Working Out Desire: Women, Sport, and Self-Making in Istanbul

318 Pages·2021·8.504 MB·English

by  Sertaç Sehlikoglu

Working Out Desire
Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East
miriam cooke, Simona Sharoni, and Suad Joseph, Series Editors
1. Women exercising at Kartal ISMEK, from knees below, May 17, 2012.
working out
D E S I R E
Women, Sport, and Self-Making
in Istanbul
•
Sertaç Sehlikoglu
Syracuse University Press
All photographs by Sertaç Sehlikoglu.
Copyright © 2021 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2021
21 22 23 24 25 26 6 5 4 3 2 1
∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press,
visit https://press.syr.edu.
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3693-9 (hardcover)
978-0-8156-3695-3 (paperback)
978-0-8156-5505-3 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sehlikoglu, Sertaç, author.
Title: Working out desire : women, sport, and self-making in Istanbul /
Sertaç Sehlikoglu.
Description: First edition. | Syracuse, New York : Syracuse University Press, [2021] |
Series: Gender, culture, and politics in the Middle East | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: “In “Working Out Desire,” Sehlikoglu presents
the ways in which women’s changing habits, leisure, and self-formation in the Muslim
world and the Middle East are connected to their agentive capacities to shift and
transform their conditions and socio-cultural capabilities”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020012640 (print) | LCCN 2020012641 (ebook) | ISBN
9780815636939 (hardback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9780815636953 (paperback ; alk.
paper) | ISBN 9780815655053 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Women—Turkey—Identity. | Self-perception in women—Turkey.
| Exercise for women—Social aspects—Turkey. | Women—Turkey—Social
conditions. | Sports—Sociological aspects.
Classification: LCC HQ1726.7 .S44 2021 (print) | LCC HQ1726.7 (ebook) |
DDC 305.409561—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012640
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020012641
Manufactured in the United States of America
I dedicate this book to my father, Tahir Sehlikoğlu, whom I lost
unexpectedly while writing this book. He was a national athlete,
so I grew up surrounded by sportspeople.

I also dedicate it to
Istanbulite women, whose desires have become my fascination.

•
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Prologue xv
Introduction: A Eulogy to Sporty Aunties 1
Self
1. Forming an Object of Desire 31
2. Desiring Istanbulite Women 52
3. Mediating Desires 75
Space
4. Leisurely Istanbul 109
5. Men-Free Exercise 140
6. Homosociality and the Female Gaze 173
Time
7. Embodied Rhythms and Self-Time 197
8. Gendered Temporalities 217
9. Emanet Corporalities 232
Coda: Tracing Desire 247
Glossary 259
References 263
Index 291

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Illustrations
Figures
1. Women exercising at Kartal ISMEK ii
2. A store display window in Fatih, Istanbul xvi
3. Women using outdoor gym equipment in Cumhuriyet Park 161
4. Women walking in a public park in loose outfits 162
5. Exercise scene in Cumhuriyet Park 167
6. Trainer Fatma posing for the author in Hamza Yerlikaya 184
7. The fitness room in Hamza Yerlikaya Sports Center 184
8. The changing corner in B-Fit Bulgurlu 188
Table
1. Population of Istanbul between 1950 and 2010 118
ix