Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, was an online guest at the 'Therapy Approaches and Practices on Demand in Sexual Identity Confusions & A Meta-Analysis and Recommendations on the Global and Societal Dimensions of the Corruption of the Family Institution' titled Dünya ÇAKOP II. International Symposium, organized by the World Child and Family Protection Platform (Dünya ÇAKOP). At the symposium, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, who made evaluations on the topic of 'Is Sexual Identity Innate or Acquired?', stated that children should be educated about their sexual tendencies at a young age before entering adolescence. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said; "Before the age of 18, the natural guardians are the mother and father. Therefore, if we have any hesitation regarding our child's sexual role, sexual identity, or sexual orientation, what we need to focus on is educating and habituating our children on this matter at a young age, before they enter adolescence."
The symposium, which offered an online access option for those unable to attend in person, took place at the Istanbul Haliç Congress Center. The two-day symposium was divided into topic headings such as 'Examination of Sexual Identity Confusions in the Context of Psychology and Psychotherapy' and 'Examination of Sexual Identity Confusions in Global and Societal Dimensions.'
"There are biological differences due to creation"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan drew attention to the differences in sexual perception between women and men; "An experiment is being conducted with psychology students regarding sexual perception. Female and male students are given a button each and told to press it when sexuality comes to mind. The number of times students press the button is recorded, and it turns out that men press the button five times more often than women. In fact, during adolescence, and especially during prolonged adolescence, male and female brains function differently. The male brain, in these periods, focuses on eroticism in terms of sexual perception, while the female brain focuses on romanticism. The perception in the male-female brain here sounds a bit like jargon, but sometimes it needs to be striking to be memorable. In the example of a boyfriend and girlfriend, what does the male do? He wants eroticism. The female wants romanticism. But the male seeks eroticism by giving romanticism. The female seeks romanticism by giving eroticism. Due to creation, there are such biological differences. Women and men are not biologically equal. We need to know this. Biological sex is encoded in our genes, even beyond genes, it is separately encoded in our chromosomes."
"Happiness is not a goal, it's a result"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan; "If we look at the societal dimension, there's a statistic compiled in the USA. Americans do everything with statistics, and thankfully they do. In this statistic, two things were taught between 1950 and 2000: one was the per capita gross national product in income distribution, and the other was the happiness score. The gross national product increased from 20,000 dollars to 35,000 dollars per person per year. But the happiness score remained the same. There's a famous saying, 'You can't buy happiness with money,' which translates in American culture as 'Money can't buy happiness.' That's exactly it. In such a situation, one needs to question the life philosophy that glorifies sexuality and hedonism in the pursuit of happiness. In fact, happiness is not a goal, it's a result. If a person lives correctly, happiness comes naturally. We see from these statistics that the current capitalist system, which views sexuality as a tool to achieve happiness, is making a serious mistake."
"Women and men are equal in correct rights and opportunities, but not biologically"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, speaking about how Westernization in Turkey has reduced the importance given to family and privacy; "We are currently rapidly Westernizing sociologically and culturally in Turkey. I said we should adopt the good aspects of the West, such as its technology and science. But choosing to adopt its culture was a mistake. That's the conclusion here. We made the mistake of not choosing modernization while preserving our own culture. There is enough scientific evidence for us to realize this, but we also want to be Western culturally. We want to live like the West. We don't attach importance to family, to privacy. For example, in America, there are open marriages where both parties are married but also have partners. If we approve of this, let our decision-makers say we find such a culture correct. On the other hand, marriage has become 'living together'. They live together for 3-6 months and then separate. While we criticized polygamy, we moved towards polyamorous relationships. How is this connected to the topic? Because these are reasons that lead to the potential collapse of the family institution. Sociological changes don't fix themselves immediately. They don't collapse immediately. In our society, destruction, a fire in the family, has begun. Can we extinguish it before it grows? This genderlessness ideology also fuels this fire. When we say women and men are equal, women and men are equal in correct rights and opportunities, but not biologically."
"Turkey is number one in the world for violence against women"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan drew attention to the rate of violence against women in Turkey; "Here, violence against women, very interestingly, Turkey is at the top. How does this happen? Turkey ranks first among OECD countries in violence against women. This is a 2019 statistic. I checked if this was some copy-paste fabrication, but it's not; it's accurate information. Violence against women in Turkey is around 38%. The rate of experiencing violence at least once in their lifetime by someone with whom they have an intimate relationship is 38%. Turkey ranks first with 38% in the experience of physical and sexual violence. America comes in second. After that, countries like New Zealand, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, England, Norway, Sweden, France follow. Turkey is number one in the world for violence against women. This is a shameful, embarrassing thing for us."
"We are in an era of freedoms, consent-based systems"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, stating that children should be educated about their sexual tendencies at a young age before entering adolescence; "If a person over 18 says, 'I am like this, I will be with my own sex, not the opposite sex. This is how I live,' or lives their sexual identity differently, we are in an era of freedoms, consent-based systems. We are in an era where it is neither possible nor correct to forcibly impose a lifestyle on someone without their consent, saying 'you will live this way or that way.' In other words, we do not have the right to tell them, 'you must be of this identity.' However, social restrictions related to this can be introduced. This is a value completely distributed among cultures and left to societies. It also has no genetic equivalent. Scientific American Psychiatry rightly separated this and said it is a social domain. If a person wants to behave in a certain sexual identity, and their mental health is sound, and they have no other illness, and they can make healthy decisions, then that person also has the freedom to choose wrong. In fact, if we look at it, humans also have the freedom to commit sins. In such situations, we will not interfere. I say this for those who call it shameful or sinful. However, there is also the situation that before the age of 18, the natural guardians are the parents. Therefore, if we have any hesitation regarding our child's sexual role, sexual identity, or sexual orientation, what we need to focus on is educating and habituating our children on this matter at a young age, before they enter adolescence. Thus, when sexual tendencies are detected in early adolescence, if a child has sexual tendencies related to their own sex, the child's need for parents is very high, and if the parents start an education on this matter during this process, the child immediately improves. But if the parents support this during early adolescence or say, 'you are free, if you want it this way, live this way,' then the child has made such a choice and entered such a path." he stated.
"The human child is born to learn"
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized that sexual identity is not genetic, but related to cultural transmission; "Sexual identity actually has no biological basis. It occurs through social learning. For example, a child grew up with their mother and father until the age of 3 but was physically and emotionally neglected. This child disappears at 3 and is found at 10. When the child is found, it's not initially clear whether it's a boy or a girl. It is observed that this child barks like a dog, runs around like a dog. When eating, they put their head in water. They walk on all fours like a dog. They teach this child to stand and speak from age 10 to 20, but it is incredibly difficult, of course. The child hasn't even learned to be human, let alone sexual identity. In fact, we learn love and how to be human later. The human child is born to learn. But the animal child is born having learned everything: sexuality, protection, shelter. But the human child only learns until adolescence. There are about 50-60 such children who have entered literature as wild children. These children behave like whatever animal they were born next to." he stated.