Facebook’s #10yearschallenge encounters with veiling politics in Turkey

The Wired piece is heavily shared and I am quite sure nothing Facebook does recently should be taken at its face value. Leaving this fact aside, when users began to play with the hashtag, an unexpected situation emerged: Many women who used to wear headscarves took this opportunity to show that they gave up headscarves, they sort of unveiled themselves. In fact, this has been publicly debated for a while (Ruşen Çakır’s Medyascope had a series of interviews and commentaries- this one being the last) but mostly those women preferred not to be public. In the meantime, this blog contains personal accounts of unveiling (in Turkish- the blog entitled as “You will now walk alone”). But this time, they seemed to be in public with their real names. Here is a selection of Tweets (Yes, it was a Facebook thing but it ended up on Twitter):

https://twitter.com/quillofphoenix/status/1086285120435376128?s=03

This tweet is now protected. Probably after the misogynistic attacks.

https://twitter.com/NazanBalkaya34/status/1085981875116695552

https://twitter.com/hilalnazdg/status/1086171260021862400

Ne giydiğinizden bağımsız; istediğiniz gibi, ait olduğunuzu düşündügünüz gibi, mutlu, huzurlu olabildiğiniz şekilde olabilmeniz güzel 🌼 İşte benim on yıl olmasada dört yıllık serüvenim #10yearschallenge pic.twitter.com/gaMPVJXzEY

— kader (@_tezkikader) January 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/cnglrkn/status/1086357705240076289?s=03

İçimizde kopan fırtınalar saçlarımızı savursun. Yalnız Yürümeyeceğiz! #10yearschallenge pic.twitter.com/mui60ZbP8g

— aleyna (@aleynas97) January 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/turkkubraa/status/1086348558700371968?s=03

https://twitter.com/BusraAltinten/status/1086356132027908098?s=03

İsteyen istediği yere çekebilir, ÖZGÜRLEŞTİK. Ve bunun aileyle çevreyle alakası yok. Kendimize, yapabileceklerimize dair düşüncelerimiz özgürleşti. Dinin kadına dayattığı tüm normlardan arındık. Başkalarının bize biçtiği rolü oynamadık. Kendimiz olduk.#10yearschallenge pic.twitter.com/bdX1O8bacy

— Büşranur (@kirazcicegi_) January 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/turuncuyy__/status/1086306610803294213?s=03

https://twitter.com/ciddiolamazsiny/status/1086210697439129601?s=03

Ay dayanamadım, ben de geldim pic.twitter.com/sWKRzvv5I6

— Büşra Cebeci (@nojnest) January 18, 2019

https://twitter.com/birisiyiiimm/status/1086385482022436864

The 10YearsChallenge fad has generated a micro-trend in Turkish Twitter where women are sharing stories of how they abandoned the headscarf. Should be studied, given the fact that current political, economic and social climate reward the opposite (re both the act & the sharing). pic.twitter.com/hdWOpqnEgh

— Ayşe Zarakol (@AyseZarakol) January 18, 2019