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Dressing the Ottoman Lady: Fashion and Women's Rights in the Ottoman Journal "Mahasin"
Abstract by Dr. Esra Tasdelen On Session 113  (Kemalism and Its Legacy)

On Monday, November 23 at 8:30 am

2009 Annual Meeting

Abstract
My paper analyzes the images presented to Ottoman women in the press in an attempt to modernize their dressing styles and ways of conduct immediately after the Young Turk revolution. For this purpose, I analyze the Ottoman women’s journal “Mahasin” (Virtues) that was published between the years 1908 and 1909. This journal is laden with images geared towards shaping Ottoman women’s conceptions of fashion, beauty and personal care. Moreover, the journal is written and published by a group of mostly male, Muslim intellectuals who defend the rights of women, their important role in society, and their necessity as actors in the process of modernization and Westernization. In my paper, I argue that these male intellectuals created a “new image” for the Ottoman woman immediately following the Young Turk Revolution. This new image manifested itself with an increased emphasis on women’s appearance, their rights and responsibilities, and their place in Ottoman society. The journal “Mahasin” represents this effort to shape the new woman according to the needs of the age, and that is why it is has a crucial role in the study of the Ottoman women’s movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Preliminary bibliography: “Feminist/Nationalist Discourse in the First Year of the Ottoman Revolutionary Press (1908-1909): Readings from the Magazines of Demet, Mehasin and Kadin (Salonica)”, M.A. Thesis, Tülay Keskin. “The Ottoman Women’s Movement: Women’s Press, Journals, Magazines and Newspapers from 1875 to 1923”, M.A. Thesis, Vuslat Devrim Alt?nöz. “Debating Progress in a ‘Serious Newspaper for Muslim Women’: The Periodical Kadin of the Post-Revolutionary Salonica”, Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (November, 2003), 30 (2), pp. 155-181. “Unimagined Communities: State, Press and Gender in the Hamidian era”, Elizabeth B. Frierson. “Late Ottoman Society: the Intellectual Legacy”, Elizabeth Özdalga. “Osmanl? Kad?n Hareketi”, Serpil Çak?r. “Osmanl? Kad?nlar?n?n Hayat Hakk? Aray???n?n bir Hikayesi”, Aynur Demirdirek. “Nezihe Muhittin ve Türk kad?n?, 1931: Türk feminizminin dü?ünsel kökenleri ve feminist tarih yaz?l???ndan bir örnek, Ay?egül Baykan, Belma Ötü?-Baskett”. “In Pursuit of the Ottoman Women's Movement”, Aynur Demirdirek, in “Deconstructing images of "the Turkish woman", edited by Zehra F. Arat. “Image and imperialism in the Ottoman revolutionary press, 1908-1911”, Palmira Brummett. ”Jön Türklerin Siyasi Fikirleri, 1895–1908”, ?erif Mardin. “The Young Turks; the Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish politics, 1908-1914”, Feroz Ahmad. “?stanbul Kütüphanelerindeki Eski Harfli Türkçe Kad?n Dergileri Bibliyografyas?”, Kad?n Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakf?.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries