Month: March 2025

Two weeks ago, I was told that I would look like a “hardcore feminist” if I cut my hair short. To be clear, this was said in a derogatory tone—a comment intended to discourage me from my decision. When I responded with “What if I am?” to challenge the idea, a mildly heated argument began.… Continue reading Women’s Advocacy or Aggression?

Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend transports readers to a vibrant yet fractured neighbourhood in 1950s Naples, telling the story of a friendship between two girls — Elena ‘Lenu’ Greco and Raffaela ‘Lila’ Cerullo. Against the backdrop of an array of themes in the novel such as friendship, social issues, politics, and family dynamics is a… Continue reading In the Shadow of Power: Violence in Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend

I have felt shame. I know this feeling. Insidious, pounding, discomforting. The weight of an elephant on my chest, crushing my rib cage. The tension of a prey in every muscle, standing straight, scrutinizing the unwelcoming surroundings. I have felt shame. I know why it happened. After mistreating a friend, sure. Thinking back on the drunken, foolish bickering, abrasively my carefully hidden flaws exposed: selfishness, insecurity. Fear of being misperceived, fear of being disliked. After stumbling in public, knees and hands on the ground, I swear I can feel the stares poking my back, a pin holder. The underlying commonality: a misstep, a mistake, an error on my behalf. I should have acted differently. I should have behaved. I have felt shame. I know why it happened. At least, I think. I not only felt shame for my actions. As it happens, you know, I felt it for other people’s actions. I felt shame when my mother revealed to my crush that I liked him in primary school. I felt shame when the people I introduced didn’t like each other. I even felt shame because of the barbaric actions of humankind: wars, genocides, and inequality. I guess, in a way, I feel responsible for others, even if their actions are out of my control: a little talking cricket sitting right by my ear whispers to my nervous system, “STIFFEN! TENSE UP! MAYDAY, I REPEAT, MAYDAY.”… Continue reading I have felt shame.

This article contains a description of abuse and violence.  On the night of November 9, 2023, Saltanat Nukenova was brutally murdered by her husband, an ex-Minister of Economy of Kazakhstan, Kuandyk Bishimbayev. I feel “brutally” is not enough of a word to describe the torture she went through. As the forensics expert concluded in court:… Continue reading Turbulent Times: Kazakhstan’s biggest femicide case and personal sentiment. 

Lately, it has become the norm in Turkey to wake up to yet another tragedy. On the news, what you constantly see—alongside the persistently high inflation—is a woman being murdered, most often, though not always, by a man. The rise in femicides has unsurprisingly coincided with democratic backsliding, as the ruling Erdoğan regime implements conservative… Continue reading Istanbul Convention Saves Lives

The privilege of “space” has never been granted neutrally, in fact spaces have always been used to assert dominance, a tool of power that guides who belongs where and who should be kept out. Physically, socially, or psychologically depicted spaces such as households, kitchens, asylums, rest cures have long served as spatial boundaries that are… Continue reading A Panoramic View on Spatial Repression: Intersection of Space and Gender

I was diagnosed with endometriosis around this time seven years ago when I had just turned 18. Throughout the years, I have gone through most stages of grief about my pain and my treatment, and I have written many articles and stories about it at different points in my life. This is the first one I’m… Continue reading Women’s health and endometriosis: when medicine wasn’t made for you.