In many regions in Turkey, mothers exasperated with a naughty child will take off a slipper and raise it menacingly toward the miscreant, shouting, “Look, the slipper’s coming!” That is the first warning. If the child — typically a boy — fails to stop misbehaving, the slipper soon flies through the air. This “slipper disciplining” usually bears fruit, with the kid either running away or getting hit and calming down. More often than not, the first warning suffices and the child behaves before the slipper takes off.

A similar scene unfolded last week in an unlikely place — the Turkish parliament. Aylin Nazliaka, one of the most active female lawmakers of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was making a speech about violence against women in Turkey when she got exasperated with colleagues from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who sought to sabotage her speech, hurling taunts of her being a “cheapo” and “having Botox.”

“The devil is tempting me to take off a shoe and throw it at you!” an incensed Nazliaka shouted. Yet, the experienced boys of yesteryear ignored the warning and went on with their taunting. “But you are not worth even a shoe,” Nazliaka replied before leaving the rostrum amid a hail of insults.

Nazliaka’s speech on gender discrimination was no doubt a stinging one. “We have come to a point where [the country] discusses what women should wear, what color their lipstick should be, whether pregnant women should go out in the streets, whether women’s laughing out loud is immoral or not and even whether women and men should perform the folk dances together. Even mixed-sex education is being questioned. And you are responsible for all this!” Nazliaka said, shouting at the AKP benches. “Three women are killed every day [in Turkey] and violence against women is up 1,400%, remember? The murderers are emboldened by those who attempt to dictate women how they should behave. Don’t look too far, it’s you I’m talking about! You are the ones emboldening those murderers!” she declared.