Türkiye'de Kadın Sağlığının Dijitalleşmesi: Pepapp Regl Takip Mobil Uygulamasına Dair Bir İnceleme

Abstract

This study aims to examine the changing daily life practices of women in a sociocultural context as a result of datafication their knowledge about menstrual and sexual health. It examines how the cyber information exchange between individuals' bodies and mobile phones is related to biopolitics and gender inequality in Turkish society, where menstruation is avoided. In the case of "Pepapp'', one of the mobile applications used by women to monitor their menstrual cycles and sexual health, the phenomena encountered in the digitalization process of the female body were examined. For the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 women using the "Pepapp" application. In addition to the qualitative research, an auto- ethnographic method was adopted to convey the use and experiences of the application. Pepapp's usage map and individual user experiences are presented. The fact that the user group, including me as the researcher, followed the sexual health data in analog form before the application was preferred in order to reveal the change in practices between before and after mobile applications. As a result of the research, it was concluded that educated women with high digital literacy are not free from the accepted heteronormative view of menstruation in Turkish society. The fact that women are confined to the private sphere and are not considered independent of moral social codes has deepened gender inequality in digital technologies. Cyberfeminism proposes an inclusive perspective for women within the patriarchal digital technology ecosystem. The main goal should be for women to consciously maintain their online and offline existence through women's bodies, which are confined from the public to the private sphere by patriarchal power relations. In this regard, the government has strengthened its power by creating the illusion that the control mechanisms regarding the body are transferred to individuals through self-monitoring.