Work initiated to address sexist, violent language in Turkish expressions

ANKARA

The Family and Social Services Ministry along with the Turkish language body have initiated a joint effort to address the use of everyday expressions containing violent and sexist tone.

The work aims to promote equalitarian and non-violent discourse instead of sexist and violent language used prevalently in daily life and social media in compliance with the ministry’s “zero tolerance against violence” principle.

Within the frame of the project, the factors leading up to violence towards women in folkloric elements, such as proverbs, idioms, folk tales and language traditions will be determined, along with some affirmative elements.

As the project also aims to use correct language in games, students of graphic design, computer programming, computer and software engineering departments in a pilot school in the capital Ankara will be informed about "violence against women in games.”

In addition, cartoon-animation department students, children's program producers and cartoon scriptwriters will also be part of the process with the intent of combating violence in children's productions.

The ministry will reveal the outcome of the studies and initiate promotional exercises with the aim of raising awareness by the end of the year.