Women and men in the context of gender roles in fairy tales (The case of Mersin)

Due to their nomadic lifestyle in the past, Turks spread over wide geographies and built a rich and dynamic cultural structure. One of the important elements of this cultural accumulation is folktales. While these contain universal themes, they also embody the unique cultural values of the geography to which they belong. In this context, the social roles based on the gender of the tale characters are clearly seen in the texts. Although biological sex is defined as female or male, gender roles are learned under the influence of social structures such as family, educational institutions, and the social environment. Individuals begin to adopt behavior patterns appropriate to their gender from an early age, in line with social norms. Based on all these, the gender roles assigned to men and women in Mersin folktales by society were examined through a text-based study using written sources within the context of gender. In this regard, 42 tales from Prof. Dr. Ali Berat Alptekin's Taşeli Masalları and 6 folktales from postgraduate studies were selected and analyzed. To establish a stronger foundation, concepts such as sex, gender, feminism, the roles of women and men in Turkish culture, and masculinity studies were discussed. Also, general information about Mersin was provided considering the cultural context of the tales. The lack of studies focusing on gender roles in Mersin folktales formed the starting point of this research. The aim was to analyze the reflections of social roles in a gender-based perspective and contribute to the literature.