Job Discussion Forums

[phoebe caulfield]

Are there some clubs/bars etc that are fun and where my girlfriends and I can go out for some decent dancing? This can't be a lost cause!!!

[Golightly]

You'll only be allowed out as long as you are accompanied by a male relative with an enormous moustache and a waistcoat, and only in the daylight. That's the AKP way.

[phoebe caulfield]

offf yani, that is so discouraging!

I guess I will have to just be satisfied with my free internet connection.

[burdik]

I don't live in Ankara, but I am sure you can find a 'decent' place to dance as long as you don't mind (if you are a group of girls only) some jerk coming next to you, trying to dance with you or trying to tell you how beautiful you are every now and then.

ps. That is indeed the AKP way.

[justme]

Oof, this crap of guys who do this, these villagers or whatever who've just crawled out from under their woman-less rocks, I'm sick to death of it! Just because there are all these uneducated and impolite losers everywhere, people in the big cities are, little by little, changing their behavior to suit these a*sholes. (Sorry, phoebe, I'm kind of spinning off the track of your going out probelm here...)

When I went on holiday last month, I heard several women comment about the fact that they can't dress like 'this' in Istanbul, 'this' meaning shorts and tank tops, or T-shirts. And I don't mean hot pants-- I mean regular mid-thigh, or above the knee shorts. Why is this? Because of all the losers on the streets who miss their goats or whatever and go nuts and maltreat women dressed like this, making the women too uncomfortable to bother.

And Burdik's right-- phoebe may find a decent place to go out, but chances are, she and her friends would be hounded by one of these guys and eventually they'd probably decide it's not worth the trouble.

I've only been here 6 years, but in this time, Istanbul has become increasingly conservative. According to Turks I've talked to, this increase in conservativism started a long time ago, and friends' middle aged mothers remember fondly the days where they could comfortably leave the house in mimiskirts. Old movies support this, as many women in the background are wearing short skirts, much shorter than anyone would be seen in daylight outside these days.

On one hand, as a foreigner, I tread lightly here because it's not my culture and it's not my place to offend or tell them how to change things, but on the other hand, I get really frustrated to see Turks changing their dress and behavior to suit the AKP village pervs who think uncovered women are wh*res gagging to go to bed with them. To me, it seems that when people change their clothes and behavior to fit the tastes or senses of propriety of these people, they're just giving in and letting them win. Let the village stay in the village, I say!

[dmb]

[justme]

[burdik]

Not having lived in Istanbul long enough to know as well as you do, from what I hear and read, as one who lives in Izmir, I can say that Izmir is way better than Istanbul in that sense. I mean if you were to go out wearing mini skirts, or clothes that leave very little to imagination, people would still look at you but in most cases it would just stay at that. Being bothered by some 'hot!? Turkish guy that all foreign women are dying to sleep with!!??' is of course still a possibility, but the chances would be way less in comparison to Istanbul. Actually Izmir is pretty laid back compared to all other Turkish cities I have seen.

dmb, are you sure that the name of the area was Alsancak? Because I know there is an area called Alsancak in Izmir which most people would find entertaining, and I believe theres no Alsancak in Ankara.


ps. Although it is still early, for those of you ladies who will be in Istanbul in New Year, I strongly suggest that you don't go to Taksim that night, even if you are with your husband, boy friend, male friend, etc...

[dmb]

[tararu]

[newtefler]

I used to make the effort to cover up when I first arrived. Still got harrassed to death anyway. So now I just dress like a ho.. they assume as a westerner I have the morals of a slapper so I may as well look the part :0)

[Bebsi]

That's OK, newtefler: whenever I visit Turkey I always dress and act like a total slapper, and really do have the sexual morals of a Ho!!!!