This paper discusses some concerns about Japanese gender identity as a construct and the subversive means to overthrow it. In my paper I claim that the eastern influences on Japan has created a gap between old and new gender- traditions and norms. This interspace is what the philosopher Judith Butler claims as the site for a possible gender transformation. As Butler claims gender identity to be a construct, I use her methods of understanding and subsequently queertheory, to investigate the construct of Japanese gender identity and also the norms that constitute a national identity. As I elaborate on this theory I use specific artworks from Morimura Yasumasa, Yoshiko Shimada and Bubu de la Madeleine and also the all-male theatre kabuki vs.

Music has always been an important form of communication and it can be found in many different contexts including aesthetical, cultural and emotional forms. In the globalized society of today music can be distributed fast through radio, TV, CD: s and the Internet. For many people consumption of music is an important part of the daily life and it can contribute to shape an individual?s attitudes and personality.The main purpose of this study is to find out whether there are any differences between men and women?s musical preferences. I will apply an explorative approach using qualitative interviews to describe what causes the differences.

We, the authors of this essay are both students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola. During our education we have been reflecting on the gender perspective that is suppose to permeate the education. This essay aim to examine how some students at the Bachelor Programme in Social Work at Malmö Högskola, who identify themselves as GLBT , experience how questions regarding sex/gender and sexuality are spoken about during their education. We have a discursive perspective on how we understand norms and power of words and language. From a queerteorethic point of view we explain sex/gender and sexuality.

By the same time as the recent enlargement of the European Union, where Poland became a member, it was officially stated that the gender mainstreaming-policy was to be integrated into every area of EU. NGO:s working as entrepreneurs for the gender mainstreaming norm in Poland supported the accession largely because they believed it would help spreading the norm also on a national level. Qualitatively analyzing the Polish case and the difficulties gender mainstreaming as a norm candidate meets with I contrast expectations with what could actually be EU:s role in this matter.Arguing that EU is a context with room for spreading norms by both bargaining and socialization, this paper takes a social constructivist approach. Gender mainstreaming as a norm is difficult for EU to apply on their members, and thus was not widely discussed during accession negotiations. In the same time.

The requirements of good quality and appetizing fast food increases continuously as a consequence of a community where food is always available. The crispiness of French fries is an issue that must be considered in this context, since it tends to decrease and give the fries a soft surface not appreciated by the consumer. To prolong the crispiness, the fries can be coated by a batter, a mix of starches. The batters used often consists of modified starches, e.g. cross-linked, acetylated and dextrinizated to increase and prolong crispiness, flour to stabilize the batter and sodium bicarbonate to make the batter ?rise?.The cross-linked starch keeps the granules in a swelled state and prevents them from breaking when exposed to heat or processing: therefore, it delays the gelatinization and decreases the stickiness of the batter.

In this essay I analyze Karin Boye?s first novel, Astarte, focusing on her views concerning norms,ideals and female liberation. The novel is written in a tone of irony, allowing for many of thecharacters to be viewed as caricatures. The theories and methods I use are drawn from genderstudies and queer theory. Queer theorist Judith Butler, and the concepts of performativity, interpellation, genealogy and the heterosexual matrix, are of central importance for my analysis.

The purpose of this thesis is to, based on interviews and document studies, critically discuss how the introduction of kickboxing in Physical Education (PE) could affect gender equality in society. Based on a queer feminist and norm critical perspective on the prevailing teaching of PE, which, despite official efforts to challenge and modernize PE, persists in reproducing gender norms by e.g. spending 75% of class time on ball games. The hypothesis is that girls accessing violence (empowerment) through a bodily awareness in the form of kickboxing, positively would challenge the power imbalance that gender norms create. Girls are brought up, even today, in accordance with gender norms arguing against girls/women wanting to use their bodies as powerful tools to set limits.

Title: Digital christmas greetings - the viral communicators, public sphere and democracy(Digitala julhälsningar - de virala kommuniktörerna, offentligheten och demokratin)Number of pages: 41Author : Anna-Sara TorgnysdotterTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse : Media and Communication Studies DPeriod: Spring, semester 2010University: Devision of Media and Communications, Department of Information Science,Uppsala UniversityPurpose: The purpose of this study is to see if social media could be an arena for the usersto increase democracy and the public sphere. Studying the role and possibilitys of the individual.Is there a space for any one to act and debate?Method: A qualitative analysis based on interviews with ten users of social media - viralcommunicators. They were discussing public and private sphere, democracy, norms andbehavior in social media.Theoretical platform: The theoretical basis has its roots in sociology: Ervin Goffman´sidea on self-presentation and social interaction, Manuel Castels´ theories of the networksociety and Jürgen Habermas idea of the public spehere.Main result: The viral communicators are ambivalent in their use of socialmedia. They are users because they want to be but also because they feel forced to - professionalor private.

The aim with this study was to gain knowledge about how parents who are visual impaired experience and manage the meeting with the world around them. To have children and to be visual impaired creates a complex situation. There is not only the problem how to manage the parenting in technical terms. The disability is also filled with stigma because it diverges from the norms of society. There is not only demands from society about how the parent should behave, the parent also create demands of themselves.

Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur homosexuella föräldrar upplever sin tillvaro i ett heteronormativt samhälle samt hur de ser på skolans bemötande av dem och deras barn..

Kalmar Municipality has in 2008-2010 made an effort to educate managers on gender, with the goal of mainstreaming gender into public activities so that all citizens should feel safe in that treatment and services are designed and resources are distributed equally to both sexes living conditions and needs. The overall aim of this study was to examine whether the training effort has paid off, and how gender mainstreaming has been implemented in the different activities. We have used a qualitative approach, which we examined through interviews managers' approach to gender equality.Gender was generally described as an important issue of all respondents, and all were working to mainstream gender into their activities and workplaces. The results show that the operational and management needed clearer directives and strategies in their efforts to promote gender equality. Education was necessary because personal definition of gender may differ from the control contents of the documents.

This work has treated the subject of gender, with demarcation against the norms regarding appearance and beauty, conveyed by the media and how it affects society. This is expressed through social satire cartoons. This work has also led to an exploration of the importance of a personal drawing style and how it manifests itself..

Intermodulated force microscope (ImAFM) is a type of dynamic AFM. ImAFM opens up possibilities for mapping the topography and making quantitative determinations of material parameters at the same time. With increased information the need to generate more informative images of the sample emerges. In this Bachelor's degree project I have created tools for rendering images of a sample. The topography is plotted as the height and a material parameter is color coded on topography.

My study was conducted to provide a deeper understanding of the identity of employee soldiers in the armed forces and their experience of their role in the military context. To describe and identify the soldier's identity formation, values and norms working in group processes are taken into account. As the individual identifies her or himself whit the group, the various phenomena as hostility to other military groups arise. The individuals weld together with other group members to form strong normative relationships within the group. Through a qualitative research approach eight soldiers in a regiment in western Sweden were interviewed, four of them were group executives or deputy group leaders and others were ordinary soldiers.

AimThe aim of the study is to find out if, and in that case how, the sports movement creates and reproduces norms and values regarding sex and sexuality. Questions to be answered are: Which experiences do non-heterosexual women have of everyday activities in the Swedish sports movement? How are norms on sex and sexuality visible in practice? Are there mechanisms/practices that challenge these norms? Finally, the results are discussed in relation to two policy documents from the National Organization of Sports (RF); ?Sports Wants? and ?Policy and plan of action against sexual harassment and sexual discrimination within sports?.MethodSince the aim was to understand, and not to generalize and quantify, a procedure of qualitative interviews was chosen. Ten non-heterosexual women were interviewed concerning their experiences of the Swedish sports movement. They were active (or had recently been) at different levels in the following sports: basketball, soccer, floor ball, ice hockey, bandy and volleyball.