Masculinity: Impossible Power

by Serpil Sancar

I believe that the analysis of the social male profile in general is incomplete in gender analyzes and discourses on gender equality. Serpil Sancar herself also touched upon this shortcoming and produced a wonderfully mind-opening work with her remarks that she quoted very appropriately.

In order to understand the dominant gender regimes, it is extremely important to understand men, who are both the subject and the object of social power relations. While this book offers us striking syntheses through a literature review, it also compiled male life stories within the scope of interviews with 260 men.

There are social masculinity positions in Turkey that differ according to social classes, ethnic and religious communities, age, occupational groups and physical characteristics. Despite the masculinity types in these different contexts, the dominant understanding of masculinity manifests itself through a single style and this state is accepted as the “single and natural” male state. With the resolution of rural dynamics and the gaining weight of urban dynamics in Turkey, we see that the authority of the “father” in the traditional sense is also resolved. It has been replaced by a gender regime based on the dominance of “man, the family man who earns his living”. In this context, the old men of the family have largely lost their dominance and authority over the younger men. The power of the sons preceded the fathers.

“The dynamics of market capitalism do not give importance to the experience of the old man who is the protector of the household and family, but to the “market”-based masculinity authority of the young man who produces and wins.”

With the exclusion of older men from the market, young men who make money in the family become the decision-making authority. On the other hand, the breaking of the duty to protect all other members of the family, which the “paternalistic” order imposed on the head of the family, leads to uncertain and chaotic environments in the new urban poor.

Young and poor men, deprived of their father’s experience and protection, are left “unprotected” in the face of the labor exploitation strategy of the emerging new market mentality, which is pursued by all kinds of illegalization, informalization and mafiaism.” This situation leads to crises of “loss of masculinity”. Although the father-son hierarchy in rural areas has been resolved in the urban order, we do not encounter any changes in the male-female hierarchy. The approach that the main duty of women is domestic and care services, that women’s existence in the social sphere and any paid job are subject to the approval of men remains widespread.

Although women participate in business life in the modern middle-upper class, housework and childcare still remain the responsibility of women.

Many middle-class men, who see themselves as democrats and egalitarians, remain indifferent to inequalities between men and women and the oppression of women, and experience almost “gender blindness”. Even among men with oppositional political identities, the idea that gender inequalities are often natural and inevitable still dominates. The criticism of the male-dominated order is often out of focus, and the structure of inequality between men and women that creates and feeds social inequalities is ignored.

The most important thought that fosters male dominance and finds support from different segments of society is the idea that gender inequalities are related to innate biological differences and are linked to the unchangeable nature of human beings. Surprisingly, this idea can find a place for itself not only in the rural or conservative sector, but also in the modern sector. As long as the idea that male supremacy is a “necessity of creation” is widespread, it is not possible to address and question this situation. In this case, “masculine violence” and “female obedience” become the requirements of our biological structure.

Another striking finding regarding the sociological structure of Turkey is that although it is a country where gender values change very rapidly, the idea that normalizes violence and that social problems can often be resolved with violence persists. Violence not only against women but also among men is an indispensable element of the male world.

Another important fact that Sancar stated as the last word is that “Turkey is a society that does not learn from its mother”. Most of the time, motherhood is romanticized in our society and an effective motherhood is glorified. However, it is overlooked that “masculinity practices” are learned from the father and that the mother’s transmission of feminine values does not yield effective results.