A whole bunch of Turkish women are laughing their way into a political protest. How? Well, let us explain. Yesterday, we brought you news that a Turkish minister, the deputy prime minister, no less, has called for women to stop laughing out loud, telling people attending an Eid celebration: ‘She should not laugh loudly in front of all the world and should preserve her decency at all times.'
Not very celebratory, is it? Well, Bülent Arinc now has a lot of women to go and demonise, as there’s now a lol-worthy trend amongst Turkish women using social media. Protesting Arinc’s request, they’re smiling and laughing for selfies (or usies as some two-person selfies are being called now) then posing them to sites like Twitter and Instagram. Using the hashtag #DirenKahkaha, which translates as ‘ResistLaughter’, and #DirenKiadin, which means 'ResistWoman', they’re literally laughing in the face of the man who wants to cut down on women’s rights so hard that they can’t show a natural reaction to something really silly and flippant, e.g. a man saying women aren’t allowed to laugh.
And the hashtag soon trended worldwide, and got backing from protest group Femen, other people all over the world AND the actual leader of the People's Democratic Party (the Turkish opposition), Ekmeleddin Ihsangoglu, who tweeted: ‘What our country needs the most is to hear the merry laughter of our women and of everyone else’, reports The International Business Times.
The current Turkish government is ruled by the Justice and Development Party, and it’s not only laughing that its members want to curb – while in power, it’s adopted strict rules on alcohol and abortion in a bid to appeal to religious conservative Muslims.
That said, with opposition leaders like Ihsangoglu, and enough women chiming in, giggles and all, against stupid suggestions from ridiculously sexist members of the leading party, there seems the willpower to change the political landscape of the country. And that change could come about very soon; Turkey’s presidential elections take place in August.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.