Turkish Women Are Laughing Uproariously At Politician Who Said Women Shouldn't Laugh

Why are these Turkish women laughing? Ask
the boneheaded Turkish politician who inspired the chuckles. 

Bulent Arinc, a Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, thinks he knows how women should behave.

Women should be chaste, Arinc said in a recent speech, according to The Guardian.

In part, he said. "She should know the difference between public and private. She should not laugh in public."

I'm not sure how not laughing in public makes a woman chaste, but thankfully, Turkish women are having none of it.

In a move that is cheering an otherwise grim world, thousands of Turkish women took to social media posting selfies of their own laughter.  It's a rebuke to Arinc's weird ideas about a woman's place.

All those selfies pretty much put our Turkish Deputy Prime Minister in his place, huh?

In another positive development, many men in Turkey went on line to express their solidarity with all those chuckling women. "The men of a country in which women are not allowed to laugh are cowards," said one Tweet from a man, according to The Guardian.

Yes, that's stating the obvious, but sometimes you have to.  

More welcomed laughter among Turkish women.  

A main opposition presidential candidate also disagreed with Arinc, saying: "More than anything else, our country needs women to smile and to hear everybody's laughter."

As for Arinc and his reaction to all these publicly guffawing women, he resorted to the old "My speech was taken out of context" defense.

He said his speech lasted an hour and a half (YAWN!!!) and everybody's focusing on that one reference to women laughing, he whined.

Arinc said he understands banning women from laughing in public is idiotic, and he's not pushing for that. He said he's opposed to "fake laughter," whatever that is.

I hope the women of Turkey keep laughing. A lot. And I hope the men continue to join in the fun.