Essay Gallery

 Gender Performativity, Normative Power, and Queer Resistance  in Turkey In contemporary Turkey, the regulation of gender and sexuality is increasingly visible through both overt state actions and subtle cultural norms. When a police officer steps on a Pride flag during a banned march or when a trans individual is required to undergo sterilization to legally change their gender, these moments reveal how normative power operates not only through law but also through deeply rooted assumptions about gender and identity. These examples invite us to critically examine the forces that construct gender as a binary, naturalized category. This paper approaches the question of how gender is produced and regulated by drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, Michel Foucault’s analysis of normative power and biopolitics, and Susan Stryker’s emphasis on transgender embodiment and resistance. Together, these frameworks allow for a multidimensional exploration of how gen...

 Freud’s Theory of the Ego Ideal in Group Psychology In Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, Freud explores how individuals go through deep psychological shifts upon becoming part of a group. The center of his theory is the transformation of the ego ideal; a critical part of the psyche that normally functions as an internal guide for the self. Within a group, Freud argues, individuals begin to share the same libidinal object and form identifications based on that shared attachment. As he explains, “a number of individuals who have substituted one and the same object for their ego ideal and have consequently identified themselves with one another in their ego” (p. 80). The ego ideal, for Freud, is not only a theoretical concept; it is also an internal force shaped by early relationships, especially with parental figures, and further influenced by cultural and moral expectations. It serves as the inner image of what one aspires to be and controls moral self regulat...

 Lyotard and Jameson on Postmodernism’s Cultural Logic The late 20th century, with its divided worldviews, and increasingly performative sense of self, did not just bring in new technologies. It also brought new anxieties. That shift in mood and social organization is what Jean-François Lyotard and Fredric Jameson both take up, although with very different lenses. In their essays, Lyotard’s “Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism?” and Jameson’s “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” postmodernism is not only a cultural aesthetic or intellectual trend but a reaction to the unraveling of the ideological certainties of modernity. Still, their conclusions could hardly be more distinct. Lyotard sees potential, a way to bear witness to the unpresentable and resist the totalizing narratives of modern thought. Jameson, on the other hand, sees a symptom, a kind of glossy paralysis and aesthetic echo chamber that reflects the deeper structure of late capitalism. Both thin...

 Adrienne Rich’s Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence: Scholarly Engagements and Debates Adrienne Rich’s 1980 essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” emerged in a feminist landscape that often sidelined lesbian perspectives. In this groundbreaking work, Rich challenged the assumption that heterosexuality is “natural” or innate for women, framing it instead as a “political institution” imposed by patriarchal culture. Reading Rich’s arguments for the first time felt like uncovering something hidden in plain sight. Her framing of heterosexuality as a political institution challenged my assumptions about what is 'natural' versus what is enforced. It made me question how much of what I perceived as personal choice was actually shaped by invisible social expectations. She argued that heterosexuality functions as a violent, normative force granting men the “right of physical, economical, and emotional access” to women’s bodies and lives. Reflecti...