About the Project
This project explores young women’s views, feelings, and experiences about safe sexuality. We used a method called photo-voice in the project, and asked young women to answer the following question with the photos they took: “How do you define safe sexuality?”
This project was undertaken in a context of gender-based inequalities, violence against women, and an absence of protective and preventive measures in Turkey.
This exhibition showcases the photos that young women took to express their views on safe sexuality and their statements about it. We invite visitors to see how safe sexuality looks like through the lenses of young women and to listen to their desire for safety, freedom, and pleasure. We thank the women who participated in this project for their openness and generosity. Enjoy the exhibition!
Dr. Anil Ozge Ustunel
About the Exhibition
This exhibition has four sections. Each section presents a common theme that expresses young women’s shared voices on safe sexuality. The first section focuses on prohibitions. The second section conveys the search for boundaries and acceptance. The third and fourth sections show a playful desire for exploration and an emphasis on relationship issues, respectively. Young women themselves named some of the photos in the exhibition. The statements presented next to the pictures are women’s own.
SECTION 1
Prohibitions, Pressures, and Rules about Sexuality in Turkey
Through the photos they took, the young women underlined the pressures and restrictive rules about women’s sexuality in Turkey. They highlighted the “invisibility” of women’s sexuality and shared how societal rules affect their lives.
-art and freedom for the woman’s body-
“It’s like these statues are opposing the patriarchal society. In a society like Turkey, we are exposed to people’s gazes even if we wear something that is not tight or does not reveal the shape of our bodies. It’s great to see this freedom in arts.”
(Woman, 24, heterosexual)
-Those who are not lucky enough to have a safe space-
“In my mind, these dead flowers represent everyone outside the oppressive societal norms. The fact that people who are outside these norms are not granted the right to experience sexuality, to have access to safe sexuality, that’s what these dead flowers make me think of. No matter how much you trust the other person, you still have thoughts like ‘Is there a camera around?’, ‘Is he going to blackmail me at some point?’, ‘Will he take a photo of me?’, ‘Can he use a message I sent him to threaten to expose me to my family, my work?’...People who have same-sex relationships hide their identity and who they want to be from their family, their work; they fight for their existence.”
(Woman, 22, heterosexual)
-vırgınıty-
“It is like we are supposed to start using tampons after having sexual experiences. Or is it really the case? I still have question marks about it. The fact that we never learn how to use a tampon, the fact that we don’t talk about these things. We try to learn by ourselves, make mistakes, and then try to fix them.”
(Woman, 25, questioning her sexual orientation)
-dark sky-
“My house always reminds me of a dark sky because I can never express my sexuality there. It’s like always dark. I sometimes make myself believe that I’m a masculine person because I cannot experience my feminine side in my house, because I can never be the woman that I want to be. I can never be as visible as I want.”
(Woman, 28, bisexual)
-vagınısmus-
“It looks very small, narrow, cramped. It is very dark inside. It gives you a sense of being pressured and stuck. That’s why it’s not safe at all.”
(Woman, 29, heterosexual)
SECTION 2
“A Space of My Own”
The young women stated that they wanted sexuality to be a safe experience where they could express themselves and feel accepted. Through the photos they took, they expressed their need and demand for having a say in sexuality, communicating what they want, and being heard.
-Being able to say stop if you are unwilling-
“It is about being able to say stop…There is a system here. You only show your hand, and the cars that may hit and harm you stop, and then you can cross the road safely… ‘This is what I want to do. I want to cross the street. I want to leave. I want to stop. I want you to stop’. Safe sexuality is being able to say all of those things without getting tired, without putting any extra effort, without jumping in front of the cars and waving them to stop, without explaining yourself a million times. Being able to say ‘I need a minute’ with small hand gestures and the flow continues. No one gets out of a car and yells at you for stopping them. They accept stopping as normal… Having the guarantee that you will not be harmed psychologically or physically if you want to stop. This is what safe sexuality is.”
(Woman, 27, heterosexual)
-Drawing boundaries softly-
“This photo is like communicating nicely to the other person, softly, ‘I have a boundary here, and please do not cross it. At least, do not take this side of the road’. Because some warning signs look quite aggressive to me, they are like screaming, ‘Do not cross!’. This sign looks like I am asking for respect for my boundaries, and I am decorating it with colorful flowers….If you are aware of your boundaries and learn the language your partner speaks and understands, you can draw your boundaries safely without any conflict. Boundaries are not always bad. It only means, ‘I do not need sexuality right now. Please respect that.”
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-Exploring boundaries-
“When sexuality was foreign to me, it seemed like the yellow line. As I got closer to this line and realized that the yellow only meant ‘Keep going but be careful,’ I understood there is a very joyous space between the yellow and the red lines, and there is a safe space if I am taking the right steps. I still believe that a control mechanism should continue to operate related to issues like pregnancy, AIDS, consent…It reminds me, 'No matter how flexible you are, there still is and needs to be a boundary.’...We need to know our own boundaries. When do I reach the red line?”
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-Swimming in the sea-
“When you get into the sea, it usually takes some time to get used to. You need to get used to the temperature of the water. We sometimes take one step forward, one step back. We need to know what kind of creatures swim in the sea. Are there piranhas or small, pretty fish there? Because you cannot swim in every water. There can be strong currents, and they can overthrow us. We may not want to swim there. We may want to swim in still water. We can go back to the shore when we want to. We do not want to get cold when we get out of the sea. We usually swim at certain times, mostly in summer. This is all very similar to safe sexuality…It is safe because it usually happens when you want it to...You need to feel like, ‘I can make a choice; I have control.’”
(Woman, 29, bisexual)
-Safe sex-
“The window has two sashes. They are opened from the inside, not from the outside. It looks somewhere pretty. It feels like I am in control; I decide to let somebody in on my own. This is something very nice for me. This window also takes a lot of light in. This is very safe for me.”
(Woman, 29, heterosexual)
-A mobile safe space-
“This car is like it's protecting me from outside homophobia. You cannot express love or sexuality in any way outside. It's my mobile safe space...You feel like you're in control."
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-playground-
“Sexuality is viewed as shameful, sinful; it is supposed to be experienced within certain norms or only serve procreation. I think these norms damage the space for safe sexuality. This part of my room is like a playground, a space where you can breathe. There is always sunlight there. I always like to look at this part of my room. I think this is how sexuality should be like, a playground where only things that we enjoy are present.”
(Woman, 27, bisexual+)
-Poetic sex-
“I like this red curtain. It waves on its own, it overflows. I think this is safe. It moves with the wind and comes back. There is a sense of flow. It is totally free.”
(Woman, 29, heterosexual)
-Desire and curiosity-
"It just looks very comfortable and peaceful, and you feel like you want to be up there, like you want to be one with it...I think that element is important when thinking of safe sex in general. You should feel like, ‘Oh, I want to be there. I want to go there. That looks inviting.’"
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-journey 1-
“It does not always have to be this smooth, but I think it can indicate safe sexuality if the journey you take with your partner is colorful and pleasurable. There is a start and an endpoint, but being on the road is nice.”
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-journey 2-
“I wanted to show that safe sexuality is a journey. I wanted it to capture movement and to look at a beautiful landscape. This looks like a healthy, prospering sexuality that is on track.”
(Woman, 25, heterosexual)
-Permission for exploration-
“Sexuality is a taboo, prohibited. We never talk about it when we are small children. Your family covers your eyes if a kissing scene comes up on TV and changes the show. You feel ashamed. You have no information about it. Sexuality is an experience you can only have when your wedding day arrives. For years, you stay within these norms. I wonder if the flowers in the photo would grow this well if kept in this house. Maybe they grew because they got sunlight, they heard the noises in the street, they got air, or cats ate their leaves. Maybe something outside motivated them to grow. Suppose the owner got scared like me and kept them inside, thinking, ‘What if a cat damages them? What if they fall over? What if a ball hits them?’ they might not have flourished this much. I wanted to highlight my parents’ attitudes with this photo. Sometimes they need to let girls or boys be free and gain experience, breathe the air freely, see the sun freely, and let a cat disturb them.”
(Woman, 22, heterosexual)
-Women’s fight-
“The color red is somewhat provocative. In our society, being a woman and the color red are somehow associated, and this color is sexualized. In this photo, this red glove standing on a random bench made me think of women’s struggle and the difficulty of being a gendered being within this patriarchal society where women are criticized this much. For instance, in summer, when I wear a tight jean and a T-shirt, a lot of men still stare at me, and some conservative women stare at me. In this photo, this random color, red, reminds me that we fight and stand tall.”
(Woman, 24, heterosexual)
-Giving a chance to the different-
“There is this system where we judge, stereotype, and categorize people based on how they experience sexuality. We need to think. First, we need to give everyone a chance. Looking at this issue with a hopeful lens, this photo reminds me that everyone and every preference is precious no matter how different their decisions, lifestyles, choices, and mistakes are from our own.”
(Woman, 22, heterosexual)
sectıon 4
a matter of balance
The young women emphasized the relational dynamics of safety and balance in the photos they took. As they defined safe sexuality, they touched upon notions such as relationship boundaries, respect, care, communication, and personal space and explained the sense of insecurity they experience in their absence.
-Love, idealization, impossible sex-
“If there is love, you don’t assess what is safe or unsafe. We do not know what will happen when we reach that person. There is so much distance between you and them. It feels like safety is irrelevant, immaterial. You don’t think about this stuff when in love.”
(Woman, 29, heterosexual)
-No interference with boundaries-
“There is a bag, just sitting there, out in the open, and no one is looking inside, no one is trying to take it. No one is hovering.”
(Woman, 25, heterosexual)
-Together but separate-
“One of them has more branches; the other one looks wilder. They are in the same sky, and I really liked that they existed together without blocking or interfering with each other, within their own boundaries. This is a good representation of sexuality that involves two or more people.”
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-Attention, fragile!-
“There is something fragile inside, but also the part that screams ‘I am fragile.’ I think this is very similar to sexuality. If you attack my fragility, the rage will come out, and I will attack you back. If you approach me compassionately, this fragility can become something good.”
(Woman, 22, bisexual)
-Open communication-
“It looks like these two cats are talking about something. It looks like they have a relationship, yet they have some distance. There is open communication there. It’s like they respect each other’s space and communicate. These cats reminded me that communication is essential for safe sexuality and that it is the foundation of consent.”
(Woman, 27, bisexual+)
Thank you very much for your visit!
We want to express our deepest gratitude to the young women who participated in this project and shared their photos, views, and experiences.
The Research Team: Anıl Özge Üstünel & Irmak Açıkalın
For your questions or comments about the project and the exhibition, you can contact us at:
anil.ustunel@bilgi.edu.tr
esitozgurguvenli@gmail.com
We would like to hear what you think about the exhibition.
