#MeToo movement is stillborn in Turkey
The #MeToo movement has focused on violence in Turkey with significant support, but the attackers are neither named nor punished, and sexual misconduct is still a taboo subject, so its victims often suffer alone in shame.
In the 1990s, I attended a prestigious private high school in Ankara. My pediatrician was also our family friend, and her daughter attended the same school. I will call her Zehra for privacy reasons. I tried my best to avoid her at school, as she seemed strange or at least clumsy. So I thought.
Zehra often had bruises all over her body, and sometimes even broken bones. One day, when I had to stop by her family's apartment, I witnessed something I will never forget. The wood door to Zehra's bedroom was off its hinges and damaged in the center. Her mother was bandaging Zehra's rib cage, as blood dripped from her nose and mouth. Her mom told me, “Please don't tell anyone, her father got angry all of a sudden.”
Zehra’s parents were both well-educated. Yet her mother never sought help. The experience of physical abuse and the impulse to hide it can't really be explained to those who don't share them. And I never spoke about the incident.
The hashtag #MeToo took off on social media in October, enabling women to reveal and denounce sexual harassment. Since then, several prominent men in media and politics had to publicly acknowledge their guilt and resign from their powerful positions. The Weinstein effect spread around the world, arriving in the Middle East and, at least in Israel, leaving a significant mark. In Turkey, it took a different turn.
