"Never rely on a prince! When you need a miracle, pin your hopes on a witch." This is the slogan of the Campus Witches, a growing group of feminists in Ankara, Turkey. They are fighting against sexual harassers head-on, and quite literally. This group urges women to stand up against sexual harassment and take matters into their own hands. The organization started three years ago and already spreads across 20 universities in Turkey.
The group has already caused several scenes on their campuses. In late March, they assaulted a male student from Ankara University and called him out on harassing and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Though these actions may seem a bit brash, understanding where the problem stems from can make their actions a bit more justified. Violence against women in Turkey has dramatically risen in recent years, and the current government polices embolden the harassers. President Recep Erdogan even stated that men and women can in no way be considered equal back in July 2010. On the Global Gender Gap Index, Turkey was ranked 130th out of 145 countries. Nearly 42 percent of women in Turkey have been either physically or sexually assaulted in their lives.
Meral Cinar, the group's founder, went more in-depth about the dangers of being a woman in Turkey. According to Cinar, campus security guards would objectify women, women would be harassed in subways, and in some cases, women were murdered in secluded areas. "All those reasons," Cinar says, "led us to take action to try to create an atmosphere where women can express themselves freely on campus.”
Many accuse the Campus Witches of provoking violence and assault, but in reality, they are fighting a noble cause. They live in a world where equal rights are not being encouraged by the government and men use their power to take advantage of women in Turkey. Like the witches' slogan states, there really is not a prince to come and fix the issue. Instead, they must take the initiative to stand up for women and let the country know that men cannot continue to objectify, harass, or assault women if the country wishes to be known as a democratic nation to the rest of the world. They defend women from these perpetrators because no one else will. They fight to protect women and to stop the terrible crimes Turkish men cause against them.
The equal right are strained in Turkey at the moment, at least there is a powerful group of women willing to fight for their rights.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/...
