PROBLEMATIZING TRANSLATED POPULAR TEXTS ON WOMEN S SEXUALITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE MODERNIZATION PROJECT IN TURKEY FROM 1931 TO 1959

Transkript

1 PROBLEMATIZING TRANSLATED POPULAR TEXTS ON WOMEN S SEXUALITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE MODERNIZATION PROJECT IN TURKEY FROM 1931 TO 1959 MÜGE IŞIKLAR KOÇAK BOĞAZİÇİ UNİVERSİTY 2007

2 PROBLEMATIZING TRANSLATED POPULAR TEXTS ON WOMEN S SEXUALITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON THE MODERNIZATION PROJECT IN TURKEY FROM 1931 TO 1959 Dissertation submitted to the Institute of Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosphy in Translation Studies by Müge Işıklar Koçak Boğaziçi University 2007

3 Problematizing Translated Popular Texts on Women s Sexuality: A New Perspective on the Modernization Project in Turkey from 1931 to 1959 The dissertation of Müge Işıklar Koçak is approved by: Prof. Dr. Saliha Paker (Committee Chairperson) Assoc. Prof. Şehnaz Tahir-Gürçağlar Assoc. Prof. Ebru Diriker Assist. Prof. Özlem Berk-Albachten Assist. Prof. Jonathan Ross July 2007

4 Abstract In this doctoral research, a database, the first of its kind in Turkey, is established for non-literary translated and indigenous texts for/on women published between 1828 and Since the critical analysis of the database reveals sexuality to have been the subject most translated and written about, ten texts on women s sexuality published between 1931 and 1959 are selected for analysis in three case studies. In order to contextualize this corpus, a literature survey is presented of works on the history of Turkish women s movements and the republican modernization project, along with a critical overview of non-literary articles (translated and otherwise) in women s magazines. Firstly this thesis aims to analyze the complexities underlying translations, which bear significant consequences for the study of republican translation history: translations were altered in such ways that they became different from their source texts in terms of fullness; several assumed translations were in fact pseudotranslations, with no corresponding source texts, while some assumed indigenous texts were, in fact, concealed translations. Secondly, as an interdisciplinary study, the thesis aims to show that the discursive interventions of the translators foregrounded the issue of sexuality while aiming at informing female readers on the subject. When the full range of translations (those lacking in fullness, pseudotranslations, compilative and concealed translations) are compared with indigenous texts, it becomes clear that translators were less constrained than indigenous writers in expressing themselves and created a freer discourse of their own in the early republican period. Thus, this thesis also throws a fresh perspective on the republican modernization project by positing new findings to question arguments in Turkish women s studies that women s sexuality was suppressed in the nation-building process. iii

5 Kısa Özet Bu doktora tezinde, 1828 ve 1990 arasında kadınlar için ve kadınlar üzerine yayımlanmış edebiyat dışı çeviri ve yerli kitaplardan oluşan bir veri tabanı oluşturulmuştur. Türkiye de ilk defa yapılan bu veri tabanının eleştirel incelemesi en çok çevrilen ve yazılan metinlerin cinsellik üzerine olduğunu gösterdiğinden, üç ayrı inceleme bölümünde betimleyici analiz yapılmak üzere 1931 ve 1959 arasında cinsellik üzerine yayımlanmış on popüler metin seçilmiştir. Popüler metinlerden oluşan bütünceyi bir bağlam içinde inceleyebilmek için tezin ilk bölümlerinde, Türk kadın hareketi tarihi ve cumhuriyet dönemi modernizasyon projesi üzerine yapılmış araştırmalar ve kadın dergilerinde yayımlanmış edebiyat dışı çeviri ve yerli metinler ele alınmıştır. Tezin ilk amacı, cumhuriyet dönemi çeviri tarihi çalışmaları açısından önemli sonuçları olan karmaşık çeviri yapılarını analiz etmektir. Bu dönemde çeviriler öyle büyük değişimlere uğramışlardır ki kaynak metinlerlerden tamlık açısından farklılaşmışlardır. Bazı çeviri varsayılan metinlerin kaynak metinleri olmayan sözdeçeviriler oldukları ve bazı yerli varsayılan metinlerin aslında gizli çeviriler oldukları ortaya çıkmıştır. Disiplinlerarası bir çalışma olan bu tezin ikinci amacı çevirmenlerin metne yaptıkları söylemsel müdahalelerin kadın okurları konuyla ilgili bilgilendirirken cinselliği ön plana çıkardığını göstermektir. Farklı çeviri türleri (tamlığı olmayanlar, sözdeçeviriler, derleme çeviriler, gizli çeviriler) yerli metinlerle karşılaştırıldığında, çevirmenlerin yerli yazarlara göre kendilerini ifade ederken daha az sınırlandırdıkları ve erken cumhuriyet döneminde kendilerine daha özgür bir söylem alanı yarattıkları görülmüştür. Böylece bu tez kadın araştırmalarında ele alınan ulus-devlet kurma sürecinde cinselliğin bastırıldığı ile ilgili argümanları sorgulamak için yeni bulgular ortaya koyarak cumhuriyet dönemi modernizasyon projesine yeni bir bakış getirmektedir. iv

6 Vita NAME OF AUTHOR: Müge Işıklar Koçak PLACE OF BIRTH: Kırklareli, Turkey DATE OF BIRTH: 3 June 1971 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED Boğaziçi University University of Warwick Hacettepe University DEGREES AWARDED Ph.D. in Translation Studies, 2007, Boğaziçi University. M.A. in Translation Studies, 1998, University of Warwick. B.A., Department of Translation and Interpreting, 1994, Hacettepe University. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Lecturer, Dept. of Translation and Interpreting, Dokuz Eylül University (2005- ) Research Assist., Dept. of Translation and Interpreting, Dokuz Eylül University ( ) AWARDS and HONORS 1st Laureate of the EST-CETRA Grant for a doctoral research project in 2004 GRANTS Ministry of Education Grant for M.A. at Warwick University, U.K. (September September 1998) Ministry of Education Grant for Language Education in Germany (January 1996-January 1997) v

7 PUBLICATIONS Işıklar Koçak, Müge (2006) Research in Translation History in Turkey. Translation Studies in the New Millennium. An International Journal of Translation and Interpreting. Vol. 4, Ankara: Bilkent University Publications, Işıklar Koçak, Müge (2000) Çeviride Süreç Öncesi Ölçüt (Norm) Kavramı Ana Dili. Vol. 19. İzmir: Ankara Üniversitesi TÖMER Yayınları Işıklar, Müge (2000) The Great Gatsby Çevirileri Üzerine Gözlemler Çeviri Eleştirisi. 4-5 Haziran 1999, Sempozyum Bildirileri, Bursa: Ankara Üniversitesi TÖMER Yayınları Atilla, Mehmet, (2007) On Children and Poetry, Trans. Müge Işıklar Koçak and Selin Erkul. III. Uluslarası İzmir Şiir Buluşması. İzmir: Konak Belediyesi Yay Pazarkaya, Yüksel (2007) Mother s Milk, the Flag of my Voice, The Mothertongue of Humanity, Trans. Müge Işıklar Koçak and Selin Erkul. III. Uluslarası İzmir Şiir Buluşması. İzmir: Konak Belediyesi Yay Gadjanski, Ivan (2007) Şiir ve Sanat Akımları, Trans. Müge Işıklar Koçak and Selin Erkul. III. Uluslarası İzmir Şiir Buluşması. İzmir: Konak Belediyesi Yay McKendrick, Jamie (2007) Solmayan, Trans. Selin Erkul and Müge Işıklar Koçak. Ç.N. Çeviri Edebiyatı Dergisi, Vol.2: 31. O Connor, Bridget (2001) Kartpostallar, Trans. Müge Işıklar Koçak, Dünya Edebiyatından Öyküler, (Ed.) Gülperi Sert, İzmir: İlya Yayıncılık vi

8 Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been written without Prof. Saliha Paker, who not only served as my supervisor but also encouraged and challenged me throughout my dissertation process. She helped make some sense of the confusion, never accepting anything less than my best efforts. She continually conveyed a spirit of adventure with regard to research and an excitement with regard to teaching. I want to thank her with all my heart. Each of the members of my thesis committee has provided me with extensive professional guidance. I would like especially to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Şehnaz Tahir-Gürçağlar, who contributed with her suggestions and advice. In addition I wish to thank Prof. Nükhet Sirman, Assoc. Prof. Ebru Diriker, Assist. Prof. Jonathan Ross and Assist. Prof. Özlem Berk-Albachten for their contributions and good-natured support. My thanks go to the European Society for Translation Studies for awarding me a grant to attend the CETRA Summer School, through which my initial research accelerated. I am also indebted to the CETRA 2004 professors for their invaluable suggestions. I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Theo Hermans, who kindly read the preliminary results of my research and offered many helpful suggestions. I would also like to acknowledge some friends and colleagues who have supported my research and writing efforts over the years. In particular, I should express my gratitude and deep appreciation to Selin Erkul, my colleague and friend, whose friendship, wisdom and enthusiasm have supported, enlightened, and entertained me during the research and writing process. İpek Şeker, my dear friend, facilitated my research by opening her home to me when I needed a place to stay in Istanbul. I want to thank my friend Sultan Çınkır-Chadwick who opened her home to vii

9 me during my research at the British Library in London. I also want to thank dear Serpil Hotaman, with whom I had the opportunity of sharing and exchanging information in Ph.D. courses. She left very early, but I will always remember our enthusiastic long conversations and her intelligent eyes. Many thanks to Mehmet Güven Koçak for his invaluable enthusiasm and energy and for sharing with me all the trials of conducting doctoral research, and above all his boundless love. He has always been there for me whenever I need him. And, finally, I want to thank my dear mother and father, whose unconditional love and support made me who I am. They believed in me and supported me throughout all these years. I want to dedicate this thesis to the memory of my dear father. He was waiting with such enthusiasm for me to finish my project before he left suddenly three years ago. I know he is around and is now proud of me. viii

10 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION... 1 CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL CONTEXTS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES The notion of modernization in women s studies Rereading the history of Turkish women s movements in the scholarly works in women s studies Periodization of the history of Turkish women s movements The question of women s in/visibility The question of the in/visibility of the translator/translation in the studies on women s movements Theoretical approaches in the history of translation in Turkey The systemic, descriptive/analytical, explanatory and interpretative approach Towards an interdisciplinary approach in translation studies Theoretical Framework Methodology Conclusions CHAPTER 3: DESCRIPTION OF PATTERNS IN THE PRODUCTION OF NON- LITERARY TEXTS FOR/ON WOMEN ( ) AND OF THE CORPUS ON WOMEN S SEXUALITY ( ) The bibliographical data Sources Selection criteria Patterns in the bibliographical data Translations and indigenous texts Trends in subject headings: a comparison of translated and indigenous texts 77 Trends in the main source languages Publishers Translators and authors Description of the corpus on women s sexuality ( ) Diachronic and synchronic look at the corpus Fe/male translators and writers Publishers and series Conclusions CHAPTER 4: TRANSLATED TEXTS IN WOMEN S MAGAZINES AND THEIR FEMALE READERS: Reading the bibliographies of women s magazines The pre-republican period The republican period Representations of translators/translation(s) in women s magazines: How were translators/translations represented, recommended and advertised?131 What did women read? Translated and indigenous articles on women in marriage and family life ix

11 Indigenous articles on women in society and the nation Translated and indigenous articles on foreign and Turkish female role models Translated and indigenous articles on sexuality Conclusions CHAPTER 5: CASE STUDY I: MANUALS AS TRANSLATIONS WITH SOURCE TEXTS: THE EXTENT OF TRANSLATORS MANIPULATIONS Tools of analysis Aşk Dersleri: Evlenecekler ve Evlenenlere (1931) [The Philosophy of Love] (1923) Peritextual features A comparative look at matricial features Translator s strategies Omissions Transpositions Other changes made in translating ST Transmission of the style of ST Translator s conception of women in marriage and romance Conclusions on TT Evlilik Hayatında Daha Bahtiyar Olmanın Yolları: Boşanmaların önünü alacak çareler (1942) [The Psychology of Marriage and Family Life] (1941) Peritextual features A comparative look at matricial features Translator s strategies Omissions Discursive interventions Transmission of the style of ST Use of medical terminology Translator s conception of women in marriage: an additional chapter in TT Conclusions on TT Aşk Sanatı (1950) [Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness] (1949) Peritextual features A comparative look at matricial features Translator s strategies Omissions Transmission of the style of ST Use of medical terminology Translator s conception of women in sex life: an addition of diagrams and illustrations Conclusions on TT Conclusions CHAPTER 6: CASE STUDY II: PSEUDOTRANSLATION OR INDIGENOUS WRITING? Tools of analysis x

12 Manuals as pseudotranslations: following the foreign Her Genç Kız Neler Bilmelidir? (1939) [What Should Every Young Girl Know?] Peritextual features Contextual features Textual features Pseudotranslator s conception of women instructing their daughters 254 Her Nişanlı Gençkız Neler Bilmelidir?(1956) [What Should Every Engaged Girl Know?] Peritextual features Contextual features Textual features Pseudotranslator s conception of sexually attractive women Kadınlar Niçin İhanet Ederler? (1956) [Why Do Women Cheat on Men?] Peritextual features Contextual features Textual features Pseudotranslator s conception of women: betrayed or adulterer? Manuals as indigenous writing and the pursuit of national ideals Genç Kızlarla Gizli Konuşmalar (1936) [Secret Conversations with Young Girls] Peritextual features Structure and style Writer s conception of women as leaders of the nation Her Genç Kız Neler Bilmeli? (1947) [What Should Every Young girl Know?] Peritextual features Structure and style Writer s conception of women: virtuous and modern Conclusions CHAPTER 7: CASE STUDY III: TWO MANUALS: A TRANSLATION AND ITS DERIVATIVE Tools of Analysis Tenasül Hayatı: Herkes için bir kılavuz (1958) [Reproduction Life: A Manual for All] Peritextual features Structure and Style Translators conception of women in sex life Dişi Kuş: Her Genç Kız ve Kadının Rehberi (1959) [The Nest-Maker: A Guide to Every Young Girl and Woman] Peritextual features Structure and Style Writers conception of women in love and romance Conclusions CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION xi

13 REFERENCES APPENDICES A. Translated Texts on Women s Sexuality B. Indigenous Texts on Women s Sexuality C. Translated Women s Biographies D. Indigenous Women s Biographies E. Translated Texts on Women in Society and Feminism F. Indigenous Texts on Women in Society and Feminism G. Translated Texts on Women and Islam H. Indigenous Texts on Women and Islam I. Translated Texts on Women in Marriage and Family Life J. Indigenous Texts on Women in Marriage and Family Life K. Translated Texts on Women and Politics L. Translated or Indigenous? M. Sample pages from target and source texts N. Sample pages from pseudotranslations and indigenous texts O. Sample pages from compilative and concealed translations xii

14 LIST OF TABLES 1. Total Production of Non-literary Texts for/on Women between 1828 and Total Production: Distribution in Decades 3. Literacy Rate in Percentages Number of Magazines and of Female and Male Staff in Administration LIST OF FIGURES 1. The Proportion of Female and Male Students in the Nation s Schools The Proportion of Female and Male Students in Primary, Junior and High Schools Total Production: Translated and Indigenous Non-literary Texts 4. Number of Translated Non-literary Texts 5. Number of Indigenous Non-literary Texts 6. The Ratio of Translated and Indigenous Popluar Texts of Six Subject Headings: Translated and Indigenous Popular Texts on Women s Sexuality 8. Translated and Indigenous Women s Biographies 9. Translated and Indigenous Texts on Women in Society and Feminism 10. Translated and Indigenous Texts on Women and Islam 11. Translated and Indigenous Texts on Women in Marriage and Family Life 12. Translated and Indigenous Texts on Women and Politics 13. Translations and Reeditions 14. Source Languages 15. Trends in English, French and German 16. The Number of Translated, Indigenous and Anonymous Texts on Women s Sexuality 17. The Number of Female, Male and Anonymous Translators 18. The Number of Female, Male and Anonymous Writers 19. The Distribution of Women s Magazines between 1869 and 1990 xiii

15 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The history of sexuality in Turkish society has yet to be written. We know little about the way in which sexuality has been defined, the transformations it has undergone, and the types of reformulations of which it has been the object. Has our society experienced a sexual revolution? If it has, where and in which forms did this revolution occur? (Nükhet Sirman, 1989, p. 12) 1 In recent years, a considerable number of scholars of translation and literature have focused on gender in translation and on feminist translation theories. According to Lori Chamberlain (1998) the issues relating to gender in the practice of translation are myriad and varying widely according to the type of text being translated, the language involved, cultural practices and countless other factors (p. 96). Suzanne Lotbinie-Harwood (1991) employs interventionist method, which she calls rewriting in the feminine, the purpose of which is to make women visible in language. Louise von Flotow, in Translation and Gender (1997), suggests that a favorable cultural context for feminist translation was created around the 1970s by the women's movement. Von Flotow s (1997) argument on gender awareness in translation practice (p. 14), is best seen in feminist experimental writing, such as by Hélène Cixous and Nicole Brossard, which display a new wave of practices, including sexist representations, asserting the presence of the feminist translating subject. Another 1 Türk toplumunda cinselliğin tarihi yazılmadı daha. Nasıl tanımlandığı, hangi dönüşümlere uğradığı, ne tip düzenlemelerin nesnesi olduğu pek bilinmiyor. Bizim toplumumuzda cinsel devrim yaşandı mı? Yaşandıysa bu nerelerde, hangi biçimlerde yaşandı? Sirman, Nükhet (1989) Önsöz: Coward ın Açtığı Yol [Preface: The Way Coward Opens] in Rosalind Coward, Kadınlık Arzuları: Günümüzde Kadın Cinselliği [Female Desire: Women s Sexuality Today, 1984] Trans. Alev Türker. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları. 1

16 result of the problematization of gender in translation has been the re-examination of past translations of women's writing, paving the way for new critical readings of translations of women writers. Mirella Agorni (2002), in her study on eighteenth century travel writing, studies the various ways in which Italian images of women influenced women writers in eighteenth century Britain by way of translation, as well as tracing the influence of those writers upon later female authors. Among the most recent research José Santaemilia s (2005) Gender, Sex and Translation is a collection of essays in which a variety of subjects such as gender-conscious language, translating as a woman, feminist translators as mediators between cultures are taken up. The specific aim of the present thesis, however, is to examine the popular non-literary texts on women s sexuality, both those assumed (Toury, 1995, p. 139, p. 143; 1995b, p. 32) to be translations and those written locally published in Turkey between 1931 and 1959, with an eye to problematizing the different translation strategies followed, as well as the functions of translations of these texts within the Turkish culture repertoire (Even-Zohar, 2002, p. 166; 2005c, p. 159). As will be explained below, the reason for taking 1931 as a starting-point is that this was the year in which the first translated text on women s sexuality was published in Latin script. The period chosen for study is significant in that it was marked by the foundation of the Turkish Republic and subsequent reforms which had a major impact on women. My initial research has revealed that, during this period, which witnessed political, cultural and social changes, an ever increasing number of nonliterary texts for and on women were translated and written locally. The preliminary findings of my research are that the majority of these texts were related to sexuality, and that approximately 60% of the texts on sexuality were translations. 2

17 The subject of women s sexuality in Turkey has attracted the attention of researchers in women s studies. As a consequence of the spread of feminist thinking in the 1980s and a boom in the establishment of graduate programs in women s studies from the 1990s onwards, researchers have become increasingly concerned with problematizing the history of women s movements in the pre-republican and republican periods. In the course of my research it emerged that some studies had been done on the subject of women s sexuality in the pre-republican and early republican periods. 2 One of these is Deniz Kandiyoti s (2000) article exploring the changes in the representation of female characters in the Turkish novel. Kandiyoti comments in the following way on the female characters in novels by Tanzimat writers such as Samipaşazade Sezai and Peyami Safa: The early novelists favored the usage of male characters to depict false values and anti-communitarian character of Westernism while focusing on the issue of women s plight in the family and society to criticize customs deemed inhuman and archaic. [ ] The foolish young man of the Tanzimat period caused a problem for society through his selfishness and spendthrift habits, the Westernized woman had lost her most precious possession, her virtue. (p. 103) Kandiyoti argues that a change occurred in the representation of female characters in the twentieth century, and exemplifies this through reference to the novels of Halide Edip. According to Kandiyoti (2000), Edip s novels are a telling 2 In the past twenty years, a great number of studies have been published on sexuality, drawing on surveys of women and young adults (both female and male) in Turkey. For example, in Exploring the Context of Women s Sexuality in Eastern Turkey, Pınar İlkkaracan (2000) examines the social and traditional norms governing women s sexuality in Eastern Turkey, based on her field work with 599 women. To give another example, Aylin Ayar and Yasemin Elmas (2000) introduce the lesbian movement in Turkey, pointing out that this movement began with the founding of the first lesbian group in 1994, the Sisters of Venus, a group that cooperated with feminist groups such as Eksik Etek, Mor Çatı, and the AIDS Prevention Center. In her article, Dilek Cindoğlu (2000) evaluates the findings from interviews with 6 female and 7 male medical doctors who perform hymen operations, and states that, even though the period from 1980 onwards witnessed a freer atmosphere, which she terms liberal gender ideology, there was no change in the attitudes of women with regards to virginity. 3

18 metaphor of the terms under which women could be accepted into public life in republican Turkey: as asexual and devoid of their essential femaleness (p. 102). For Kandiyoti, the loss of women s sexuality in the republican period was a result of the Kemalist reforms. She claims that [ ] this overkill was necessitated by the fact that the Kemalist reforms emancipating and literally unveiling women required compensatory symbolism and a new veil that of sexual repression (Kandiyoti, 2000, p. 103). In another article, Kandiyoti (1997) defines in the following way the image of the modern woman to which the republican reforms gave rise: [ The] severe suit and bare face of the woman civil servant can emit powerful messages of sexual unavailability by deemphasizing femininity and projecting a neuter identity. Thus the management of femininity and sexual modesty became part and parcel of the symbolic armor of the modern woman. (p. 128) Ayşe Kadıoğlu (1998) arrives at similar conclusions to those of Kandiyoti in her article Cinselliğin İnkârı: Büyük Toplumsal Projelerin Nesnesi Olarak Türk Kadınları [The Denial of Sexuality: Turkish Women as the Object of Great Social Projects]. Kadıoğlu (1998) maintains that, within the framework of the republican modernization project, women were transformed into symbols of the modern nationstate, and that a certain image was tailored for them and that these new women came to deny their sexuality: The new republican woman was a heroine who carried the double burden of work and family. She criticized the open sexuality of the western woman. She was an honorable comrade-in-arms. Above all, she was a faithful wife and mother, generous, tender and modest. She was a comrade and friend to her husband, a companion in social activities. Behind every successful man stood an invisible pillar of honor and endurance. (p. 96) 3 [Cumhuriyet in yeni kadını, iş ve aile çifte yükü omuzlamış bir kahramandı. Batılı kadının açıkça belirgin cinselliğini eleştiriyordu. O, namuslu bir silah arkadaşıydı. Her şeyden önce sadık bir eş ve anneydi. Özverili, şefkatli, alçakgönüllüydü. Kocasının yoldaşı ve arkadaşı, sosyal 3 All translations are mine, unless otherwise indicated. 4

19 faaliyetlerde eşiydi. Her başarılı erkeğin arkasındaki görünmez namus ve tahammül abidesiydi. (p. 96)] In her study, Ayşe Durakbaşa (2002) states that, prior to the 1980s, sexuality was a subject not addressed within public discourse, whilst after the 1980s it gained popularity in the press, in magazines and in women s films, thereby becoming a subject appropriate for public airing (p. 14). Pınar İlkkaracan and G. Seral (2000) point out in their article that the picture which Kandiyoti and Kadıoğlu paint of women s sexuality in the republican period is still valid into the 2000s; that women s sexuality remains a taboo in Turkey and that women still repress their sexuality: Most women have access to little or no information as the issue [of sexuality] is not addressed in either the formal education system or informal systems such as families or the community (p. 187). Most of the above studies are based on an evaluation of official or other public discourses such as Atatürk's speeches, male polemical writings, newspaper articles, female or male biographies and literary works. However, alongside such sources there also exist a body of published manuals, translated and indigenous popular texts on women s sexuality dating back to the founding of the republic and continuing up to the 1960s and beyond. The texts I will examine in this study do comply in varying degrees with the image of the new republican woman as defined by Kandiyoti, Kadıoğlu and a good number of other researchers. My research, however, provides evidence that other images of women were presented to female and male readers, those of women who had a role not just within the family, the home and society but also within sexual life. Furthermore, it is possible to establish that, by means of the above-mentioned translations, readers were exposed to various themes such as adultery, the sexual mores of other societies, information related to the sex life of women in foreign countries, the female body, frigidity, reproduction, 5

20 sexual diseases, sexual fears, different sexual preferences in addition to the stock themes and values such as sexual honor and fidelity. The increase in the number of translations on women s sexuality in the 1930s was not a phenomenon peculiar to Turkey. The advances in medicine in the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century brought with them a rise in the quantity of sexological studies in the USA and the UK as well as increased public interest in sex manuals. Joseph Bristow (1997) notes that sexology was a popular subject in the west from around 1860, after which it expanded rapidly, until the early twentieth century. For Bristow (1997), Sexology was the science that sought to know the name and nature of diverse desires and sexual types and the comprehensive vocabulary it created retains its influence to this day (p. 6). In their study of the history of sexuality in Britain between 1650 and 1950, Roy Porter and Lesley Hall (1995) claim that the sexological studies carried out in ever-greater numbers in early twentieth century Britain may have had an impact on subsequent ideologies such as feminism and anti-feminism (p. 176). Like Porter and Hall, Beatrix Campbell takes the early twentieth century, when abundant sexological texts were published in the West, as constituting the beginning of the movements for sexual reform. Campbell also argues that these early sexual reform movements sowed the seeds of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Campbell, as well as Porter and Hall, assert that the production of sexological texts in such numbers at the beginning of the twentieth century exposed the need for the discussion of sexual matters, and that the subjects and areas of discussion that emerged in response to this need had a pioneering role in the formation of feminist sexual politics (Porter and Hall, 1995, p. 177; Campbell, 2003, pp. 2-3). For Campbell (2003), the texts on sexuality published in the early twentieth century (a period she terms the sexual 6