Secular but conservative? Youth, gender, and intimacy in Turkey

ABSTRACT This article contributes to studies on youth in Turkey by exploring gender, sexuality, intimacy, and relationship practices among college students. Our findings show that there is change (a) towards greater gender equality; (b) about attitudes regarding family, sexuality, and romance; and (c) in understanding and experiencing gendered violence in the groups of students we examined. Progressive values appear to become more common among the participants despite the increasingly conservative tone of the political and cultural climate. However, traditional relationship patterns and norms, including the idealization of monogamous relationships, robust familial ties, and sensitivity for moral reputation, seem prevalent even though these were not associated with the ascendant politico-religious conservatism. By constituting ‘secular but conservative’ intimate selves and relations, our respondents approve the freedom and right to explore possibilities for others, and yet not immediately for themselves, as they preserve an unequivocal moral self.