Man trapped in "the man box"- Power of male gender presented in the stories of ''A poem for Redife'' (Redife'ye Güzelleme) by Füruzan and "There is one church in Harput" (Harput'ta Var Bir Kilise) by Erendiz Atasü

Abstract

A man is considered to be a nutritionist and a public relation to the world, which is a result of patriarchal perception of gender roles, within a traditional family perception. Patriarchs who attribute superiority to men and impose certain codes of conduct and responsibility within society and family by giving men, as well as women, a role based on gender division, puts pressure on the male sex by stifling it with a sterile pattern of behavior. The superior position of a man, given to him at birth and developed throughout his life, is socially conditional, and the socially desirable behavior, that insists on “manhood”, condemns any deviation from this norm. Exactly this, is the theme of Füruzan’s and Erendiz Atasü’s narratives, which are the subject of this paper. The whole spectrum of behavior that has been imposed on a man since his early childhood is normal and he has to respect it because otherwise he would betray his family and his own masculinity. That same burden and the relationship that the patriarchal society imposes on him, stigmatizing the role of his “masculinity” in the family – is a learned pattern, and disrespecting it, is characterized as deviant behavior or disobedience.

Keywords

• gender roles
• stereotypes
• norms
• masculinity