Educating citizens for “Sexual Manners” : politics of sexuality between 1945-1965 in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to examine the discourse on "sexual manners" that has become visible in the public sphere in Turkey between 1945 and 1965, a period marked by political, economic, and social changes. On the one hand, "sexual manners" turned into a constructive and regulative discourse for concepts such as femininity, masculinity, marriage, family, reproduction, and birth control, based on the legitimacy of "scientification," when the sexuality of the citizens was considered invisible and muted in the public sphere. The sexual manners discourse, produced by the authors gathered around Seksoloji magazine and similar publishing houses, developed discussions in line with the global literature for the well-being of the individual and collective body. On the other hand, sexual manners contributed to the circulation of new norms for “desired” citizenship by aiming to regulate intimate relations between individuals. This dissertation aims to discuss the transformation regarding the "appropriate sexuality" of the period by focusing on the tensions between discourse and practice through subjects such as virginity, sexual pleasure, divorce, and extramarital affairs.