The Barbie doll is an icon filled with meanings; this thesis discusses the Barbie doll and herfeministic potentials and subject positions using a discourse analysis. The thesis analyzeswhat sort of femininity Barbie portraits in magazines, web series and films about her.Theories being used originate mainly from gender and queer studies, where the focus is on theperformative constructions of gender and femininity. Since the material mostly consists ofmoving images some influence is taken from feminist film theorists and semiotic theory,which focuses on signs and their meaning. The thesis centres around the questions: how isBarbie?s femininity challenged, strengthened and constructed in different types of mediaabout her produced by Mattel? And is there any feminist potential in Barbie?s subjectpositions in these media forms?.

Men and women in advertising - a study of the ads in the magazines Café and Elle is an essay in media and communication studies covering 15hp. The author examines what is considered masculinity and femininity in a variety of advertisements, and which products are linked to masculinity and femininity. Besides this, the author also examines the production of happiness, and how this may differ between men and women. Although stereotypes, myths and metaphors are examined. The essay is examined on the basis of gender theory, and theories about stereotypes and myths.

Societies are surrounded by unaware attitudes and views about what is masculine and what is feminine and this can contribute to people being raced differently. Boys and girls are shaped to think and act in different ways from an early age because of their gender. According to the curriculum in the Swedish school system, the school has an important task to prevent such perceptions young people have about sex and gender. Reading books are still a central source where students gather information in the Swedish school. Therefore, I find it interesting to examine how gender is produced in three Swedish reading books from three different periods (1950s, 1970s and 2000s) to see what similarities and differences there are between the texts and the study has been based on three questions:How are men/boys and women/girls described in the reading books based on their characteristics, interests and pursuits?How much space in the texts are represented by men/boys and by women/girls?What masculinities and femininities can be found in the texts and which ones are the most desirable?I have used a text analysis in my research to analyse the three reading books and based my theory on that gender is a social construction.

The aim of this essay is to study constructions of femininity and sexuality in Sara Stridsberg?s novel Darling River (2010). The analysis is based on queer theory and the term ?skev? ? a variation of ?queer? that allows one to focus on additional forms of normativity apart from sexual desire ? and examines how the characters of the novel are challenging the heteronormative framework by performing gender and sexuality in non-normative, subversive ways. In short, I discuss how the relationship between femininity, body and destiny is being portrayed, how the characters question heteronormativity by overdoing femininity, and by being unable (unwilling) to perform adult femininity.

There is an awareness of the importance of gender equality in most western societies, both at the political level and in everyday life. In academia, for instance, gender is nowadays a scientific field which indicates that there is a lot of knowledge about the subject. What we do not have much knowledge about is whether gender knowledge leads to changes in gender relations in practice. The aim of this study is to explore how gender scholars relate to using ? practicing ? gender knowledge.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how femininity, Silikon, Vecko Revyn, and Darling. The study is made from a critical discourse analytical approach and text, pictures, and layout are all analysed. Some of the main characteristics of the material are the division in the categories"we"and"them", double messages, and personal address to the reader. Femininity is strongly associated with body, sexuality, beauty, and looks.

Domestic weekly magazines in Sweden are characterized by an emphasis on practical editorial material such as cooking recipes and knitting patterns, and also contain a comparatively large share of reader material. This makes it possible to study the readers through texts produced by themselves. The aim of this study of columns of readers' tips on domestic work is to analyze how readers embody a specific femininity centered around the woman as responsible for the home, in the sense of everyday maintenance as well as aesthetic development. The author defines this femininity as "home maker". The theoretical framework for the analysis is the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu, and Jonathan Potter's and Margaret Wetherell's model of interpretive repertoire is also used where modality is discussed.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert?s and Maria Thulin?s picture Allt om min buske (literally, All about my bush) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler?s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault?s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if Allt om min buske is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert?s and Maria Thulin?s picture Allt om min buske (literally, All about my bush) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler?s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault?s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if Allt om min buske is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture.

Domestic weekly magazines in Sweden are characterized by an emphasis on practical editorial material such as cooking recipes and knitting patterns, and also contain a comparatively large share of reader material. This makes it possible to study the readers through texts produced by themselves. The aim of this study of columns of readers' tips on domestic work is to analyze how readers embody a specific femininity centered around the woman as responsible for the home, in the sense of everyday maintenance as well as aesthetic development. The author defines this femininity as "home maker". The theoretical framework for the analysis is the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu, and Jonathan Potter's and Margaret Wetherell's model of interpretive repertoire is also used where modality is discussed.

The aim of this paper is to critically examine and analyze how the informal performance about masculinities and femininity are being expressed and produced by the text and pictures in Huddinge kommuns internal magazine for the staff working within the public administration. The concrete questions are:By which patterns constructs the performance of gender in Huddinge kommuns internal magazine for the staff working within the public administration?Are the femininity and masculinities being expressed in a static way or have it changed in Huddinge kommuns internal magazine for the staff working within the public administration throw the examined years 1985, 1995 and 2006?A quantitative and qualitative method is used. The point of departure is organization theory in a gender perspective. With the gender organization theory we examine the structures, leadership, symbolics and changes through the examined years.

The aim of this study was to try to identify what young women see as typically female and how this affects them as individuals, focusing on the female body. How free or limited do they consider themselves to respond to prevailing ideals of beauty, to men and other women. Our questions are how young women construct femininity through the body and why? We do this by using a holistic gender perspective and with the help of key theoretical concepts; gender, normative femininity, heteronormativity, performance, freedom/power and the female body,. We have had a qualitative approach and we have done interviews with six girls in secondary school age.

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the everyday work of school counsellors in the City of Stockholm with a gender perspective by studying the school counsellors ? talk about masculinity and femininity. The aim was to reach an understanding of how parts of the counsellors everyday work are influenced by gender through the perspective of the school counsellor. The study was conducted using qualitative methods. Six school counsellors, five woman and one man, were interviewed.

This paper is about how the contemporary discourses on the slut in various ways discuss sluttyness, and what consequences these discussions may be for those who see themselves as sluts. The study is based on five electronic interviews, conducted via instant messaging, with five people who consider themselves to be dealing with sluthood and that, according to their own definitions, identify themselves as sluts. My conclusion is that sluttyness, when given the opportunity to be discussed and problematized, visualizes power and normative systems between sluts. This means that sluttyness is more complex than only influenced by patriarchal oppression and hierarchy of femininity, as I show through an intersectional conscious analysis.  .

This master thesis is discussing ten pony books from 2006 in relation to the heterosexual matrix. It contains a rather extensive research overview regarding horse riding from a gender perspective, pony books, traditional feminist studies of girls? books and queer readings of girls? and children?s literature. The aim of the empirical study is two folded; firstly to show how the girl protagonists? horse riding is presented in terms of masculinity and femininity (as defined by Natalie Koivula), secondly to analyze the relations between the girls appearing in the books from a queer perspective attempting to find some queer leakage in the depictions.