marriages because conventional marriages favour the established understanding that only or predominantly mothers are responsible for childcare and housework and that fathers should be distanced from this process. Turkish cartoonist Salih Memecan’s comic books Annem, İşte Benim Annem and Sihirli Annem are among the comics portraying examples of the problems about the division of domestic work in marriages. Drawing an example of a rather long-established perception of gender roles within a family sphere, the author comes up with a marriage where the name and place of the wife figure, Çıtçıt (May) is quite diminished. Taking its departure from the ideas of the second-wave feminism, the purpose of this paper is to study Salih Memecan’s comic books Annem, İşte Benim Annem and Sihirli Annem in the light of feminist theory. Çıtçıt (May) and Babişko (Bubs) will be analyzed shedding light on their duties as parents and as a couple with regards to gender roles.

References

  • Allen, Jeffner. “Motherhood: The Annihilation of Women.” In Mothering: Essays in Feminist Theory, edited by Joyce Trebilcot, 315-330. Totowa, N. J. : Rowman & Allanheld, 1984.
  • O’Reilly, Andrea. Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, and Practice. Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press, 2016.
  • Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex. London: Jonathan Cape. 1953.
  • Diquinzio, Patrice. ‘Exclusion and Essentialism in Feminist Theory: The Problem of Mothering’. Hypatia 8, no. 3 (1993): 1–20.
  • Gündüz, Zuhal Yeşilyurt. ‘The Women’s Movement in Turkey: From Tanzimat towards European Union Membership 1’. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs 9, no. 3 (2004): 115–34.
  • Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press, 2000.
  • Kaya, Senem Üstün. ‘Angels or Demons: A Comparative Analysis of Motherhood Concept in World Literature’. Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi 4, no. 4 (2020): 872–87. https://doi.org/10.34083/akaded.755543.
  • Memecan, Salih. Annem. İstanbul: Mart Yayınları, 2017.
  • ______________. İşte Benim Annem. İstanbul: Mart Yayınları, 2015.
  • ______________. Sihirli Annem. İstanbul: Mart Ajans Yayıncılık, 2016.
  • Neyer, Gerda, and Laura Bernardi. ‘Feminist Perspectives on Motherhood and Reproduction’. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 36, no. 2 (136) (2011): 162–76.
  • Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born. New York: Norton Publishing, 1986.
  • Russ, Joanna. How to Suppress Women’s Writing. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1983.
  • Selçuk, Ayşe Bilge. ‘Türkiye’de Ebeveynlik’. Cogito 81 (2015): 108- 200.
  • Takševa, Tatjana. ‘Mother Love, Maternal Ambivalence, and the Possibility of Empowered Mothering’. Hypatia 32, no. 1 (2017): 152–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12310.
  • Thompson, Mary. ‘Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Motherhood’. Genders 1, no. 2 (2016). https://www.colorado.edu/genders/2017/03/17/third-wave-feminism-and-politics-motherhood.
  • Veltman, Andrea. ‘The Sisyphean Torture of Housework: Simone de Beauvoir and Inequitable Divisions of Domestic Work in Marriage’. Hypatia 19, no. 3 (ed 2004): 121–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2004.tb01304.x.

A Feminist Reading of Limon and Zeytin: Motherhood and Gender Roles

Year 2021, Issue: 12, 45 - 62, 31.12.2021
https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1032276

Abstract

Annelik ve toplumsal cinsiyet rollerinin analizi, feminist teorinin en önemli ilgi alanlarından biri olmuştur. Tarih boyunca toplumsal cinsiyet rollerinin geleneksel anlayışı, toplumda ezilen kadınların ortaya çıkmasına sebep olmuştur. Toplumsal cinsiyet rollerine ilişkin geleneksel algının yansımaları, ebeveynlerin evliliklerdeki rollerine yansımış ve çoğunlukla erkeği kadından üstün gören içselleştirilmiş rollerden dolayı iş bölümünde eşitsizliğe neden olmuştur. Kadınlardan ev hanımı olarak tüm ev işlerini ve çocuk bakımını üstlenmesi beklentisi, erkeklerin ev işlerinden ve buna dahil olan çocuk bakımından muaf tutulması yönündeki düşünceler ve uygulamalar çok sayıda evliliği etkilemiş ve bahsedilen doğrultuda yönlendirmiştir. Kadın ve sonrasında anne, öngörülen hali deneyimledikçe, evliliklerde iş bölümü olasılığından bahsetmek oldukça zorlaşır çünkü geleneksel evlilikler, çocuk bakımından ve ev işlerinden yalnızca veya ağırlıklı olarak annelerin sorumlu olduğu ve babaların sorumluluğun hiç ya da azami olması gerektiği şeklindeki yerleşik anlayışı desteklemektedir. Türk karikatürist Salih Memecan'ın çizgi romanları Annem, İşte Benim Annem ve Sihirli Annem, evliliklerde ev işlerinin bölünmesine ilişkin sorunlara örnek teşkil eden çizgi romanlar arasında yer alıyor. Aile ortamında toplumsal cinsiyet rollerine ilişkin oldukça köklü bir algının örneğini çizen yazar, eşi Çıtçıt’ın (Mayıs) adının ve yerinin oldukça hiçe indirgendiği bir evlilikle karşımıza çıkar. Bu makalenin amacı, İkinci Dalga feminizmin fikirlerinden hareketle Salih Memecan’ın Annem, İşte Benim Annem ve Sihirli Annem adlı çizgi romanlarını feminist teori ışığında incelemektir. Çıtçıt (Mayıs) ve Babişko (Bubs) ataerkil toplumlardaki cinsiyet rolleri çerçevesinde ebeveyn ve çift olarak incelenecektir.

References

  • Allen, Jeffner. “Motherhood: The Annihilation of Women.” In Mothering: Essays in Feminist Theory, edited by Joyce Trebilcot, 315-330. Totowa, N. J. : Rowman & Allanheld, 1984.
  • O’Reilly, Andrea. Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, and Practice. Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press, 2016.
  • Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex. London: Jonathan Cape. 1953.
  • Diquinzio, Patrice. ‘Exclusion and Essentialism in Feminist Theory: The Problem of Mothering’. Hypatia 8, no. 3 (1993): 1–20.
  • Gündüz, Zuhal Yeşilyurt. ‘The Women’s Movement in Turkey: From Tanzimat towards European Union Membership 1’. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs 9, no. 3 (2004): 115–34.
  • Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press, 2000.
  • Kaya, Senem Üstün. ‘Angels or Demons: A Comparative Analysis of Motherhood Concept in World Literature’. Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi 4, no. 4 (2020): 872–87. https://doi.org/10.34083/akaded.755543.
  • Memecan, Salih. Annem. İstanbul: Mart Yayınları, 2017.
  • ______________. İşte Benim Annem. İstanbul: Mart Yayınları, 2015.
  • ______________. Sihirli Annem. İstanbul: Mart Ajans Yayıncılık, 2016.
  • Neyer, Gerda, and Laura Bernardi. ‘Feminist Perspectives on Motherhood and Reproduction’. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 36, no. 2 (136) (2011): 162–76.
  • Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born. New York: Norton Publishing, 1986.
  • Russ, Joanna. How to Suppress Women’s Writing. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1983.
  • Selçuk, Ayşe Bilge. ‘Türkiye’de Ebeveynlik’. Cogito 81 (2015): 108- 200.
  • Takševa, Tatjana. ‘Mother Love, Maternal Ambivalence, and the Possibility of Empowered Mothering’. Hypatia 32, no. 1 (2017): 152–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/hypa.12310.
  • Thompson, Mary. ‘Third Wave Feminism and the Politics of Motherhood’. Genders 1, no. 2 (2016). https://www.colorado.edu/genders/2017/03/17/third-wave-feminism-and-politics-motherhood.
  • Veltman, Andrea. ‘The Sisyphean Torture of Housework: Simone de Beauvoir and Inequitable Divisions of Domestic Work in Marriage’. Hypatia 19, no. 3 (ed 2004): 121–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2004.tb01304.x.
There are 17 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Creative Arts and Writing
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Betül Ateşci Koçak 0000-0002-7937-953X

Damla Katlan 0000-0003-4436-6621

Publication Date December 31, 2021
Submission Date December 4, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Issue: 12

Cite

Chicago Ateşci Koçak, Betül, and Damla Katlan. “A Feminist Reading of Limon and Zeytin: Motherhood and Gender Roles”. KARE, no. 12 (December 2021): 45-62. https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1032276.

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