This Master's thesis explores representations of sexual agency in contemporary, Swedish novels for young adults. Using a representational theory approach the thesis analyzes 24 novels published in 2000 ? 2013. Addressing the following research questions: how is sexual agency constructed and regulated relative to gender performativity in Swedish novels for young adults? How are situations of sexual abuse and sexual ?grey zones? (situations that border on abuse) represented and being made intelligible in the texts? What are the consequences of representations of sexual agency? In the readings of the novels discourse analysis and theories on cultural representation and power have served as the critical points of entry, as well as the methodological basis for the study.

SammanfattningSyftet med denna uppsats är att söka svar på vilka analytiska verktyg som krävs för att förstå villkoren för mänskligt handlande. Min tes är att den diskursteoretiska epistemologi som kommit att dominera samtida feministisk forskning - i uppsatsen representerad främst av Judith Butler - inte tillhandahåller dessa analytiska verktyg. För att pröva denna tes har jag intervjuat fem heterosexuella, feministiska män om deras erfarenheter av sex. Jag frågar mig: på vilket sätt bestäms intervjupersonernas sexuella interaktion med kvinnor av deras respektive positioner som heterosexuella män och som feminister? I min analys tillämpar jag ett dialektiskt angreppssätt och stöder mig framför allt på Margaret Archers teoribygge.Min slutsats blir att det, för att i detalj kunna blottlägga villkoren för männens handlande, är fundamentalt att göra den typ av distinktioner som diskursteorin emotsätter sig - mellan subjektivt och objektivt, diskurs och praktik, etcetera.

This essay examines how four archaeology scholars reason about gender. I have used a qualitative method in making this study of their dissertations.  The aim is to obtain a deeper understanding of gender identity in prehistory, gaining a broader appreciation of how this might be expressed through archaeological material. This essay takes its theoretical departure from postprocessual thinking, where gender perspectives, including feminist and queer theories are in focus. The result of this study shows that the scholars have a postprocessual, structuralistic theoretical perspective in common, and that they use stereotypical identity-descriptions.

This essay examines the Alberte triology, by the Norwegian writer Cora Sandel, from a gender/feminist perspective. Taking Yvonne Hirdman's theory about the gender system as a starting point I will show how the living conditions and the different roles of men and women are represented in the novel and how they are changing during the centuries before and after the First World War.I am particularly interested in Alberte, the main character, what attitude she takes to her position in the gender system and in what way she differs from the traditional female model. Is she a New Woman, a different ?species?, who doesn't fit into the rigid gender system? Does the New Woman have a male counterpart, and is he to be found in the novel? Does the novel give a positive vision of a future where men and women can meet as equals?.

How do men who define themselves as feminists create and maintain an identity as men? In this qualitative study four men involved in feminist organizations were interviewed about their views on women, men, sex and feminism. Theories of language, psychoanalysis and ethics were utilized to further our understanding of the material these men produce in their effort to define themselves. Our object of study is the text, which we believe holds the key to understanding how an individual shapes his world and himself. The result is our interpretation of the text and its underlying mechanics.

The main focus of this study are the textile prints created by Astrid Sampe (1909-2002). Her fabrics can tell us more about her than a biography ever could. They can reveal how we experience patterns, why we are attracted to them and how our preferences can evolve over time. This study examines four different patterns, and the thesis aims to define Sampe and her textile prints using three different theories and a formal aesthetic analysis. Modernistic and postmodernism theories are relevant when explaining the period where the fabrics were created and how Sampe's ideas were conceived during her lifetime.

My aim in this essay is to analyze how the female body is represented in Swedish working class literature. I have compared four different novels all of which contain a female bathing scene: the opening chapter of Moa Martinsons Kvinnor och äppelträd (1933) , the opening chapter of Ivar Lo-Johanssons Bara en mor (1939) and a scene each in Glasfåglarna (1996) and Mosippan (1998), both written by Elsie Johansson. The bathing scenes suggest three key issues: modernisation, urbanisation and above all women´s sexual politics. Though there were several issues facing the feminist movement in Sweden in the 1930, the question of a woman?s right to her body was one that united the movement, regardless of class..

This thesis sets out to examine how feminist struggle can be negotiated, defined and motivated. By using Oral history as a theoretical and methodological framework, three persons narrative are being constructed, explored and discussed throughout the thesis. All the interviewees define themselves as women and feminists and have all practised music in different separatist rock and pop-groups from 1970 to present. Themes as music as political action, and separatism for persons who define themselves as women are discussed. The tree informants agree about some feministic goals such as equality and the right to be able to play and perform music regardless of gender identity, although the means to reach these goals are formulated differently. .

By analysing Still the water (2014), Radiance (2017) and True Mothers (2020) by Naomi Kawase this essay will look at her work to see how she portrays the experience of being a woman in relation to her community. Looking into her way of using the camera by applying the theory of haptic visuality allows the spectator to identify themselves in a bodily relationship with the image. By using the camera to closely frame objects of importance for the characters, Kawase leads the spectator to understand the world of the film and enables a more profound understanding of their experience. For the community to be of importance for the women it must be founded in the feeling of security and a confirmation of their feelings. Once secure, the women can express themselves and by that, feminist politics..

Partly due to its consequences on the physical and mental health but also because of women?s constant fear of being violated, rape is considered to be a public health issue. The theoretical aspects of rape were first discussed in the 1970?s mainly from the viewpoints of Susan Brownmiller and Michel Foucault. The aim of this literature study is to investigate the different perspectives on whether rape should be viewed as sex or violence, how the controversy has developed and what the authors claim that the different perspectives result in.

Within the field of welfare research, few people take into account both the aspect of gender and class. Thetraditional class-oriented research has a one-dimensional perspective on gender and the feminist welfare researchrarely carry out large comparative studies. A multi-dimensional perspective on the construction ofgender and class would benefit from both the feminist and class welfare-oriented research, and contribute toincreasing the knowledge about the individual's experience and attitudes to work and work time. The aim ofthis paper is to examine the correlation of the intersectional relationship between sex / gender position andclass position with the attitudes and motives for working time reduction. Especially in, (1) the value in work,and (2) the attitude to a high number of working hours, as well as (3) its combined effect on the conflict betweenwork and family.

The text discusses the folk-tale princess as a good role model for both children and adults, from a feminist debate concerning this issue. Also an iconographic study, it compares women in folk-tale illustrations with women represented in fin-de-Siècle art concentrating on the Great mother goddess and the femme fatale, finding similarities between folk-tale illustrations and other art. Besides that, the text look at the interest for Swedish folk-tales in the 1890´s, the connection between women as illustrators of children?s books and ideas about nature and womanhood that might have had influence on the Swedish artist Elsa Beskow at the time..

Purpose/Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the construction of gender and to compare Media?s portrayal of male and female athletes.Material/Method: 140 articles covering seven famous Swedish male and female athletes were selected from two Swedish newspapers (Aftonbladet and Expressen). The articles has been analysed within the frames of Norman Faircloughs Critical Discourse Analysis.Main results: Male athletes are often described in powerful ways and are framed as being strong and successful. Skills and strengths of women athletes are often devalued in comparison to standards of hegemonic masculinity and self-control. They are often framed as women and girlfriends in advantage of the fact that they are athletes..

This essay focuses on two social workers talking about their working field in the prostitution area in a Swedish city. The study aims to investigate how the social workers talk about their field and clients that are in it through the use of narrative analysis. Furthermore we discuss the complications with qualitative interviews, narrative analysis from a feminist theoretical and methodological point of view. The study is based on an interview with the two social workers. The result reveals only tendencies rather than a general "truth".

Ulla Isaksson (1916 ? 2000) wrote many novels, often with a woman or several women as protagonists. In Dit du icke vill (?Where Thou Willst Not?) from 1956 she depicts a crisis of faith in a woman, which would not have been successful had she chosen a contemporary setting. She uses an adequate historical framework, the prosecution of witches in Sweden in the 17th century, well documented in reliable sources.