Ilkkaracan on women's sexual rights

Ilkkaracan on women's sexual rights

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite worrying about the growth of fundamentalism, feminist
Pinar Ilkkaracan hopes that human rights violations related to
sexuality can be eradicated in Muslim societies and all over the
world.

"My hope is that all kinds of human rights violations related
to sexuality will be eradicated, ... for gays, lesbians and women
in the name of honor... " Ilkkaracan said in an interview with
The Jakarta Post on Monday.

At least 22 participants, including Ilkkaracan of Turkey, Amal
Abd-el Hadi of Egypt, Asghar Ali Engineer of India, Dina Siddiqi
of Bangladesh, Isabelita Solamo Antonio of the Philippines and
Zaitun Kasim of Malaysia participated in the International
Conference on Sexuality and Human Rights in Muslim Societies in
South/Southeast Asia here.

The three-day conference, which was coorganized by local non-
governmental organization (NGO) the Women's Health Foundation
(YKP), was also attended by Indonesian activists, including Anita
Rahman, Ninuk Widyantoro, Farha Ciciek and Dede Oetomo.

Ilkkaracan, whose NGO, Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR)
coorganized the conference that ended on Sunday, expressed
concern at the tendency toward conservatism in Muslim society.

She said conservative groups in many Muslim societies were
currently constructing concepts related to sexuality, such as
female genital mutilation (FGM) and mut'ah (temporary marriage),
wherein the groom is asked to pay a dowry with the agreement that
the marriage will only last for a certain period, sometimes even
as briefly as one night.

"The practices are pre-Islamic traditions. But conservative
groups try to Islamicize the practices. The practices were
unheard of in Turkey in the past, but currently some groups are
preaching about them," Ilkkaracan, who was born in 1961 in
Turkey, said.

Female circumcision, which is practiced in many Muslim
societies, is considered a form of violence against women as it
is believed to prevent women from gaining complete sexual
fulfillment.

Temporary marriage also causes losses to women, especially in
terms of their rights after divorce.

Ilkkaracan, who has a double masters in psychological
counseling and in clinical psychology, and a PhD in psychology
from a university in Bonn, Germany, believes that healthy
sexuality for both women and men will result in a healthy
population.

"If women cannot not have good sexuality, how can men have
it?" she said.

She said that cooperation between people of various
backgrounds, including progressive ulema who have perspectives on
human rights and women's rights, was an important factor in
facing growing fundamentalism.

She said joint research among scholars and women activists in
Muslim societies, as well as translation of literature in various
languages from those societies would also be significant in
facing the challenges.

"I see a bright future. I was alone 15 years ago, but now I
see many people and friends. It gives a lot of hope," said
Ilkkaracan, who founded WWHR upon her return to Turkey in 1993
after being an activist in Germany for years.

Ilkkaracan, who grew up in a middle-class Muslim family, was
lucky to receive an education amid the oppression faced by so
many women all over the world.

"My family is very supportive. I just received a phone call
from my mom, congratulating me because the penal code with the
exclusion of the adultery bill, which we have been struggled for,
was just passed," she said.

"My mother is proud to have two feminists in the family. My
younger sister, a doctoral candidate in the economics department
of the New School of Social Research in New York, is also a
feminist," she said.

Ilkkaracan has co-authored The Myth of the Warm Home: Domestic
Violence and Sexual Abuse (1996) and Human Rights and Legal
literacy Training Manual (1998) as well as an edited Women and
Sexuality in Muslim Societies (2004).

Several Muslim feminists, including Fatima Mernissi, Leila
Ahmed, Rais Nur, Nawal El Saadawi, Ayesha M. Imam and Alifa Rifat
as well as Ilkkaracan, have contributed their writings on various
topics related to sexuality and bodily integrity to the latest
book.