“Early Marriage Sufferers” in Turkey Child Brides or Willing Wives?

ÇİÇEK N.

Girlhood Studies, cilt.18, sa.3, ss.32-47, 2025 (ESCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3167/ghs.2025.180305
  • Dergi Adı: Girlhood Studies
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Educational research abstracts (ERA), MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Social Sciences Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.32-47
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: child abuse, consent, imprisonment, media, Turkish Penal Code, TV channels, unofficial marriages, YouTube
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The Turkish legal system stipulates that people under 18 are children and prohibits what is called child marriage. For decades the Turkish state has been striving to eliminate early marriages, whether forced or voluntary. Mainstream media labels underage girls who marry unofficially as child brides, a term that evokes negative associations including child abuse, backwardness, and pathologized sexuality. A group of underage girls, however, claim to have married of their own volition and call themselves Early Marriage Sufferers since they suffer because of the existing legislation regulating the age of marriage. I explore the topography of early marriages in Turkey through the media coverage of this movement in relation to the role it plays in the political antagonisms between secularists and conservationists in this society.