Hiatus

I think I am going to the Princes Islands outside of the city tomorrow. They are a ferry ride away. I might stay a night or two. Kind of a hiatus from the city craziness, and the men and the bleh. In many cultures women have to leave the tribe and separate themselves from the men from time to time, and I think I need a bit of that woman time.

Um, not that there aren't men in these islands. But, you know, it is the right sentiment.

I think it might be that I am spoilt and tired after four weeks of seeing new things, but I am getting a bit over the sexism and attitudes towards women here. Men are everywhere on the street, and women stay at home, and men openly say sexist things in conversation, like it is a widely held belief that women should cook and men should not. And they stare, they stand over you, they follow you and stand behind you in stores. I am wearing winter clothes but they look at my legs if my skirt is just above the knee, and they looking at my chest if my shirt is a v neck.

I have started to tell old guys off in the street actually when I see them ogling young girls, which just makes me more annoyed so perhaps not a good strategy. They just laugh.

Devrim says it is because of the way they were brought up like 'little princes', and because they are Muslim and can't be with women until they are married, and because it is unusual to not look Turkish in such a homogenous country.

Devim? I am now in the pretty home of artist Devrim Kadirbeyoglu, and came to be staying with her through a website she advertised her room on.

She is Turkish but her family were Turks in Greece when the government did the population exchange in the 20s and with sometimes violent force pushed Greeks in Turkey back to Greece, and Turks had to come home from Greece. Whole villages were moved overnight, and churches turned to mosques. This led to a lot of unrest and confusion, and sadness as some people lost everything - their homes, friends and lands. It also led to many an identity crisis. Say you happily lived on the border of Greece and Turkey and spoke both languages and perhaps identified your character as more Greek since you lived there technically, but were in fact Turkish, and then were forced to be Turkish. That would confuse anyone.

Anyway, for reasons like the above, and the discrimination and sexism around these parts, I am going to go on a holiday from the holiday. Hope there are no princes left on the Princes Islands.