Nostalgic Harrassment: Part I

I am a 36-year-old female. I have a full-time job in one of the top academic institutes of the world. I live alone in a country 5000 miles away from homeland. I am strong: I can repair my house, I can paint, I can drive a truck and help a friend move his house. Pretty much, I am not your typical Turkish woman. But when I am back in Turkey, I have to behave like one. So, what is it like being a “Turkish woman” in İstanbul?

Scenic ferry ride across Bosphorus

Yesterday, I decided to take a nostalgic trip from Kozyatağı (where my parents lived since my teens) to Beşiktaş to remind myself the experience. I used to take this two-hour trip everyday to school during my college years. The trip was nostalgic; but, rather than remembering how scenic it was, all I remembered was the stress of being a nineteen-year old woman, but more importantly, just being a woman in İstanbul…

The trip would start at 6:30 am in the morning; I would take a minibus (minibüs) to Kadıköy to catch the 7:15 am ferry. That early in the morning, the minibüs would be really crowded: with 11 or less seats available, they would fill up easily and you would end up standing like canned anchovies with 15 or so others. The minibüses have a start and an end station, and along a fixed-route they pick up and drop off passengers anywhere the passenger wants, blocking the traffic to others’ dismay. By law, it is forbidden to have standing passengers; but since this is almost impossible to attain during rush hour, it would be an unmissable opportunity for the policemen to stop and fine minibüses that have standing travelers. Many times, the driver would yell us out to sit down on our knees and tuck our heads in, so the minibüs would look empty as we passed the police control. This would create a lot of funny moments, since the older, fat or more conservative women would often complain about their knees, space or inappropriate contacts.

Minibüses at their end station in Kadıköy

Body contact is a huge problem for women traveling in public transport. When standing in a minibüs, the lower end of the right-hand side windows hits below your waist. So, when the minibüs is fully-packed, your butt presses flat against the glass, making a really unattractive scene out the window. But as a woman, this is your only choice, because otherwise your butt would be flattened out by whatever is in front of a guy: his hands or his point-of-proud. I had a friend from college, Nur, who came up with the most brilliant solutions to this womanly problem. Nur used to carry a broach attached to her skirt or blouse, and she would take it out and stab its needle to the guy behind her with all her might. And when I told her that it’s too much for me and that I can’t do it, she came up with another tip with a weird satisfaction in her face: “Bikem, step on the guy’s toes with the heel of your shoe and put all your weight on that foot while you lift the other foot!” Well, I could never dare for that either, so I would always end up at the window side. With my shoulder bag stacked between the glass and me. 

To be continued...