Coffee Table   

Aspasia (460-401 BC) is a philosopher of antiquity who is known for her teachings on dialectics and
rhetoric. She was born in Miletus, which was one of the two important port cities of the Aegean Sea
in the Antiquity, and later emigrated to the other port city, Athens, when she turned 20. We don’t
know the reason why, or have no knowledge of her family. However, it is believed that she came
from a wealthy family since she was highly educated and turned her house in Athens into an
academy where philosophical lectures were given. Many dignitary Athenian women as well as men
attended her academy, which was against the tradition as the intellectual production was allocated
to men and non-foreigners. She hosted many artists, statesmen and philosophers, including Socrates,
at her house. Aspasia had strong influence over Socrates with her high level of knowledge on
philosophy and rhetoric. What is known today as “Socratic method” is confirmed to be her work
instead. Pericles, the famous statesman of the time, repealed the ban on marrying foreigners that he
himself had introduced in order to marry her. The dialogues reveal that she wrote up most of
Pericles’ speeches and helped him rehearse. She was found deviant and disobedient for her times
and put on trial several times with accusations of atheism and prostitution. Although she was
acquitted with the help of Pericles, her name was derogated and she was referred to as a prostitute
even after her times.

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Lambader

The great majority of contemporary societies are patriarchal. The unequal distribution of power and resources in patriarchy rather benefits men in terms of gaining authority as well as respect. One can still observe its projection onto social life even in the developed countries despite their laws to ensure equality of women and men.

One of the most powerful means to perpetuate inequality is through language. Most of us have probably witnessed the use of sexist language or even used it at least once. Although we may not have been fully aware, we may have helped perpetuate gender bias and gender inequality since the effects of the use of sexist language extend beyond words. For example, it is normalized to call an unmarried man a “confirmed bachelor” whereas his female counterpart would be derogatively called a “spinster” or an “old maid”. While doing something “like a girl” implies incompetence and clumsiness, responsibilities like housework which has been assigned to young females than young males are also deprecated. Even in the developed societies, women are deprived of equal pay, rights and treatment they well deserve, or not hired at all because of their gender. They are subjected to gender-based discrimination and have to struggle against oppression in every aspect of their lives. Leyla represents the struggle against discrimination.

Leyla originally means dark-haired woman in Arabic, but used in Turkish to describe drunk people. The struggle against discrimination and inequality shall begin in language, so Leyla stands upright, on her own, as herself.

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Chair & Bar Stool

Hatshepsut (1507-1458 BC) was the second female pharaoh to reign for longest in the 18 th
dynasty of Ancient Egypt, who has ruled for more than 20 years. Her mother was Ahmose
and father Thutmose I. Because the dynastic tradition only allowed for inbreeding,
Hatshepsut married her step-brother and later pharaoh Thutmose II, however they had no
heir from this marriage. Thutmose II’s second wife gave birth to the heir, who was raised by
Hatshepsut. When Thutmose II died at a young age, Hatshepshut came to power as a regent
for Thutmose III who was very young to reign. She then became the female pharaoh with the
support of religious authorities. While co-regency of royal women was socially accepted, it
was not appropriate for them to become the pharaoh. This is why the depictions of
Hatshepsut, especially those about her ceremonial clothes involve a fake beard and
resemble male clothing.

During her reign, she followed a strategy of peace, quelled
rebellions with her military knowledge and strategies, improved the trade routes and
wealth, and promoted the construction of many architectural projects. The most important
of these is the Temple of Hatshepsut, which also inspired Anıtkabir. Hatshepsut later
abdicated on the condition that her supporters, including her architect lover, would not get
killed. However, Thutmose III, who took over, did not keep his promise and killed all of her
supporters. Later, after Hatshepsut’s death, any tablet, statue, and depiction of hers was
destroyed systematically. Today, we still don’t know why any traces of Hatshepsut were not
allowed to remain. One of the predominant theories suggest that it may be due to the belief
in bad luck of having a female pharaoh.

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Bookshelf

Hypatia was a mathematician, philosopher and astronomer who lived in Alexandria between the 4th and 5th century AD. With the support of her father, Theon, she received a good education in times when women were not allowed to be active in social life, and managed to enter the male-dominated educational and scholarly circles. She gave lectures on philosophy, maths and astronomy at Platonic Academy at the Library of Alexandria. Her scientific work includes 8 volumes on conic sections of Apollonius of Perga among many more.

She became the symbol of science and education while the Christian church was gradually gaining influence. Although she was targeted by Cyril, the Patriarch of Alexandria with accusations of witchcraft, she continued her educational work. One day when she was on her way to work in the year 415, a mob of the Patriarch’s followers, Parabalanis waylaid her and brutally tore off her flesh from her bones using oyster shells. This marked the beginning of a long medieval decline, where scientific progress paused. In contrast, Cyril was declared a saint.

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Side Table

During the Heian Period (784-1192) in Japan, noble women of aristocracy had
certain privileges over the commoners, yet they still had to follow strict rules on
apparel, education and manners. Heian noble woman had to wear layers of silk
to conceal her body, but she also had to hide her face using a hand fan, screen or
dim light even from her close acquaintances. They were expected to be educated
to be literate, know Japanese poetry, or play a musical instrument for courtship.
It was not socially acceptable for these noble women to know about politics or
Chinese language, as these were reserved for men. However, they were allowed
to have an interest in poetry and storytelling, since they could take part in the
palace through this interest. A lot of women in the palace were known by their
nicknames than their actual names. These nicknames were often indicators of
their fathers, husbands, families and locations. As we don’t know her actual
name, the Japanese writer with the nickname of Murasaki Shikibu lived in the
11 th century during that period and worked in the palace as a lady-in-waiting.
Despite the traditions, she was raised by her father after her mother’s death at
an early age. She acquired Chinese language skills by listening to her father’s
lessons to her brother, and improved her skills by reading many important
Chinese texts. Because she had these language skills and was able to observe the
royal life closely as a lady-in-waiting, she later wrote the Tale of Genji of 1000
pages, which is considered to be the world’s first novel.

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Coat Rack

Born in 1894, Mary was the starring Asian elephant kept captive for “Sparks World Famous Shows” wandering circus in the US. When the circus arrived in Tennessee, Red Elridge with no prior experience has been hired by the circus administration to take care of Mary, which has been trained from early ages to perform at circuses. Red Eldridge injured Mary’s cheek with a bullhook when Mary did not listen to his commands on their way to the waterside for Mary to have some water and refresh. Angry and hurt, Mary threw him off and caused his death.

People witnessing these moments pressured the circus administration into killing Mary. Mary was to be hung from a crane for her public execution the next day. However, the chain put around her neck was not strong enough to support her 5-ton weight and broke off. Her hips and legs were broken due to the impact of the fall. After the second attempt at hanging her, she had to suffer immense pain for 30 minutes before she finally passed away. The autopsy later revealed that she had a tooth infection where Eldridge hit her on the cheek. This product is dedicated to the animals kept in captivity, living in terrible conditions to serve for human entertainment.

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