Cinsel Şiddet; Tanımı, Türleri, KavramlarSexual Violence; Definition, Types, Conceptsالعنف الجنسي:" التعريف عنه، أنواعه، المفاهيمخشونت جنسی؛ تعریف، انواع، مفاهیمTundkariya Zayendî; Wate û Cûreyên wê, Têgeh

Sexual violence includes sexual harassment, sexual abuse and rape.

These common concepts may differ as legal terms. In the Turkish Penal Code, crimes of sexual violence are classified with the following terms;

• Sexual harassment : Disturbing verbal, visual sexual acts committed by body language, mail or electronic communication instruments that do not involve contact (Penal article: TCK 105)
• Sexual Assault: Contact and unwanted touch, attempted rape, forcing someone to engage in sexual acts by means of inserting an organ, or other object, into the body (Penal article:TCK 102)
• Qualified Form of Sexual Assault: Rape. (Penal article: TCK 102/2)
• Child Molestation: All kinds of sexual attempt against children, forcing children into marriage or prostitution, exploitation of children for pornographic and commercial purposes, etc. (Penal article: TCK 103)

Sexual violence is not about sexuality, but about the use of force.

What is the use of force?

The use of force (duress/coercion) does not always mean the use of physical force. Perpetrators of sexual violence can use methods like emotional pressure, psychological manipulation, threats, blackmail, etc.

In addition, in unequal relationships where there is a hierarchy, perpetrators can use their privilege or status as a tool of coercion. They may engage in violent behavior by drawing strength from social pressures against a gender, sexual orientation or identity, or by using prejudices towards and generalizations about a profession.

The following examples could also be forms of sexual violence against individuals or groups based on use of force and discrimination;

• When the perpetrators compare their partners’ sexuality with that of others or through intimidation.
• In a marriage or relationship, when the perpetrator is forcing the spouse or partner to have an intercourse at unwanted places or times or in unwanted ways
• Forms of sexual assault by perpetrators who abuse their professional expertise or status (such as psychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists, doctors, teachers, public officials, police or other professionals)
• Jokes, comments, slogans, forms of cat-calling or group behaviors that identify sexual behavior with dirty language or humiliation, or that normalize rape and sexual assault
• The control of the body and reproductive rights by the use of force, such as forcing a woman to give birth or to not give birth (For example, coercing an abortion or blocking access to healthy birth control methods, or mandatory sterilization operations or others operations done without consent etc.)
• Sexual abuse of animals
• Genital mutilation (all irreversible and non-medical interventions aimed at the genital organs of girls or boys, against their bodily integrity or the cultural rituals for children who cannot legally consent)
• Continually bothering someone physically or via virtual tools (Stalking, systematic threat / pressure / blackmail by the perpetrator, or forcing the persons into sexual behaviors)

One instance of sexual violence might involve actions that fit multiple categories.

We use a variety of expressions, terms and concepts/terms related to sexual violence to express, interpret or discuss sexual violence. The concepts we use include the messages and prejudices that society instills, as well as our feelings and thoughts.

The terms and definitions related to sexual violence that are commonly used Turkish are often insufficient. Therefore, we may feel the need to use some foreign concepts when speaking Turkish to accurately describe violent behavior, emotional pressure, forms of discrimination, specific situations or techniques. Some of these concepts work not only to accurately describe violence, but also to support and empower those who experience violence.

Although various terms that we use in daily life have been translated into Turkish from different languages or originated in different languages and used in our language, this section contains explanations of some concepts that are used in Turkish but are not necessarily known understood by everyone.

• Trigger: A trigger is a stimulus that activates a response chain created by a traumatic event. Being triggered refers remembering, feeling and reliving thoughts, emotions, and mental states from a past traumatic event we experienced as if they are happening in the here and now, and can feature sensory sensations, movement, touch, sight, sound, smell and taste. The triggering event or object does not have to be traumatic in itself—it may merely be just a reminder. For example, a certain sound, smell, scene, color, a special day, etc. can also be a trigger. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, flashbacks, loss of reality or anxiety and restlessness may occur due to the effect of triggering stimuli. Instead of using a pessimistic, helpless, victimizing language that can trigger negative emotions in violent narratives and posts, using empowering language and an empowering approach that addresses the incident while recognizing its social components, emphasiziing rights and building solidarity reduces the risk of triggers/being triggered.
  
• Being triggered: Being triggered refers to remembering, feeling and reliving the negative feelings from a past traumatic event we experienced as if they are happening in the here and now and can feature sensory sensations, sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.
  
• Manufacturing Consent (Coercion/Constructing Consent): Manufacturing consent, also called coercion or constructing consent, is defined as manipulating a person’s decision-making ability to gain consent for any sexual behavior that the person does not want to engage in. Methods that do not involve physical coercion such as insistence, lying, emotional threat, persuasion processes (gifts, financial support and hospitality), emotional pressure (making the person feel guilty), anxiety reduction (assurances provided regarding relationship) can all be forms of coercion. Desire and consent should not be confused. Desiring a person or sexual behavior does not mean that you have consented to that behavior. Each individual can choose to give or not give consent to sexual behaviors regardless of their gender/sexual identity. Manufacturing consent can cause these choices to blur and cause the survivors to realize the violence to which they are subjected much later. Questioning and fighting coercion is a process of empowerment and liberation based on listening to ourselves and each other, communicating, understanding and expressing our feelings rather than our knowledge and respecting personal boundaries.
• Self Help:  Self-help is the support that a person needs to overcome a problem on an emotional, psychological and concrete basis through their own efforts, resources and will. It is used in the sense of self-help, self-support, self-empowerment. In our post-traumatic healing process, discovering and doing things that are good for us or that protect us from secondary traumas are part of self-help. As much as we need support and solidarity from someone else or from trained professionals, we also must support ourselves, love ourselves and take care of ourselves. We can find out by exploring which methods make us feel good and heal us. We may also benefit from the recommendations provided by various sources.
• Self Defence: Self-defense is used as self-assertion or self-preservation in Turkish. It means protecting oneself against a violent attack by using physical force when necessary. In law, this concept is treated as “justifiable defense” or “self-defense” and expresses the legal legitimacy of physical acts performed for self-preservation. Self-defense is also the methods we use to protect, defend and strengthen ourselves as part of the self-help process. These methods can be both physical and mental methods. Co-resilience and solidarity are also parts of self-defense.
• Safety Plan: Safety plans are special emergency plans that we create for our own safety through an evaluation of the risks that we may experience in our own individual situation. If we are already being exposed to violence or if we think we are at risk, we can prepare an escape plan for implementation when necessary. It can make it easier for us to act and protect ourselves in an environment where we do not know what to do, in the event of possible violence or other shock. We can ask someone in our support system or a social worker to help us to create a safety plan. We can also rehearse the plan we prepared before implementing it.  
• Support System: Our support system is the network of people with whom we can communicate and seek support after sexual violence. This concept explains that everyone can have a network of people, be it small or large, from whom they can get support and ask for help. One of the important steps towards healing after sexual violence is to seek support. The term support system is used to refer to a communication network consisting of people we trust that we have choosen for ourselves. The people in this network do not necessarily have to be experts (though they may be). Examples of people in our support system include a trusted friend (or friends), our family members, our psychologist or psychiatrist, and just someone we have the same opinions or approach. Apart from our personal support system; we can use the term of “organizational support system” or “support units” which is the local, coordinated network of NGOs and public institutions that provide support services.
• Rape Culture: Rape culture is the normalization of rape through patriarchal norms and incorrect beliefs and is especially common in cultures where rape and forms of sexual violence are seen at high rates. Rape culture’s use in Turkish originates in the concept which was originally used in English. It has not yet been fully embraced as a culture in Turkey. Since the concept of “culture” originates in a Latin word meaning “to produce, to cultivate” (think of lab workers culturing bacteria, for example), culture is a neutral word in English—cultures can be good or bad. However, in Turkish, the word culture (kültür) has much more dıstınctly posıtıve connotatıons, generally what we might call “high culture” in English, whıch may be an impediment to the term’s adoption in Turkish. Rape culture is used critically to organize and nurture the realization that patriarchal norms and perceptions have deepenly rooted and unconsciously accepted in society for centuries, and that therefore many kinds of sexual violence have been normalized. It is a way to look at the general acceptance and normalization in the society, not merely individual behavior. The term rape culture criticizes the approach that rape and other forms of sexual violence are normal (man can do it because “she wanted it”, etc.), the perception that women are inherently unreliable (women are untrustworthy, women cheat, women are evii, etc.), and the belief in the natural innocence of men (the assertion that because of hormones, brains chemistry or any other pseudoscientific reason the sexual urges of men are uncontrollable) and also how these ideas are socially transferred and perpetuated
• Consent Culture: Consent Culture is the establishment of a form of communication in the society where the existence of consent is questioned and spoken in all emotional and sexual relations and relationships. We prefer to translate this concept, which is used as “consent culture” in English into Turkish as “onay kültürü” (literally “approval culture”). This preference is made since alternative translations of the concept of consent do not express the right level of affirmative approval or request in Turkish or are used mainly legal jargon. Consent culture does not mean consenting to sexual behavior at all times and under all circumstances. Rather, it means questioning whether there is an affirmative consent for a sexual behavior at all times and under all circumstances, and establishing firmly a communication based on people’s respect for each others’ boundaries in the culture of that society. Consent culture reflects a culture where children are raised to listen to themselves when feeling “no” or “yes” and to discover their boundaries for themselves, where people are not suppressed in expressing or hiding their desires by being segregated according to gender and gender roles, where sexual behaviors without consent are not encouraged, and where violence is not perpetuated by people justifying it with various excuses, myths, and misconceptions.
• Abuse of power: Abuse of power refers to a person, group or institution taking advantage of the authority, power, position and rank. It describes the forms of abuse and violence caused by the abuse or misuse of administrative authority, professional expertise, power, reputation and similar elements. For example:
  • Sexual assault and sexual abuse carried out by people with positions of trust or authority in a religious community.
  • o Abuse of the duties by professionals such as doctors, gynecologists and psychologists who have sexual or inappropriate relations with their patients / clients;
  • Forms of violence perpetrated by law enforcement officials such as police, judges and prosecutors abusing their powers;
  • By taking advantage of the trust relationship built in public and through forums like fan groups, celebrities, artists and intellectuals can also inflict emotional, physical, sexual and economic violence and use their fame or respect to try and legitimize these forms of violence.
• Victim Blaming: Victim blaming is an approach that acquits the perpetrator of guilt by attributing fault to the survivor of an incident. In cases of sexual violence, the blame is attributed to the survivor, which recasts the victimization to portray the survivor in a negative light. It is implicitly or explicitly suggested that the survivor deserves the violence. The presentation of various moral-social grounds to try and prove that the survivor does not deserve sexual violence is indirectly a victim blaming because, by implying that some may deserve sexual violence even if this particular survivor didn’t, it feeds the same approach. Victim blaming remains one of the important reasons why the persons have to hide the violence they are exposed to. It causes sexual violence to be discussed through the survivor, often ignoring or minimizing the perpetrator;s actions. It is important that everyone who talks, writes and comments on sexual violence to question whether there is victim blaming in their— and others’—approach, and to raise awareness about the issue.
  
  
• Workplace Bullying/Mobbing: Workplace bullying, commonly called mobbying in Turkey and many other European countries, is the a result of psychological violence, pressure, siege, harassment, disturbance or distress occur in the workplace (or school). The perpetrator can be a single person or a group of people. It involves intimidation, mocking, exclusion, humiliation towards someone (or a group) that a group or a single person can hierarchically use power on, and cause psychological and/or physical harm to the survivor. These behaviors can include a range of different forms of violence.
  
• Bystander: Bystander is used for the person or people who watch an incident of violent behavior or bullying without intervening or contacting the appropriate authorities. After the violence, bystanders may share their experiences on social media or similar channels. Those who are bystanders may cause the perpetrator to continue the violent behavior and justification of the violence, consciously or unconsciously. Some bystanders may even openly support the violence by laughing or making supportive comments to the perpetrator.
  
• Upstander: Upstander is used for those who are not bystanders and instead choose to intervene in a incident of violence or bullying, for those who provide support to people who have been subjected to violence or bullying, and for those who call for help when necessary and choose to stand up instead of being silent about the violence they witnessed. Upstanders may take action against incidents of violence or bullying in digital environments, and they may combat violence directly or indirectly.
  
• Gaslighting: Gaslighting is a type of emotional violence that we can define as constantly manipulating a person such that they begin to doubt their own perception and memory. The term comes originally from the 1944 movie Gaslight and was later brought into the psychology as “gaslighting”. The criterion is that the perpetrator acts consciously in order to obtain an emotional or financial benefit. The exact form that gaslighting takes can vary widely. Gaslighting unmistakably causes a person to “constantly doubt their own reality, perception and memory” when they are exposed to violence. However, situations such as making someone feel guilty and forcing them apologizing whenever they try to express or discuss the problem can also be described as gaslighting, regardless of whether the perpetrator is consciously or unconsciously using manipulation. For many people who feel that they have been subjected to emotional violence but cannot describe what it is, this concept has been useful in making sense of their experiences. It has recently been adapted into Turkish with the translation “gaz lambası”(literally “gas lamp”).