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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 Pericles, the famous statesman of the time, repealed the ban on marrying foreigners that he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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