Walking back to Adam's place of residence after dark on several occasions I noticed what looked like your garden variety prostitues on one street in particular. Upon consultation with Adam, I learned that these were in fact trans-sexuals. In itself, I guess this doesn't seem all that strange when considering how large of a city/society Istanbul is. It is a bit more strange however, when you consider that this is in the context of a predominantly muslim society. Adam and I are both curious to know how/why this practice of apparent trans-sexual prostitution seems to be culturally tolerated if not outrightly accepted by turks, especially when there don't appear to be any female prostitues. Eda, I will be curious to get your input.
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Ok, to answer your first question:
Istanbul is a metropolitan city, so basically you can almost expect anything to happen here. And yes you can sort of say that transsexuals are accepted, it's more that people got used to their existence i guess, not that they are morally accepted. Also, another thing that they are pretty well known for is getting involved in fights which might end up in police stations. So, you can say that the issue is mostly taken in security perspective rather than moral perspective. But personally, I dont see them as such a big threat, I think as long as you treat them as you treat anybody else, they dont mess with you, they are mostly doing their own thing. (of course there would be exceptions)
And yes there are also many female prostitutes in Turkey. The fact that it's a predominantly Muslim country does not necessarily stop either from existing.
And to the second question posted by jeff:
Of course, they are not covering their heads.. any transsexual in Istanbul would look like any other you see anywhere else in the world. They are a marginal group, remember..
Not that everybody else is covering their heads here anyways..
Anyways, I hope that answers your question..
Eda
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