Rethinking masculinities and feminist allyship

Blog post by Çağlar Çetin-Ayşe, Augustana College, USA
 
When discussions of gender equality surface in Turkey, attention often centers on women’s struggles and resistance. My research, published in Identities as ‘Unpacking the nexus of ethnoreligious identity, minority status, and young men’s feminist self-identification in Turkey’, shifts that focus to diverse young men who support gender equality. Based on face-to-face interviews I conducted with Sunni Turkish, Kurdish, Alevi and Arab Alawite men, the study examines how their ethnoreligious identities shape their paths toward (or away from) feminist allyship. The findings complicate the widespread assumption that marginalization fosters empathy for other oppressed groups.

Across Europe and beyond, public debates may frame minority men (such as Muslim men in Scandinavian countries or Kurdish men in Turkey) as either threats to gender equality or as potential allies due to their experiences of exclusion. But the picture is far more complex. In Turkey, a country deeply polarized along ethnic, religious and political lines, these dynamics play out in unexpected ways.

Across all ethnic and religious backgrounds, the young men in my study expressed a widespread dissatisfaction with the traditional definition of ‘Turkish masculinity’. They typically characterized this image as aggressive, controlling and emotionally repressed. This widespread rejection of traditional patriarchy was a necessary starting point for change. However, when asked to connect their own identity to their views on gender, their narratives sharply diverged.

None of the Sunni Turkish participants, the ethnic and religious majority in Turkey, credited their identity as Turks for raising their feminist or gender-egalitarian consciousness. Yet, in their discussions, some mentioned familiar secularist-modernist narratives: that pre-Islamic Turks treated women more equally, or that Turkish mythology offers heroic women warriors and spiritual leaders. This framing echoes the state’s long-standing claim that Turkishness carries an inherent gender egalitarianism that predates Islam. Therefore, rather than drawing on their lived experiences of ethnicity, these men referenced nationalist myths to situate their commitment to gender equality.

By contrast, almost all Alevi and Arab Alawite men stated they saw a clear connection between their ethnoreligious identity and their gender-egalitarian views. While some attributed their feminist consciousness to the discrimination they experienced as a minority group, the core emphasis was placed on their communal values and traditions. Alevi men, in particular, spoke of spiritual equality between men and women in rituals and of communal norms that allow women to raise their voices. Yet they also acknowledge that this gender egalitarianism largely remains theoretical, especially in private spheres. Nonetheless, these participants consistently asserted that their culture is less oppressive toward women compared to the dominant Sunni tradition.

For many Sunni Kurdish participants, however, culture was perceived as a barrier. They spoke of conservative Sunni practices within Kurdish communities that restricted women’s freedom, often describing their culture as being 'as patriarchal as, even more patriarchal than' the majority Sunni Turks. Crucially, the potential for racialized oppression to foster a gender-egalitarian identity is rarely addressed in their narratives.
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One participant did link Kurdish identity positively to feminism based on his experience within the Kurdish political movement, claiming that exposure to Kurdish women’s activism significantly raised his awareness of gender equality. Conversely, another participant argued that facing ethnic oppression can lead Kurdish men to cling to their gendered privileges and perform exaggerated masculinity as a way to compensate for feelings of powerlessness. This tendency, known as hypermasculinity, resonates with broader scholarship on racialized and subordinated masculinities, where men in marginalized groups may emphasize toughness or dominance to reclaim social worth. This latter participant further suggested that the rise of the Kurdish movement inadvertently empowered men by reinforcing their sense of masculine power. This paradox, where emancipatory movements may reproduce gender hierarchies, remains underexplored and deserves further investigation.
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These findings matter not just for understanding Turkey, but for wider debates on masculinity, marginalization and feminist allyship. As global movements for gender justice gain visibility, questions about whether minority men will embrace or resist feminist ideals have become pressing. Too often, assumptions flatten these complexities: that oppression breeds solidarity, or that cultural traditions only produce resistance. My research suggests we must look more closely at the intersections of ethnoreligious identity, communal norms and political socialization. Attending to these nuances opens the door for more grounded, context-sensitive strategies to support feminist futures. Attending to these nuances opens the door for more grounded, context-sensitive strategies to support feminist futures.

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Image credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Read the Identities article:
Çetin-Ayşe, C. (2025). Unpacking the nexus of ethnoreligious identity, minority status, and young men’s feminist self-identification in Turkey. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. DOI: 10.1080/1070289X.2025.2560221

Read further in Identities:

Beyond essentialism: negotiating Alevi identity in urban Turkey

Ideological or religious? Contending visions on the future of Alevi identity

​Creating a ‘we’ between categories: social categories and Alevi-Sunni intermarriages