QueerPositivity
Burcu Topuz
Ankara, Turkey
Supervisor: Serena Raucci
11/2023 - 10/2024
Hello. It is Burcu, a queer and an activist from Turkey. I am participating in the European Solidarity
Corps Program at Sonntags-Club and will conduct a project, “Queerpositivity”, in Berlin. My project focuses
on how beauty standards created by binary people impact the body image and mental health of FLINTAs and
members of the LGBTQ+ community. My main goal with this project and the workshops I will lead is to examine
the beauty standards imposed on us in detail with queer people, to dig into the social norms we unconsciously
follow, and to question the discomfort they cause us in the mental framework. In this way, it is aimed to reach
a certain awareness in the people attending the workshop, to share the difficulties we experience and to overcome them.
On the project that I wish to conduct, my questions would be:
• How are beauty standards that have been created by binary people perceived?
• What is perceived as the beauty standards by non-binary people?
• In which ways is the body image damaged or affected by these beauty standards?
• Which media or public icons appear significant or influential to FLINTAs and members of the LGBTQ+ community while shaping their perspective on body images/ beauty standards?
• How do these media or public icons impact their mental health?
Through these inquiries and the comebacks I anticipate to receive from a variety of queer people whom I plan to interview and gather
detailed information from, I intend to highlight how the difficulties faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in social life affect their mental health and their body image.