⚫️ CHALLENGE ACCEPTED ⚫️

I was nominated for #challengeaccepted movement. I thought it was to post your photo in black and white to celebrate women.

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I’m all for empowering women obviously, though something felt off about it being black and white, so I looked into the origins of it.
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It might be a bit intense so take deep breaths as you read 🙏🏼
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Turkey is one of the top countries in femicide.
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Last year there were 500 recorded cases. Like everything, there are way more unrecorded ones. This happens to all women and queer/trans women especially.
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Recently a 27 year old girl, Pinar Gultekin, was killed by her ex which sparked the black and white photo challenge.
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There is something called “honour killing” which is a member of the family kills the woman who brought shame to the family by running away from an arranged marrige, divorce or being with someone the family doesn’t approve.
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This still happens to this day.
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The victim is often portrayed as deserving and the men are portrayed as passionate lovers trying to make things right.
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I’m Turkish and what I just wrote runs deep everywhere in Turkey on different levels. It makes me sick and I still do healing on myself around this.
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No matter how modern the upbringing and the surrounding is, there is an undercurrent of sexism everywhere, every day.
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Similar to racism, you don’t have to be racist, but you’re breathing racism. It’s in the air. It’s in the system. Honour killings are the magnified and intensified version of it.
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According to a study, 42% of women aged between 15-60 had suffered some physical or sexual violence by their husbands or partners.
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This breaks my heart, it’s nearly half of the population of women 💔 I’m grateful I didn’t, but I shouldn’t be grateful for such a thing.
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When I do breathwork on myself, sometimes I feel this pain come in. I know it’s not mine and this is what it is. This issue has a deep place in my heart and it’s why I got into empowering women in the first place.
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The government does nothing to stop the violence against women. On top of that, they’re trying to get rid of the Istanbul Convention which is a law to protect women against domestic violence.
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So the black and white photo challenge started as a movement to stand in solidarity against femicide.
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I saw many women participate in it which is really beautiful. But it’s also good to know the real reason behind it 🙏🏼
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HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO 👇🏼
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You can do is donate to a Turkish shelter - @morcati_vakfi @small.projects.istanbul.
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You can also follow @auturkishculturalclub
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Love you 💛