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SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 643
Summer-2018 Issue: 09, September 30th, 2018
Sexual Health ● Women’s Studies
Preliminary Research Report
Short Review
ISSN 2536-5169 (print)
ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
SAYIN HÜ
KOCATÜRK A
Some Findings on Turkish Women
SexuS Journal 3 (9): 643-656, 2018, SEPTEMBER
Some Findings on Turkish Women and
Women’s Rights in Turkey
Ümit Sayin and Asiye Kocatürk
Abstract:
A short overview and summary of sexual behavior of Turkish women in Turkey is briefly given with some
survey statistics, which were realized in 1993, 2003, and 2013. Also a short view of women rights problems
is summarized. In Turkey, which is a secular and democratic republic, the social classes and sexual behavior
of women differ so much. It is difficult to make a survey in homogenous groups. The preliminary results
presented in this short report are from a target group of middle class, educated, secular and liberated
women.
KEY WORDS: Sexual Behavior, Turkish Women, Women’s Rights, ESR, Expanded Orgasm
SexuS Journal ● 2018 ● 3 (9): 643-656
History
The Turkish Republic, established on the
remains of Ottoman Empire in 1923, is one
of the few secular Islamic countries in the
world. Ninety-nine percent of the popula-
tion is said to be Muslim — although the
definition of "being Muslim" in Turkey
makes it unlikely that all of these Muslims
practice orthodox Islam, Islamic rules and
pray 5 times a day.
In most of the other Islamic countries, Sha-
ria, Allah's Law for Muslims, dominates the
constitution and the legal system, so that the
state and the main legal system is NOT sepa-
rated from the orders of the Qur’an. In con-
trast with the constitutions in many other
Islamic states, the Turkish Constitution for-
bids the religious laws from dominating
government and society and requires that
the state and religion be separated (Article 2,
Turkish Constitution [revised in 1982]). Lat-
est “CIA Fact-Book” information claims that
nearly 9 % of the population is atheist or
deist; while our estimation is nearly 35 to 40
% of the population do NOT practice ortho-
dox Islam ; among these people none-
Corresponding Author: Ümit Sayin, M.D.
Address: Institute of Forensic Sciences, İstanbul University, Cer-
rahpasa, Aksaray, İstanbul
ASEHERT-CİSEATED (www.ciseated.org)
Asiye Kocatürk: Medipol University, İstanbul
humitsayin@gmail.com
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 644
religious attitudes and atheism has been
spreading and growing as a result of the
reaction and protest against religious gov-
ernments during the last 20 years.
The Turkish Republic was founded
in 1923 after the fall of the Ottoman Em-
pire and a period of civil war, a war of in-
dependence, revolution and reformation
led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who be-
came Turkey's first president. When the
new republic was formed, the government
took many precautions to prevent Islam
from being as influential in governance as
it was during Ottoman times. Among
these reforms were replacing the Arabic
alphabet with the Roman alphabet, which
is more suited to expressing the Turkish
language; granting equal rights to women;
and reforming education, including the
elimination of compulsory religion cours-
es. Prayers once recited only in Arabic
were translated into Turkish, so that eve-
ryone could understand them; religious
education based in extremist sectarian
centers called Tekkes,
Tariqas, and Zaviyes was banned; and a
new legal system based on a European
model was adopted. In 10 years (1923-
1933), a new modern Western country,
with a new identity and ideology, was
quickly created from an oriental empire.
There was a clear-cut shift in the whole
state precept, including secularism (Sayin,
1999).
When Atatürk died in 1938, there
were still many other reforms of govern-
mental and cultural affairs waiting to be
completed. After 1950, the Enlightenment-
based ideals and reforms of the revolution
started to decline. Right-wing and con-
servative cliques and political parties were
ready to exploit the weaknesses of the in-
experienced government. Some of the so-
cial changes and civil rights attained by
the revolution in 1923 were lost. Some
politicians appealed to the uneducated
and illiterate majority of Turks, who were
still very religious and strongly influenced
by local religious authorities
(Sheiks and Mullahs), who promised a re-
turn to the good old Ottoman days and
religion governed society (and/or Sharia).
This turmoil continued until the military
coup in 1960, which supported secularism
and Kemalist Revolution. A new constitu-
tion based on a Western legal system was
approved in 1961, which banned efforts to
support the establishment of a non-secular
religious state based on Sharia Law.
However, after the NATO-USA
supported military coup in 1980, the main
developments which kindled the counter
revolution and the decline of the democra-
cy and secularism accelerated, and
reached to a peak during the last 20 years.
Neither the sexual behaviors of
pre-modern Turkish women (or Ottoman
women), nor that of modern Turkish
women have ever been investigated using
scientific methods with proper references.
Articles or other writings about the sexual
life styles of Turkish women are very
scarce. During Ottoman times, women had
no basic rights, but were enslaved by their
husbands or other men in the society. A
man could get married to four women and
easily divorce any of them by saying one
sentence as “I, hereby, in the name of Islam,
divorce you”, without leaving her any
rights so she would find herself in the
street by herself. In fact, before Islam (dur-
ing the Shamanic days), women in Turkish
countries or various clans were more
equal to men. Very old Turkish writings
state that the Hakan (governer) had to get
married to only one woman, and the wife
of the Hakan had words and rights in
governing the country (as in Huns, Gok-
turks, Uygurs etc.). Ancient Turkish cul-
tures in Anatolia and in Middle Asia, be-
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 645
fore 800-900 A.D., always respected wom-
en and emphasized the importance of
women for centuries. Ancient Turkish cul-
tures gave equal rights to both women and
men. An example or trace of this fact can
be found as Anatolian Goddess and fertili-
ty sculptures or figures on the reliefs in the
old Anatolian civilization museums.
About the sexual behavior of Ot-
toman women very little is known; most
probably it was not more than pleasing
their husbands. After the Kemalist Revolu-
tion in 1923, legally and socially, women
gained many rights and became equal to
men. Today, legally and in the courts
women still have equal rights with men;
however, in social life, there is evidence
that Turkish Society is being transformed
to the Ottoman days lately, during the last
20 years.
Sexuality Surveys on
Women in Turkey
Although, in Turkey, the winds of
the sexual revolution in Europe and Amer-
ica had their trivial influences, no actual
sexual revolution occurred. Before our
own investigations, no basic and rigorous
surveys on sexual behavior on Turkish
females were ever conducted in Turkey,
nothing like Kinsey Reports, the Hite Re-
port or the Cosmo Report. We have inves-
tigated the sexual life styles and orgasmic
patterns of Turkish women since 1991 and
our novel “İstanbul Report” study, started
in 2013, is still continuing.
As a result of social and cultural
repression and taboos, Turkish women do
not experience the sexual freedom and
sexual satisfaction as the women in Eu-
rope. However, the secular and educated
portion of Turkish women has had a kind
of reform or sexual revolution in their own
sexual life styles. For instance from 1960’s
to 1980’s the virginity issue was not con-
sidered an important taboo among the
urban educated women for a couple of
decades, while after the year 2000, the de-
mand for virginity increased in the whole
society. The importance of not being deflo-
rated until marriage was not so important
among the educated and secular women
20-30 years ago; so the women in 1980’s
and 1990’s were having pre-marital sexual
experiences, pre-marital sex and inter-
course with their partners. However, the
ratio of experiencing sexual intercourse,
having sexual encounters and pre-marital
sexual experience decreased during last
10-15 years.
As a consequence of this decline,
some sexual function disorders (SFD), such
as the cases of lack of sexual interest, Vag-
inismus and Anorgasmia, increased. This
was partially because of the lack of pre-
marital sexual experience and partly be-
cause of the myths and fears created in the
minds of women by the education system
and the society. According to our 25 years
of experience on investigating the sexuali-
ty of Turkish women we can divide the
Turkish women into five different catego-
ries in terms of their sexual behavior and
orgasmic patterns (the groups depict the
current status of women in Turkey):
1) GROUP-1: Very liberated, educated
and European-type of women: These
women have their own lives and sex-
ual life patterns. They are economical-
ly independent. They are secular and
they do not practice orthodox Islam.
Even some of these women can expe-
rience ESR (Expanded Sexual Re-
sponse). They experience premarital
sex. They don’t give any value to vir-
ginity during marriage. They have a
very liberated way of living and sexu-
al life styles (crudely, 15-20 % of the
women population). This group is un-
likely to suffer from vaginismus and
anorgasmia, lack of sexual interest;
they may have a contented sexual life.
Most of them live in large cities and
regions like İstanbul, İzmir, Bodrum
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 646
and Eagean coast.
2) GROUP-2: Liberated, educated Euro-
pean-type of women who have some
dogmas and limitations: These wom-
en are also independent and they
have their own independent lives,
they may or may not experience pre-
marital sex. They are secular and they
do not practice orthodox Islam, but
have some beliefs. They don’t give
any value to virginity during mar-
riage. Most of them are not virgins
when they get married. They have
some limited ways of liberated sexual
life styles (crudely, 18-25 % of the
women population). Some of these
women may suffer from SFD, but the
ratio of SFD is low. They live in big
cities, but some also live in small cities
and at rural areas.
3) GROUP-3: Unliberated educated
women with dogmas who are inhib-
ited: These women are economically
independent. Some of them are secu-
lar, but most of them are not! They
may have some pre-marital sexual ex-
perience, but most of them stay as
virgins until marriage; some of them
may be deflorated during those sexual
encounters. They may favor virginity,
but some don’t. This group may suffer
from vaginismus and anorgasmia to
some degree. They may be religious,
very religious or none-religious. Some
of these women may suffer
from SFD, but the ratio of SFD is
higher than the former two groups.
This group constitutes crudely, 20-25
% of the women population. They
may either live in big cities or small
towns and rural areas.
4) GROUP-4: Unliberated, uneducated
women with strict dogmas who are
very inhibited: These women
are not economically independent;
they are dependent on their families
and their husbands. They are not well
educated. Most of them are not secu-
lar. They never have pre-marital sex-
ual affairs; they recognize sexuality
and orgasms when they get married.
They favor virginity and stay as vir-
gins until marriage. This group may
suffer from vaginismus and anor-
gasmia to some degree. They are gen-
erally very religious. Some of these
women may suffer from SFD, but the
ratio of SFD is higher than the first
two groups.
5) GROUP-5: Unliberated, educated or
uneducated women who suffer
SFD’s most of the time (the SFD
women): Most of them
are not economically independent.
They may come from the groups of
educated or uneducated. They have
very strict dogmas and inhibitions.
Very few of them have pre-marital
sex. They favor virginity. Most of
them are not secular. Most of them are
very religious and practice orthodox
Islam. They are most of the time vir-
gins when they get married. They
both live in big cities and rural areas.
This group disproportionally suffers
from SFD. Group-4 and Group-5 to-
gether constitute nearly the 2/5 of the
female society (crudely, 38-45 % of the
female population).
Some Striking Results of Our
Surveys during the Last 24 Years
The most striking result coming out of
these surveys were about the orgasmic
patterns and orgasmic behavior of Turkish
women. Most of the Turkish women were
familiar with clitoral orgasms, learned
during early ages. However, the average
ratio of vaginal orgasms in Turkish
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 647
woman (coital orgasms) was only 16 to 19
% (average of Kadinca Report-1993 and
Hülya Report-2003), compared to 30 %
(Hite Report) and 34 % (Cosmo Report)
among the American women (Hite 1974;
Wolfe, 1983; Kocatürk, 2012, Sayin, 2014).
The reasons of this result could be ex-
plained by the different combinations of
the following facts:
1) The lack of numerous partners and of
experience variety of Turkish women.
Most the Turkish women had one or a
couple of sexual partners in their whole
lives.
2) The lack of pre-marital sexual experience
of Turkish women.
3) The lack of information and education of
Turkish females on sexuality and sexual
physiology of women.
4) The lack of information and education of
Turkish males on sexuality, female or-
gasm and sexual physiology.
5) The lack of vibrator use in the Turkish
population.
6) The short duration of sexual intercourse
of Turkish males, which generally lasted
less than 2 to 5 minutes.
7) The taboos, inhibitions and sexual myths
that the Turkish women had in their
minds.
8) The taboos, inhibitions, fears, guilt, and
shame created by the transformed educa-
tion system at the high schools and uni-
versities.
9) Other.
We quote some tables from Kadınca
Report (1993) and Hülya Report (2003).
Some preliminary parts of the İstanbul
Report among Female University Students
(age 17-25) are also added. Here some of
the 57 questions are taken in tables. İstan-
bul Report study is still continuing. Pre-
liminary analysis of İstanbul Report com-
pared to former reports revealed the fact
that some measure and parameters in sex-
ual satisfaction and contentness has
dropped significantly.
Question: To How many men have
you made love with until now? (including the
experiences without sexual intercourse)
Response
%
Kadınca
R. (1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average of
(% Percent)
N= 2241
A) Never
3.6
5.5
4.5
B) Just once
28.5
32.4
30.5
C) Between
2-5
43.1
32.9
38
D) Between
6-10
15.3
14.6
15
E) More than
11
9.5
6.9
8.2
Question: How many minutes do
your foreplays last with a man when you
make love with him (average is asked)?
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) Less than 5
minutes
4.7
10.7
7.7
B) 5-10 minutes
22.6
34.4
28.5
C) 10-20 minutes
35.7
32.6
34.2
D) 20-30 minutes
21.2
13.6
17.4
E) More than 30
minutes
14.8
8.7
11.8
Question: How many minutes do
your sexual partners maintain the inter-
course (coitus) inside your vagina during the
sexual intercourse (based on your experiences,
give an average number)
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average N=
2241
A) I have not
had intercourse
20.1
12.2
16.2
B) Less than 5
minutes
16.6
27.4
22
C) 5-15 minutes
43.2
34.1
38.7
D) 15-30
minutes
15.4
20.8
18.1
E) More than 30
minutes
4.0
5.5
4.8
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 648
Question: Which of the above en-
hances your sexual desires before sexuality
(more than one answer)?
Response (more
than one)
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) Music
65.2
72.4
68.8
B) Nice food and
drink
44.7
48.6
46.7
C) Good smell,
scent, odor
57.9
62.9
60.4
D) Pornographic
movie or books
62.3
71.2
66.8
E) Dirty Talk
82.9
84.5
83.7
Question: Which of the above do you
sometimes apply when making love? (more
than one response)
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average
(% Per-
cent)
N= 2241
A) Fellatio
62.4
65.4
63.9
B) Cunnilingus
58.6
47.6
53.1
C) Anal Sex
12.6
13.8
13.2
D) Wearing erotic
lingerie
43.9
55.6
49.8
E) Sadomasochis-
tic soft variations,
soft bdsm
5.6
7.8
6.7
Question: Do you have orgasms during sexu-
al acts with your partners?
Response
Percent
%
Kadınca
R. (1993)
N=1535
Percent
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average of
(% Percent)
N= 2241
A) Yes, I do attain
orgasms during
every intercourse
or sexual act.
22.4
29
25.7
B) I attain orgasms
during intercourse
frequently (% 80 of
all intercourses or
sexual acts).
30.2
24
27.1
C) I sometimes
have orgasms
during intercourses
(% 50 of all inter-
coursesor sexual
acts).
19.2
19.7
19.5
D) I rarely have
orgasms during
intercourse (% 20
of all intercourses
or sexual acts).
13.8
13
13.4
E) I never have
orgasm
14.0
14.5
14.3
Question: Have you ever had multiple or-
gasms during one session of sexual act and/or
intercourse?
Response
%
Kadınca
R. (1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Kadınca and
Hülya Re-
ports (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) No, I can only
have one
37.9
38.6
38.3
B) I can have multi-
ple orgasms up to
five
25.0
32.1
28.6
C) I can have more
than five multiple
orgasms
4.1
4.2
4.2
D) I can have as
many as multiple
orgasms when
stimulated properly
22.5
16.9
19.7
E) I cannot have
any orgasms
10.5
8.2
9.4
Developing ESR
potential by means
of multiple or-
gasms
Corrected statistics
in two groups
% 21
Question: What is the highest number of
orgasms you have had during sexual act or
session that lasts up to an hour?( multiple
choices)?
Response
%
Kadınca
R. (1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) 1
34.8
36.7
35.8
B) 2-5
53.9
41.9
47.9
C) 6-10
7.9
10.8
9.4
D) 11-20
2.1
3.1
2.6
E) More than 21
1.3
1.6
1.5
Possibility of
experiencing ESR,
blended orgasms
or status orgasmus
3.4
4.7
4
For Hülya Report- What is the highest num-
ber of orgasms you had during sexual inter-
course (for hours or over a night)?
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 649
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) 1
Not
asked
21.1
21.1
B) 2-5
Not
asked
39.2
39.2
C) 6-10
Not
asked
15
15
D) 11-20
Not
asked
5.2
5.2
E) 21-30
Not
asked
3.7
3.7
F) 31-50
Not
asked
1.3
1.3
Possibility of
experiencing
ESR, blended
orgasms orstatus
orgasmus
10.2
10.2
Question: Can you have orgasm just by pene-
tration of your partner’s penis into your
vagina without any other stimulation?
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
Percent %
Hülya R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average
of Kadın-
ca-Hülya
Reports
(% Per-
cent)
N= 2241
A) Yes, I DO attain
orgasm by coitus every
time
12.9
25.2
19
B) Clitoral stimulation
is required as well as
penetration of the
penis
48.4
41.7
45
C) I cannot have an
orgasm by the penetra-
tion of penis,
13.9
15.9
14.9
D) Other things are
required for me to
have an orgasm
18.3
13.9
16
The ratio of vaginal
orgasm (orgasm by
coitus) of educated
and middle-class
Turkish women
% 16-19
(Most of this group have also clitoral
orgasms)
The ratio of only
clitoral orgasm of
educated and
middle-class Turk-
ish women
% 66
ANORGASMIA)
% 15
Question: How often do you masturbate?
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) I never do
9.2
36.8
23
B) I do it at least
once a day
17.2
9.4
13.4
C) I only do it after
sexual intercourse
if I am not satisfied
during the sexual
act
28.5
20.2
24.4
D) I do it 3-5 times
a week
28.9
13.7
21.3
E) I do it at least 3-
5 times a month
15.8
19.9
17.9
Question: Do you have sexual fantasies? If
yes, when do you fantasize? (multiple an-
swers)
Response
(more than
one)
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated Average (%
Percent)
N= 2241
A) No, I have
none
8.3
13.4
10.9
B) During
intercourse
with partner
23.6
23.4
23.5
C) During
masturbation
49.3
41.1
45.2
D) In my
dreams
25.2
17.5
21.4
E) At times
when I am
not sexually
very active
9.5
12.3
10.9
91.7
86.6
Total (corrected
statistics)
% 90
Question: Have you had lesbian affair or sexual
act?
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average
(% Percent)
N= 2241
A) No, I do not
approve of such
thing
67.5
68.6
68
B) No, but I have
had sex with wom-
en in my fantasies
19.2
18.9
19
C) Yes I have had
once, but not any-
more
9.9
5.8
7.9
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 650
D) I have had sexual
relations with 1-3
women
1.9
4.8
3.4
E) I have had rela-
tions with 1-3
women and I still
continue having a
lesbian affair
1.5
2.9
2.2
POTENTIAL OF
LESBIANISM of
educated and
middle-class Turk-
ish women
32%
One in three women has the ten-
dency of having a lesbian sexual
encounter or act under proper
conditions
Question: Have you ever made love with an
arbitrary person that you have just met ran-
domly? One-night stand.
Response
%
Kadınca
R. (1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
Average
(% Per-
cent)
N= 2241
A) No, I find it
wrong
59.9
62.9
61.4
B) No, but I would
have made love
with a person I
have never met if I
had the chance
17.6
15.3
16.5
C) I have made
love with a random
person 1-2 times,
but did not enjoy it
10.1
7.8
8.9
D) I have done and
enjoyed making
love with 1-2
random people. I
would do it again if
I found the oppor-
tunity
9.6
11.5
10.6
E) I enjoy making
love with random
people and like
one night stands
and I keep doing it.
2.5
2.8
2.7
Random partner
changing (One
Night stand)
29.7%
Approximately one in three women
has a potential of random or one-
night stand or sexual experience
between 1993 to 2003
Question: Which behavior have you encoun-
tered until now (more than one answer)?
Response
%
Kadınca
R.
(1993)
N=1535
%
Hülya
R.
(2003)
N=706
Estimated
(% Percent)
N= 2241
A) Molestation in
the way of touching
the body by hand
67.9
64.4
66.2
B) Sexual assault
that has not result-
ed in sexual inter-
course or rape
27.6
13.2
20.4
C) Rape resulted
with sexual inter-
course by a
stranger
6.3
3.2
4.8
D) Rape resulted
with sexual inter-
course by married
spouse or a
close friend
9.6
5.2
7.4
E) One sexual
harassment inci-
dence during child-
hood
Not
Asked
5.4
5.4
F) I have never
suffered of some-
thing like this
15.7
30.1
Approximately 5.4% of educated and middle-class Turkish
women had experienced sexual harassment during child-
hood. Namely, one of 20 women had experienced sexual
harassment!
Approximately 4.8% of educated and middle-class Turkish
women had experienced rape resulting in sexual inter-
course by a stranger.
Approximately %7.4 of educated and middle-class Turkish
women had experienced rape resulting in sexual inter-
course by a lover, married spouse or a friend.
In total, approximately %12,2 percent of educated and
middle-class Turkish women; namely, ONE IN EIGHT
WOMEN, had experienced rape (resulting in sexual inter-
course).
There are some women’s rights prob-
lems in Turkey. During the last 20 years
the following incidences increased:
Marriage rape
Rape
Sexual Harassment
Stalking
Sexual Assault
Physical Assault to Secular Women
Pedophilia
Child Marriages
Child abuse
Question: Do you have sexual fantasies?
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
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Response
The ones with 17-25 of age from Kadın-
ca and Hülya Reports were selected to
be reanalyzed and frequencies were
determined of only this group (SPSS)
Percent %
Kadınca R. (1993)
N=837
Age 17-25 only
Percent %
Hülya R. (2003)
N=239
Age 17-25 only
İstanbul Report (2013) Plot
Group (Female students of 3
İstanbul Universities)
N=939
Female university students at
the age of 17-25
A) No, none!
% 16.9
%18
% 47
B) Yes I have (other multiple choice
answers were reduced into one)
% 83
% 82
% 53
Question: During your sexual acts you experience with your partner, do you have orgasms during
sexual act or intercourse?
Response
The ones with 17-25 of age from
Kadınca and Hülya Reports were
selected to be reanalyzed and fre-
quencies were determined of only
this group (SPSS)
Percent %
Kadınca R. (1993)
N=837
Age 17-25 only
Percent %
Hülya R. (2003)
N=239
Age 17-25 only
İstanbul Report(2017)
Plot Group (Female
students of 3 İstanbul
Universities)
N=939
Female university stu-
dents at the age of 17-
25
A) Yes, I have orgasms during every
sexual act.
20.7
22.6
5.1
B) I have orgasms during intercourse
frequently (% 80 of all sexual acts).
28.1
25.9
14.8
C) I sometimes have orgasms during
my intercourses (% 50 of all sexual
acts).
19.6
18.8
16.4
D) I rarely have orgasms during
sexual acts (% 20 of all sexual acts).
13.9
7.9
13.7
E) I never have an orgasm (people
with no sexual encounterwill also
select this choice)
13.7
24.7
49.8
Corrected average of option (E) “I
never have orgasm” in Kadınca and
Hülya reports
N= 1076
(837 + 239)
% 16.2
Anorgasmia in1993 to 2003
% 49.8
Anorgasmia in
2017 (NOW)
While the ratio of teenage girls (between the age of 17-25) who cannot attain orgasms were 3 in 20 women by the
early 2000s, this ratio has raised to 10 women in 20 women in 2013. ANORGASMIA ratio in Turkey has multiplied 3
times in the last 10 years.
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 652
Whether the scientifi topics related with sexology, human sexuality and sex therapy is
taught or in the education system
Education
System
Basic male
and female
sexual
anatomy
Basic male and
female sexual
physiology
The Defini-
tion of
Sexual
Disorders
The Definition
and Details of
Fem./Male
Orgasm
How to
enhance
sexual
pleasure
Subjects like
masturbation
fantasy, oral
sex etc.
The basics
of sex
therapy
Structured
sex therapy
education
Accredited
sex therapy
education
High schools
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
Univ.
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
Medical
schools
YES
In some
medical
schools
Only in
psychiatry
lessons at
5.year
Only in very few
schools
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
Psychology
Faculties
Partially in
first or
second
year
Partially but
no structu-
red course
YES
YES but partially
no
structured
course
NONE
YES but in
very few
univ. NO
structured
course,
NONE
Only some
basic
definitions
NONE
NONE
Psychiatry
education
after medical
school
YES, but NO
structured
and syste-
matic
education
YES, but
NO sources
and NO
systematic-
structured
education
YES
YES
NONE
YES but
partially
NONE
NONE
NONE
Other private
Associations
or private
courses
Partially
Partially
Partially
None
Generally
wrong and no
true and
realistic
information is
given
NONE
NONE
Partially
Partially,
and ambi-
guous,
NONE
Graduate
Programs
YES
YES, but in
very few of
them
partially
Yes but in
some,
such as
psychology
Partially
NONE
NONE
There is
no gradua-
te educa-
tion in sex
therapy
NONE
NONE
Postdoc
programs
and educa-
tion systems
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
NONE
ABOUT THE TABLE: The table depicts the sexology and sexual therapy education in Turkey. Essentially there is not much structured scientific ed ucation
system to train the University students, medical doctors, psychologists, graduate students and sex therapists. Most of the sex therapy licences are taken
through the courses given after a couple of weekends, with no exams or no thesis, given by some institutions and individuals. In Turkey, there is no structu-
red and scientific graduate sex therapy programme. Also most of the classical books about the subject are not translated into Turkish.
Some Recent Findings on Female
University Students
No detailed reports about the sexual
behavior and orgasmic patterns of Turkish
women have ever been published in the
literature! We have performed a short sur-
vey to investigate the sexual behavior pat-
terns of female university students (FUS)
attending three Universities in İstanbul, as
a preliminary pilot study of our ongoing
“İstanbul Report on Female Sexuality” (IR-
2013) survey.
To compare the sexual and orgasmic
behavior patterns of young Turkish wom-
en with former studies at the age range of
17-25 (KR-1993, N=857), a 27 questionnaire
survey, some of which questions were
taken from Kadınca Report (KR-1993),
was made among FUS in İstanbul, as a
continuation of Kadınca Report (KR-1993)
and Hülya Report (2003). The question-
naire of IR-2013 was delivered to 939 fe-
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 653
male students in Bogazici (N=303), Mar-
mara (N=396) and İstanbul Universities
(N=240). Some of the striking results were
as follows (Kocatürk, 2012):
1-81.4 % of IR-FUS were virgins, while, 37.1
% of KR-FUS were virgins. 61.8 % of IR-
FUS told that virginity was very im-
portant for marriage, while only 7.8 % of
KR-FUS thought similar, 20 years ago.
2-57.6 % of IR-FUS never masturbated, while
36.7 % of KR-FUS had never masturbated
and 63.3 % of KR-FUS had masturbated
20 years ago.
3-44.2 % of IR-FUS never had any erotic fan-
tasies, while 92.3 % of KR-FUS had had
various erotic fantasies 20 years ago.
4-34.4 % of IR-FUS have never experienced
orgasm, while 78.3 % of KR-FUS had ex-
perienced orgasm at least once 20 years
ago.
5-66.8 % of IR-FUS have never experienced
multiple orgasms, while 52.7 % of KR-FUS
had experienced multiple orgasms 20
years ago.
6-57.9 % of IR-FUS attained orgasm once or
none, 31.1 % could experience 2-5 or-
gasms in one hour, while 32.9 % of KR-
FUS had attained orgasms once or none,
55.5 % of KR-FUS had attained 2-5 or-
gasms, 11.6 % had had 6-20 orgasms in
one hour. 20 years ago.
7-3.4 % of IR-FUS had a lesbian affair, while
14.1 % of KR-FUS had had a lesbian affair
at least once 20 years ago.
8-4.8 % of IR-FUS were aware of their G-Spot,
while 21.1 % of KR-FUS had known their
G-Spot. More of KR-FUS were aware of
their own body and anatomy.
9-4.9 % of IR-FUS had incestuous experience,
while 5.6 % of KR-FUS had had a similar
experience.
During the last 20 years, sexual atti-
tudes of university females students (FUS)
have altered to a much more conservative,
strict, none-permissive, and much less
knowledgable and less promiscuous “Vic-
torian” perspective as shown by these or
many other parameters.
The data presented here and other data
points out that there is an incredible and
huge change in the sexual attitudes of the
FUS in just 20 years in Turkey. While the
religious tendency and conservativeness
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 654
increased a couple of folds in the FUS du-
ring the last 20 years in İstanbul; sexual
contentness, orgasm capacity, multiple
orgasm capability, masturbation and fan-
tasy abilities, sexual potentials, sexual
knowledge, the awareness of their bodies
have decreased and declined; while many
sexual function disorders, such as anor-
gasmia, vaginismus, lack of arousability,
frigidity have peaked in the society during
the last decades. It seems that there has
been a sharp transformation and “meta-
morphosis” in the Turkish society during
the last decades. Also the tendency of the
society’s belief system inclined towards a
very religious, conservative attitude,
which may have affected the whole re-
sults. Compared to Kadınca Report (1993,
N=1534) and Hülya Report (2003, N=706),
FUS between the ages of 17-25 have LESS
liberated, LESS permissive, LESS satisfac-
tory and LESS happy sex life styles in
20121. Our ongoing survey İstanbul Re-
port-2013 will reveal more facts on the
sexual behavior of Turkish females. Tur-
kish society needs an immediate structu-
red sexual education program in the Uni-
versities, to prevent the developing sexual
disorders and problems in the whole Tur-
kish society.
Women Rights in Turkey
There are some violations of the sex-
ual rights of women in Turkey. ASE-
HERT-CISEATED accepts and supports
and has translated the “The Declaration of
Sexual Rights” by WAS into Turkish, ac-
cepted and revised in March, 2014. If we
summarize some of the women’s rights
problems, the main titles would be:
1) Domestic Violence.
2) Homicide of women by lovers,
husbands or family members be-
cause of the cultural and traditional
beliefs. Husband rapes.
3) Child marriages.
4) Molestation and sexual abuse of
women by certain segments of the
society sometimes.
5) “Sexual Rape” crimes.
6) Some legal discrepancies about
“the rape issue”. For instance, the
rapist is not punished if he accepts
to get married to the victim in some
parts of Turkey.
7) Inappropriate precautions and
education on birth control.
8) The politicians’ attitude on “liv-
ing together of men and women
without marriages”.
9) The social attitudes (or the politi-
cians’ intervention) on the merits of
“Virginity” or “being virgin before
the marriage”.
Some Preliminary Conclusions About
the Surveys on Women (1993-2017)
Twenty years ago sexual freedom and
sexual contentness of Turkish women was
much better, besides there was less sexual
function disorders such as vaginismus and
anorgasmia. Orgasmic frequency & capabil-
ity; masturbation frequency; fantasy; con-
tentness of sexual life; multiple orgasms;
sexual desire and libido of Turkish women
seems to have declined.
Today, although there are no robust
surveys, it is estimated that 15-20 % of
women may be suffering from vaginismus.
We have seen cases of couples with no
substential intercourse history from 5 to 12
years of marriage.
Anorgasmia was 14 to 20 %, 15-20 years
ago; today, anorgasmia frequency is esti-
mated to have risen up to 35-40 %, or even
more. When the term anorgasmia is men-
tioned among the physicans and sex ther-
apists there are a terminology chaos. For
instance, if a woman can attain clitoral
orgasms, but no orgasms through inter-
course; she is not anorgasmic. Most of the
women who cannot attain orgasm through
intercourse are diagnosed as anorgasmia
SexuS Journal www.sexusjournal.com │ Summer-2018 │Volume: 03 │Issue: 09 │Pages: 643-656
◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 655
in Turkey. Vaginal-coital orgasm is not
essential to diagnose a patient as an anor-
gasmic woman. Even, Masters & Johnson
re-named it as coital-anorgasmia in their
book “Human Sexuality” (1995) many years
after their book “Human Sexual Response”
(1966) (Masters & Johnson, 1966, 1970,
1995). Also, they never believed that vagi-
nal orgasms existed, a false hypothesis
which is debunked by other researchers
using very sophisticated fMRI techniques (
Komisaruk, 2006; Sayin, 2004, 2017)
Globally only 30-34 % of women can
attain vaginal-coital orgasms, while 80-85
% attain clitoral orgasms (Hite, 1974-1984;
Wolfe, 1983). According to Kadınca Report
(1993), 17-20 % of Turkish women men-
tioned that they could attain vaginal-coital
orgasms. During 2013-2015, this coital-
anorgasmia frequency may be even worse.
Most of the coital anorgasmia patients
apply physicians and therapist, being as-
sured of that they have a problem and a
case of anorgasmia; however, most of the
time the problem is the partner. Because,
the evarage intercourse duration of Turk-
ish males is 3.6-5 minutes; in such a short
time interval, it is nearly impossible for
most of the women to attain not only coital
orgasm, but also clitoral orgasm. In Kadınca
and Hülya Reports, the frequency of male
partners who could continue sexual inter-
course for 30 minutes (or more) was as
low as 4.8 %. The males of western society
do not have a much better score compared
to Taoist lovers of the Far East! But after
the invention of Viagra and Cialis, those
scores can be much better in a couple of
decades. Also premature ejaculation, lack
of sexual interest, libido and erection prob-
lems is very widespread in Turkish males.
But the most important problem is the
males are not knowledgeable and trained
enough to understand females and try to
give pleasure to women.
Even though, there are so many vagi-
nismus and anorgasmia problems of Turk-
ish females; particularly in the Group-A
(more liberated) as described above, we
have encountered many ESR and Hyper-
sexuality cases as well. In an other survey,
we also determined more than 100 cases of
ESR (Sayin, 2012). There are some women
who can attain clitoral, vaginal-coital and
blended orgasms as described elsewhere
(Ladas, 1983). Turkish women sway be-
tween two extreme poles. The details of
our findings will be explained in future
articles.
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◦◦◦ Sayin & Kocatürk, Some Findings-Turkish Women ◦◦◦ ISSN 2536-5169 (print) ISSN 2536-5185 (web)
A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal Published Quarterly by CİSEATED-ASEHERT ● www.ciseated.org ● www.sexusjournal.com ● 656
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