Reconstructing the Transgendered Self as a Muslim, Nationalist, Upper-Class Woman: The Case of Bulent Ersoy Author(s): Rustem Ertug Altinay Source: Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 3/4, Trans- (Fall - Winter, 2008), pp. 210-229 Published by: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27649796 . Accessed: 11/02/2015 17:14 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Feminist Press at the City University of New York is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Women's Studies Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.27.149.45 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:14:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions RECONSTRUCTINGTHETRANSGENDERED SELFAS A MUSLIM, NATIONALIST,UPPER-CLASS WOMAN: THECASEOFBULENTERSOY RUSTEMERTUG ALTINAY Winter of Another a new of 2007. Sunday night, episode Popstar Alaturka, a version Hrant Turkish of Pop Idol. Minority and human rights activist an Tur Dink has recently been assassinated by ultranationalist youth and one key is experiencing of the few notable instances of spontaneous col in two It tens lective action the past decades.1 has been only days since of are thousands of people marched in the streets, chanting, "We all Arme to nians!" express their sympathy for Dink and the Armenian communi the ty. Hence, TV show opens with the popular Armenian folk song "Sari later in the will to a Gelin"?which, evening, lead rather long and one a interesting monologue by of the jury members. This member is in a couture glamorous lady her fifties, wearing haute dress revealing her and breasts. She long legs shapely expresses her discontent with the slogan "We are all Armenians!" Underlining the fact that she is "the Muslim no one can ever daughter of Muslim parents," she emphasizes that make or more her say she is Armenian Christian. Claiming that it would be acceptable if the slogan had been "We are all Hrant," she deems it intol erable for a Muslim person to say that s/he is Armenian?and therefore Christian. woman seems in need to But who is this glamorous who desperate an even underline her Muslim, nationalist identity? For readers who take in answer slight interest Turkish popular culture, the would be quite a on obvious. The person is Bulent Ersoy: self-proclaimed expert classical a Ottoman music?though singer of the popular genre arabesk?one of the men to sex one to first Turkish undergo change and the very first ask a a for female passport, and hater of transgendered prostitutes. Ersoy has been an extremely popular public figure in Turkey since the early 1970s to remain so. and is very likely not Following Simone de Beauvoir's claim that "one is born, but, a I to trace rather, becomes woman," in this essay seek how Bulent Ersoy [WSQiWomen's Studies Quarterly 36: 3 & 4 (Fall/Winter 2008)] ? 2008 by Rustem Ertug Altinay. All rights reserved. This content downloaded from 194.27.149.45 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:14:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ERTUGALTINAY 211 has "become" a woman. In I Muslim, nationalist, upper-class doing so, to aim understand the strategies that define spaces of abjection reserved in in the examine for transgendered individuals Turkey post-1980s and are to I to the tactics for survival that available them.2 will try explore in the context of events in since the Ersoy's personal history Turkey 1970s and discuss the cultural atmosphere and dynamics of gender in the in narrative. country the light of Ersoy's A YOUNG,FLAMBOYANT MALE SINGER was born as The renowned singer of classical Turkish music Bulent Ersoy Bulent Erkoc in 1952 in Istanbul. Named after a soccer player, Bulent was son an was to the only of urban middle-class family. He introduced classical Turkish music by his grandfather,who played the zither, and his the lute. Shown to have he took grandmother, who played talent, private at an lessons with acclaimed musicians early age and later attended the was a conservatory. While he still student, he began singing profession name name ally under the stage Bulent Ersoy?the Erkoc, meaning was too "brave ram," probably masculine for this rather androgynous so it was "brave young man, replaced by Ersoy, lineage." Ersoy is also on easier the tongue. first record came out in 1971. At that in Ersoy's time, nightlife the big cities, especially Istanbul, mainly consisted of Greek tavernas and nightclubs called gazinos. Those nightclubs provided the middle- and with upper-classes hours-long programs bringing together several singers as well as one comedians and belly dancers. There would often be lead an singer, called assolist, who would take the stage last and sing classical it Turkish music. The extremely competitive atmosphere made difficult to a become lead singer. At the time, many established lead singers sang arabesk, a genre influenced by Turkish folk and Middle Eastern music, that had come out inTurkey in the 1950s and 1960s. Martin Stokes, one on it is of the leading experts arabesk, claims that "a music inextricably linked with the culture of the gecekondu, literally the "night settlements" around the Men which mushroomed Turkey's large industrial cities after a deres government program of rural regeneration in the 1950s produced urban arabesk was a large rural labor surplus" (1989, 27). To the elite, new In decided to and lower-quality musical form. this context, Ersoy as a use this dissatisfaction with arabesk and constructed his public image This content downloaded from 194.27.149.45 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:14:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 2 12 RECONSTRUCTINGTHETRANSGENDERED SELFAS A MUSLIM, NATIONALIST, UPPER-CLASS WOMAN "classicist." In other he Turkish classical music and words, appropriated it so as to a in a made his trademark win place highly competitive market. He catered to an audience that wanted to consume "authentic" or "elite" classical Turkish music as to the "commercial" vari opposed "popular," a to ety. With singing style extremely similar that of Muzeyyen Senar?a of classical Turkish who at was at popular singer music the time the height of her career in some and, sense, Ersoy's patron?he became the lead at the most was singer Maksim, prestigious nightclub in the country. He second lead at the male singer that time, after Zeki Muren (1931?96)?a male as was one flamboyant queer singer, Ersoy. In fact, could argue that Ersoy had appropriated an image with which the audience was already familiar, through Zeki Muren, who maintained it until the late 1960s, when he a that was an adopted style interesting combination of Elvis and Liberace. In other while Muren was a new words, adopting image, Ersoy was on Muren's one. name taking previous After Ersoy established his in the Turkish music he started reasons scene, singing arabesk, for financial (Tulgar 2004). This increased his both popularity and income immensely. was As customary for such singers, Ersoy, like Muren, also made a number of with stars movies popular female of the Turkish cinema. In these mainstream love would act the stories, Ersoy young, naive, maybe somewhat man. androgynous, yet heterosexual, This accorded with his public image. Even though, later,Ersoy would claim that her friends had seen as a at always her woman, the time Ersoy would be visible in the with his fake his as press fiancees, constructing image heterosexual and male. as Pinar Yet, Selek argues, Ersoy and Muren challenged the codes of masculinity in Turkey with their public personas (2007, 111). They did not have the of male as masculinity other singers such Munir Nured din Orhan or most Selcuk, Gencebay, later, Ibrahim Tatlises. Ersoy's sig nificant were his attributes probably rather naive politeness and somewhat a as androgynous style. Thus, through bodily and linguistic performance a man who was a openly gay in his private life, yet with heterosexual a public image, Bulent Ersoy opened liminal sphere that challenged the codes of masculinity. According to Selek, thiswas why he was loved by women. In the Turkish movie EvlidirNe Yapsa Yeridir,from 1978, women on a embark kind of feminist revolution; among their demands are male domestic new and to help, clothes, listening Bulent Ersoy. This content downloaded from 194.27.149.45 on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:14:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ERT?GALTINAY213 EARLYPOST-OPERATION YEARS When was he wear a Ersoy physiologically male, would usually white tuxedo or a dark suit and bow tie. Unlike Muren, at the time, he never in or accessories appeared garments that challenged established masculine as or or wore dress codes, such mini-shorts, ostrich feathers, sequins hair or were seen on women. was styles jewelery that normally It only after treatment to on in his hormone began that he started appear stage female to cos attire. Arguably because Ersoy wanted claim the female body, his tumes were In particularly revealing. 1980, after the military coup, when she was singing in a nightclub at the Izmir International Fair, Ersoy did not its to see deny the audience desire her newly developing breasts.