the sexually twisted minds of middle eastern men (& a lot of other men)

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HI12Ak01.html



KEBABBLE
The perils of plastic playmates

At a time when Turkey's tourism industry has been under attack in Marmaris and Antalya, with repercussions for the rest of the country, one might assume that the bombings would be everyone's main topic of discussion.

-snip-

The story that really caught the public imagination concerned a cult film called That's My Wife. ......

-snip-

In the film, Ezici's character, a poor and ugly man, is rejected by the women he finds attractive. Unable to marry or pursue a love interest in any way, he purchases a sex doll from Germany, and it becomes his "partner". When she is "raped" by three men, he seeks revenge for the doll's damaged honor and kills all three of the "rapists".

It sounds like a comedy, but it wasn't shot as one, and Agah Ozguc believes it is a suitable metaphor for Turkey's strange attitudes to women and honor. Ozguc put forward the theory that this film director in some ways captured the drama of sex and love better than most conventional directors have done. He accuses them of being unable to film truly erotic scenes or convincing sexual passion.

-snip-

The topic of Turkish prudery has been taken up by columnists, television personalities and feminists, while the papers and magazines have gone to town reprinting sensational stills of the film's blow-up doll. The Hurriyet newspaper website has received more public responses to the online story about the doll than about the bombings or sending Turkish soldiers to the Lebanon.

-snip-

If one searches for "inflatable dolls" on the Internet in Turkish, there are a variety of options and price ranges, perhaps the most interesting of which are the "virgin" dolls. It seems that Agah Ozguc hit the nail on the head when he raised the issue of Turkish men's inability to deal with female sexuality. Even one's plastic playmate must come to bed untouched and intact.
--------------------------------------


which makes me think of the insanity of keeping women's head hair covered up and out of sight when women are out of their homes.

hair! muslim men are afraid of women's hair! they can't control themselves at the sight of women's hair!

the world of men is badly in need of therapy.

and it also makes me think of the short story by Pat Murphy called "His Vegetable Wife". a quite enjoyable read.

[matcom]

1. ummmmm

okay

:shrug:

[file83]

2. When I was a kid, our female Rottweiler had a "false pregnancy"

and she thought her plastic toy was her baby - she became very protective of it. Normally I used to grab it from her and throw it for her to fetch, but her new behavior would not allow me to do that. If I grabbed for the toy in her mouth, she gave a very sincere, deep growl. I understood and didn't want to find out what she'd do if I kept pushing.

So, my point is, men are dogs? No, just that men are animals, and if there hormones are in direct conflict with their culture, then they end up very confused creatures.

[Wiley50]

31. Interesting. Must be why there are so many fundamentalist sex criminals

"if there hormones are in direct conflict with their culture, then they end up very confused creatures."

Makes a whole lot of sense, file83

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Well, in fairness...

If I were in the market for a blow-up doll, I wouldn't shop for it at Value Village either. I'd spring for the extra $10 for an unused one.

Seriously, the movie sounds like an interesting exploration of cultural norms, the filmmaker makes an interesting point that there's little tangible difference in the regard the main character brings to the doll than he would toward a wife.

Does the character treat his doll like a wife or do Turkish men treat their women like inflatable dolls? :shrug:

[warrens]

19. Er, I think it has a more particular meaning

If you get my drift.

[SoCalDem]

25. or as "receptacles"

:puke:

[endarkenment]

4. The dolls came from europe.

So I give up on which culture is sicker. You figure it out.

[DireStrike]

dupe nt

[DireStrike]

5. "honor" killings of "immoral" girls in Turkey

In Turkey, 'Honor Killing' Follows Families to Cities
Women Are Victims Of Village Tradition

By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, August 8, 2001; Page A01


ISTANBUL -- By Sait Kina's way of thinking, his 13-year-old daughter brought nothing but dishonor to his family: She talked to boys on the street, she ran away from home, she was the subject of neighborhood gossip.

Two months ago, when she tried to run away yet again, Kina grabbed a kitchen knife and an ax and stabbed and beat the girl until she lay dead in the blood-smeared bathroom of the family's Istanbul apartment.

He then commanded one of his daughters-in-law to clean up the mess. When his two sons came home from work 14 hours later, he ordered them to dispose of the 5-foot-3 corpse, which had been wrapped in a carpet and a blanket. The girl's head had been so mutilated, police said, it was held together by a knotted cloth.

"I fulfilled my duty," Kina told police after he was arrested, according to investigators' reports presented in the court case against the father and his two sons. "We killed her for going out with boys."

http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/dilberk.htm

[Buzz Clik]

6. The OP is sexist and offensive.

I guess that's why I liked it.

[Zomby Woof]

7. Nice

the world of men is badly in need of therapy. :eyes:

[JVS]

8. Who needs therapy when there are sex dolls?

:bounce: :party: :beer:

[Buzz Clik]

10. Luckily, men have half the population to keep us sane.

:silly: :crazy: :evilgrin:

[jsamuel]

9. study cultural anthropology, it will help you understand what is going on

instead of saying they are in need of "therapy"

Calling people crazy is a way to shun their views without understanding what created them. If we want to change their views, we have to change what creates them.

Latin American women are held to a strange standard as well. They are both supposed to be Mary Magdalene (a sex goddess/prostitute) like you see on spanish television all the time and the Virgin Mary at the same time.

So a woman is expected to be both virginal and extremely sexually appealing and experienced. This is a direct contradiction. Yet the men are expected to marry virgins and before that, have sex with many many women. So how is a man supposed to have sex with many women before he is married if all the women are expected to be virgins when they get married?

[donsu]

13. therapy creates the atmosphere for change

therapy opens closed doors in the mind.

religions created these crazy sexual ideas re: women

[Wiley50]

32. Only the rich get therapy anymore

The average shrink appt lasts ten minutes

Just long enough to write a prescription

We are a nation of psychopharmacological theraputics

God bless managed care

[patcox2]

24. Frued called the Madonna-whore complex most common illness.

Please, its not a mediterranean trait, its universal. We are just a little more blind to our own cultures peculiarities.

[jsamuel]

33. oh I agree we have it in our own culture as well

I was just using Latin America as an example.

[Crankie Avalon]

11. About those dolls...

...you might be interested in this article: http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2005/10/11/real_dolls/index.html

And here was the discussion of the above article on DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=4139717

[aikoaiko]

12. I don't get it --- what's the sick and twisted part?

:bounce:

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. Christian fundamentalists are pretty funny about sex, too. n/t

[donsu]

15. and fundy Mormons wear strange underwear

nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. Yesh - but that isn't sexual. Those are for protection from evil.

We used to call them "Angel Chaps"

I really think that those may be more so that Temple Mormons can recognize each other instantly - you can always see thos undies under their clothes.

[LostinVA]

18. Actually, all Mormons wear them

[SoCalDem]

26. ahh yes.. the "garment"

[patcox2]

27. Kevin Smith can be funny about sex too; Clerks, Chasing Amy

Watch these movies, he couldn't diplay the same attitude more prominently. In the first one, the guy who could not accept the fact his girlfriend didn't think blowjobs counted and had blown many men, in Chasing Amy, the threesome, "fingercuffs," that made the boy leave the girl he loved. Classic examples of men with a serious problem with female sexuality. What frued called the madonna-whore complex.

[Warpy]

17. They're not the only ones

I remember the insane clothing restrictions and having to cover my hair in parochial school. Since I fled at the age of 10, they were insane, indeed.

FLDS women have to wear the same shapeless dresses you find on women in Iran. There are some Christian sects that still require head coverings when women are out in public.

Religion always restricts women and blames them for the sexual fantasies of men.

Somehow, I fail to understand how half the human population can be so fragile as to be rendered completely incompetent by the sight of the other half.

[omega minimo]

20. the socio/politically twisted minds of _______ men............

Any picture of a crowd or a religious meeting or political leaders or __________ where there are all men and no women, begs the question:

"What's wrong with this picture?"



"the world of men is badly in need of therapy."

The world as run by only and all men is dangerously out of balance.

[cally]

21. I was somewhat shocked realizing that Turkish young men were hitting

on my 13 year old daughter. We were traveling in Turkey and decided to take a tourist, one day cruise. My husband and youngest daughter got seasick and left the boat. My eldest, then 13, and I stayed to take a tourist cruise and snorkeling expedition. A few young men sat with us and I really thought they were practicing their English and learning about us. I noticed they were hitting on my daughter even though I mentioned more than once that she was 13. I've been on vacation in the US and in similar circumstances, and men back off when they realize that my daughters, at that time, were young girls. After leaving the boat, I asked about that experience. It's not uncommon for men to connect to young teens. These were highly educated, enligtened men, but it was considered normal to connect with a young teen.

I had several conversations about this subject with Turkish men and women. Most knew it was a problem but it was definitely part of the culture.

[patcox2]

22. They're no different from Greeks, Italians, Egyptians.

Their cultures are known as "mediterranean honor societies." Men are bound by strict codes of honor, must always protect their honor, etc. etc. As far as being sexually screwed up, its no more so than pretty much any society. You can go to jail just as surely for refusing to cover your breasts as any turkish woman would for refusing to obey their mores. The Madonna-whore complex is not limited to Turks, nor is the phenomenon of males who are terrified of female sexuality (not really, thats a disdainful way of putting it, they just don't like the idea of their wife getting horny and doing it with other guys.)

[Odin2005]

29. Sounds derived from Graeco-Roman society.

The "Machismo" thing seems derived from the totalitarian postion the family's elder male (Latin: Paterfamilias, Greek: Despotes) in Greaco-Roman society.

[greguganus]

23. Those inflatable dolls have been around for 40 years...

...and can be found everywhere. At least the man wasn't making some real woman miserable.

[blogslut]

28. There are men from all cultures

...that become emotionally attached to their love dolls. I suppose each act according to the norms and mores of their environments. Just the same, the love doll obsession is worldwide.

[omega minimo]

30. Dismissive always works, don't it?

:eyes: