Turkish marriage guide advises wives to wear sexy outfits after being beaten to 'please' their husbands

Parliamentarian Fatma Kaplan Hurriyet says book 'considers women as sheep'

Fatma Kaplan Hurriyet (Wikimedia)

A marriage guide handed out to newly-weds in Turkey has prompted anger after suggesting husbands whose wives who do not "beautify" themselves should beat them, and that children as young as 10 can get married.

The book, called "Marriage and Family Life", also reportedly claims that after being beaten, women should serve their husbands coffee while wearing "flirtatious" outfits.

The guide, by former religious affairs department employee Hasan Caliskan, was handed out in two districts but drew the ire of MP Fatma Kaplan Hurriyet, who told the Turkish Parliament it "considers women as sheep".

According to Sol International, she said: "My hairs stood on end as I continued to read it.

"The book mentions the details of the nuptial night. It mentions ‘the right of sexual exploitation’, obedience to the husband, and it says that ‘the good woman is one who is obedient’, that a woman cannot go out without the knowledge of her husband, and that she must wear flirtatious dresses and try to please her husband when he beats her.

"If I read this book to you, which has been completely built upon the man’s sexual life with expressions in it, such as ‘If you do not abide by these methods, your child will be an imbecile’, ‘If you talk while having sex, your child will be a stutterer’, or ‘The wife must be skillful in domestic work and doing her husband’s work’, you would blush like a tomato."

The 394-page manual was said to have been handed to new couples in the city of Kutahya, and a similar version given out in Pamukkale.