Social Media and Turkish Feminism: New resources for social activism

AbstractThe recent democratic movements in the Middle East, especially in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, put forward a new kind of political activism accelerated by social media. Whereas in these countries the social media created opportunities for the social movement referred to as the "Arab Spring," this paper looks at the neighboring country of Turkey and the role of social media in Turkish women's activism.Keywords:: women's activismTurkish women's NGOssocial medianetworkinglobbying Notes1. See the website http://SayNoAbortionBan.Com.2. As of 7 June, 2012, more than forty-two thousand signatures from both individuals and groups had been collected—210 women's groups, seventy-eight other civil society and professional groups, and seventy-eight international groups.3. Bianet defines itself as an independent and continuously unfolding communication network since 1997, embracing "training drives" for journalists and communication students and NGOs, a handbook series, radio programs for the local media, conferences, forums, and international exchange programs. See http://www.bianet.org/english/sayfa/about-us (30 Dec. 2012).4. The Facebook group has 4,819 members; see https://www.facebook.com/groups/bedenimbenim/http://www.benimkararim.org.5.http://t.co/hYXNY0R1. The 'About us' section on the KAGIDER website is available online at: http://www.kagider.org/?Dil = 1 see https://www.facebook.com/groups/348153485250459/members.8. The Facebook group has 9,373 likes; see http://www.womenlobby.org. The facebook page can be accessed at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/European-Womens-Lobby/169340673246?ref = ts&fref = ts.Additional informationNotes on contributorsHande Eslen-ZiyaHande Eslen-Ziya received her doctorate degree at the Polish Academy of Sciences IFIS PAN, Warsaw. She also received a PhD Specialization on Gender Studies at the Central European University in Budapest in 2002. Her research is theoretically informed by social psychology, feminist psychology, and sociology, as well as gender role strain, and conceptions of femininity and masculinity. She has been the project coordinator of the two-year project "Construction of Femininity and Masculinity in Friday Prayers in Turkey." Her most recent publication on domestic work, gender, and migration in Turkey was published in The Discourse of Politics of Migration in Europe (2013). Dr. Eslen-Ziya is an external visiting fellow of the Glasgow Caledonian University, Institute for Society and Social Justice. She was a post-doctoral scholar at the Psychology Department of the University of KwaZulu Natal during the conceptualization of this article. E-mail: hande@tacplast.com