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Feminist Film Recommendation: "Dying to Divorce"


Lived experiences of women are essential for feminist theory, knowledge production, and activism. It is no surprise that the phrase “the personal is political” has resonated so well throughout decades of feminist activism. It is crucial that our activism is grounded in the experienced oppression of marginalized groups of people. 


The 2021 documentary Dying to Divorce does just that. The documentary follows two court cases handled by the Turkish attorney and activist Ipek Bozkurt, who is part of the “We Will Stop Femicide Platform”, a Turkish feminist advocacy group. 

 

“That’s Turkey. In this country, women are slaughtered”



The documentary follows Arzu's recovery and legal battle after surviving domestic violence. Arzu was married off at 14 by her farther, and is the mother of nine children, three of whom died. After she found out that her husband Ahmet had a mistress, sha asked for a divorce. As the title “Dying to Divorce” suggests, Arzu suffered greatly for this. Her husband short her legs and arms, leaving her facing the loss of all limbs. Meanwhile, Ahmet evaded legal repercussions due to the flawed, patriarchal justice system in Turkey. A common practice in Turkey is to reduce the sentences of men who commited femicide, and violence against women. As Ipek notes, “justice dies when a sentence of femicide is reduced.”  


 


Another woman that shares her experience of violence in the documentary is Kübra. Kübra was a successful journalist in England, before she moved back to Istanbul and got married. Kübra was violently assaulted by her husband in an argument after she gave birth to their daughter. She suffered a brain injury that left her severely impaired. Despite this, no justice was served. The documentary shockingly depicts how the medical and legal system in Turkey is protecting the male abusers, whilst failing to support survivors of gender-based violence.  

 

The film closely captures how Turkish women are systematically abused at every level of the personal, as well as the political level. It gives Turkish women a platform to share their experiences of violence and oppression, and powerfully connects the worrying trend of loss of democracy in Turkey, to gender-based violence, femicide, and patriarchal suffocation. 


 “We will continue to fight until women stop being murdered”

 

The documentary leaves the audience with feelings of heartbreak and anger. Justice has not been served. The number of femicide in Turkey is still growing. Activists and lawyers are still being arrested and silenced for their work. 


Yet, despite this, the documentary also gives us hope. It meaningfully shows why the personal is political, and why we need to listen to the stories of woman and survivors of gender-based violence. It is as essential as ever to engage in the fight for gender equality and democracy. 


I highly encourage anyone to watch the documentary Dying to Divorce and to support the feminist fight in Turkey, and anwhere else. 


The images included in this post are screenshorts taken from the film "Dying to Divorce". 


This blog post was written by Lea Niewerth, intern at WO=MEN Dutch Gender Platform. 


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