Tweeting in Solidarity: Turks Backlash Against Online Sexist Commentary Targeting Ukrainian Refugee Women

^{Over 3.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country. Pictured here are those waiting for the train to Poland in Lviv, February 26, 2022. Image: Bumble Dee/Shutterstock}

8 March has always been a lively and dynamic day in Istanbul, Turkey, where hundreds of women gather to hold a ‘Feminist Night Walk’ every year. There was a new agenda in that night walk this year, as evidenced in the placards with statements like ‘Ukrainian Women are Not for Sale.’ This slogan, captured on a photo that went viral on social media, has become an open protest against derogatory comments in Turkish social media that sexualize Ukrainian women refugees.

Sadly, refugees and immigrants would already know that these discourses are often sexualized, and refugee women are targeted because of their gender, while refugee men are often painted as sexual predators in anti-migration discourses. Despite the mainstream Western media’s relatively positive representation of Ukrainian refugees, they have not been spared such sexualized discourses. From China to Egypt, disturbing comments fetishizing Ukrainian refugee women have filled social media platforms. In Brazil, a politician has faced calls to resign after audio recordings were leaked in which he made sexist and degrading remarks about refugee women during a ‘humanitarian’ visit to Ukraine. The situation in Turkey has proved no exception. Hundreds of anonymous Turkish-language accounts posted misogynist comments sexualizing Ukrainian women on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms, including the Sour Dictionary, some of them simultaneously degrading Syrian refugees and Turkish women.

However, was a very rapid backlash with prominent Turkish celebrities using the same social media platforms to post Tweets protesting the online targeting of refugee women. For example, the well-known actor and comedian Sahan Gokbahar called out those who made sexual comments about Ukrainian refugees as a bunch of ‘shameless and conscienceless ignorants’ in a viral tweet. Another celebrity who protested through Twitter was actress Songul Oden who wrote, ‘Leave women alone. Your objectification of the bodies of women for your agenda is shameful. They are one of the most vulnerable groups in war.’