On 2008, I worked as a staff in the second Purple Certificate Program, organized by Sabanci University Gender and Women’s Studies Forum. High school teachers from all around Turkey had attended this program, and aim of the program was to raise the consciousness of high school teachers and to give them the chance to reflect the gender consciousness to the courses and extra-curricular activities. I won’t get in the details of this program, yet there was one session that I was amazed and still can’t forget. In that session, we asked teachers to perform a form of the Vagina Monologues, without noticing them beforehand, and even without introducing the work itself. The play wasn't the Vagina Monologues itself, yet a different adaptation of it based on the lives of Turkish women, prepared by two prominent Turkish academics, Hulya Adak and Ayse Gul Altinay.Yet, we had our doubts about whether especially extremely macho male teachers will get furious or not. It goes without saying Turkish culture and the patriarchal identity imposed on those people was the reason behind our doubts. We prepared the stage, and one by one they started to read the stories, in the dim light, and I was amazed by the enthusiasm of teachers, considering that they were telling the stories, which most of them had hitherto considered as taboo, in first person with a great excitement. The rationale behind the play; the fact that women should get emancipated and powerful through experiencing their sexuality, coming out, and enjoying such experiences without any form of impediment on the way they want to pursue their life, had been proven once again. This week, the Vagina Monologues itself will be performed here at CEU, thanks to HRSI as a part of the global VDay campaign.
Yusuf Yuksekdag
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