This thesis consists of an anthropological investigation of discourses and practices associated with premarital sexuality in the context of contemporary urban Turkey. Grounded in thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Istanbul, this thesis draws on the experiences of local women – and to some extent, local men – threading on their concerns and experiences about virginity and premarital sex while exploring the relationship between sexual moralities and the city, controversies on the theme of abortion, the relationship between contraceptive choices and sexual moralities, the normativity of marriage and the respective construction of the marriageable subject, and the centrality of perceptions about the hymen in articulating processes of social reproduction. Through an exploration of these realms of experience, the thesis argues that an ethnographic approach to sexual moralities in the context of Turkey benefits from an historical approach to the events of the foundation of the republic. I suggest that the rhetoric of territorial loss, territorial partition and defence of actual and symbolic frontiers is a crucial part of processes of socialisation of new generations into contemporary identities, and is relived in people’s perceptions of the rupture of the hymen. Thus, the hymenocentric approach to virginity in Turkey conflates history and a politics of belonging in terms of a mereographic nexus of part/ whole, manifested in dilemmas of belonging as ‘part of’ (family, neighbourhood, city, and nation) or as ‘apart from’ (family, neighbourhood, city, and nation). This, I suggest, allows younger generations into an embodied mimetic experience of the initial dramas posed at the foundation of the republic.

Key words: Gynaecological experiences, virginity, premarital sexuality, women's health, gynaecological health, Turkey. This study explores the relationship of ideas about virginity and gynaecological health experiences of women in Ankara, Turkey. I conducted in depth semi-structured interviews with ten heterosexual, 23-30 years old, college-graduate Turkish women. Using intersectionality as a methodological lens, I seek to understand how gender, age, class and religion play a role in the correlation of virginity and gynaecology experiences. Five main themes illuminated the participant women's experiences: (1) feeling of inclusion, (2) the effect of religion, (3) class difference, (4) selection of doctors (5) access to information on gynaecological health. Findings revealed that participants define virginity as a taboo and a barrier during gynaecological healthcare experiences. In accordance with the previous researches, I have found that dominant virginity discourse limit women's access to knowledge on their gynaecological health. This study also dwelled on the differences in the experiences of women according to participant women's age, religion, class and social status. In addition to previous research, this study revealed that judgemental comments of the doctors and high fees of private clinics...

The aim of this study is to measure the perceived parental attitudes of Turkish college students towards dating and premarital sexual behavior and to examine how these attitudes differ with respect to gender of the students and parental marital status. The participants of the present study were 160 college students. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire, with two scales, which were measuring perceived parental attitudes toward dating behavior and perceived parental attitudes toward premarital sexual behavior. Results indicated that, both gender of students and parental divorce affect students&rsquo / perceived parental attitudes toward premarital sexual behavior / with the use of Wilk&rsquo / s criterion, both of the DVs were significantly affected both by gender F(2,155) = 14.85, p &lt / .01 and parental divorce F(2,155) = 23.42, p &lt / .01, and by their interaction F(2,155)= 10.84, p&lt / .01. There was a significant gender difference about perceived parental attitudes toward premarital sexual behavior / male students perceived their parents&rsquo / attitudes as more permissive toward premarital sexual behavior, but female students perceived their parents&rsquo / attitudes as less permissive toward premarital sexual behavior. However, in terms of parental attitudes toward dating, there was no significant difference due to gender. There was also a significant difference in perceived parental attitudes in terms of parental marital status with respect to dating and premarital sexual behavior. Children of divorced parents perceived their parents&rsquo / attitudes in a more permissive way, however children whose parents are still married perceived their parents&rsquo / attitudes as less permissive, toward both dating and premarital sexual behaviors. The interaction of gender and parental marital status were both significant due to perceived parental attitudes toward dating behavior F(1,155)= 12.41, p&lt / .01 and due to perceived parental attitudes toward premarital sexual behavior F(1,155)= 19.80, p&lt / .01. In terms of perceived parental attitudes toward dating, females whose parents are divorced tend to perceive parental attitudes significantly more permissive than females whose parents are married, whereas males whose parents are divorced did not significantly differ from the males whose parents are married. Moreover, males whose parents are married tended to perceive parental attitudes significantly more permissive than females whose parents are married toward dating behavior, whereas females and males whose parents are divorced did not significantly differ. In terms of perceived parental attitudes toward premarital sexuality, both females and males whose parents are divorced tend to perceive parental attitudes significantly more permissive than females and males whose parents are married, however the difference between females whose parents are divorced vs. married is significantly larger than the difference among the males whose parents are divorced vs. married. Moreover, males whose parents are married tended to perceive parental attitudes significantly more permissive than females whose parents are married toward premarital sexual behavior, whereas females and males whose parents are divorced did not significantly differ. Department of the student, city mostly lived in, father education, mother education, and number of siblings of the student were not found to be correlated with the perceived parental attitudes of college students toward dating and premarital sexual behavior. The results of the present study are discussed in the light of the literature, and limitations and future suggestions are presented.

Barnamordsplakatet (a Infanticide Proclamation) of 1778 was a circular allowing unmarried mothers to give birth at an undisclosed location without giving up the name of the father. The proclamation was supposed to ease the situation for the unwed mother in Sweden. The aim was to investigate whether women in Assembly of Hällefors, far from government and close to remote forest Finnskogen, was affected by the Infanticide Proclamation, between 1771 and 1830. Case studies has been done on people who had illegitimate children, if they were convicted, what the crime was and what the punishment was. The investigation is made at a local level and compared against national analyzes on the same theme. A lot of illegitimate children were born in Grythyttan nearby and slightly less in Hällefors, compared to other places of Sweden. Mothers and fathers were convicted in the district court for crimes, including, sexual intercourse between unmarried persons. More women than men were convicted. The cases in court with convicted for the second time, was culminating between 1800 and 1810. Infanticide Proclamation is immediately adapted in court. People's behavior changed before the law took effect when the amount of born illegitimate children outnumbered the amount of convicted mothers.

The purpose of this study was to explore possible problems associated with pregnancy amongst student nurses in the Northern Province, and to determine whether their studies were adversely affected by their pregnancies. This study was designed as a quantitative, exploratory descriptive survey to look into the pregnancies of a specific group of students exploring their experiences in the classrooms and in the clinical areas. During 1998 data was collected by distributing questionnaires to ninety three pregnant . student nurses. Sixty-seven (71,0%) of student nurses fell pregnant because they lacked knowledge about contraceptives. Four-six (49,5%) of the respondents delayed seeking antenatal care, although they needed advice and support. Whilst fifty-eight (62,4%) of the respondents suffered from minor ailments such as tiredness, pre-eclampsia, early bleeding prior to three months pregnancy, and dizziness. Fifty-eight (62,4%) of the respondents encountered problems with their academic progress, as revealed by decreasing marks scored before, during, and after delivery. Student nurses would willingly avail themselves of guidance, advice and support during their pregnancies if they could access such services. / Advanced Nursing Science / M.A.(Nursing Science)

The purpose of this study was to explore possible problems associated with pregnancy amongst student nurses in the Northern Province, and to determine whether their studies were adversely affected by their pregnancies. This study was designed as a quantitative, exploratory descriptive survey to look into the pregnancies of a specific group of students exploring their experiences in the classrooms and in the clinical areas. During 1998 data was collected by distributing questionnaires to ninety three pregnant . student nurses. Sixty-seven (71,0%) of student nurses fell pregnant because they lacked knowledge about contraceptives. Four-six (49,5%) of the respondents delayed seeking antenatal care, although they needed advice and support. Whilst fifty-eight (62,4%) of the respondents suffered from minor ailments such as tiredness, pre-eclampsia, early bleeding prior to three months pregnancy, and dizziness. Fifty-eight (62,4%) of the respondents encountered problems with their academic progress, as revealed by decreasing marks scored before, during, and after delivery. Student nurses would willingly avail themselves of guidance, advice and support during their pregnancies if they could access such services. / Advanced Nursing Science / M.A.(Nursing Science)