Following the wake of the AIDS-catastrophe in the beginning of the eighties, homosexual men or 'men who have sex with men' (MSM) have been barred from donating blood throughout the planet. In this thesis I look into the different discourses at play in the context of creating the legal framework for blood donation in Sweden. Genealogically tracing the emergence of the category of MSM and mapping how the category is brought to use in contemporary negotiations on blood safety, I scrutinize how scientific truth is established within blood transfusion practice. I argue that the rationality of risk group exclusion is contingent on economical grounds, and that the foucauldian concept of biopolitics could productively be used to understand this rationality. In particular, the concept of the 'biopolitics of blood' can be employed in order to understand the reluctance from the involved actors to acknowledge the heteronormative consequences of the legal framework of contemporary blood donation..

The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the production and repetitiveness of gender patterns with focus on girls in the swedish tween magazine Kamratposten. This is of importance due to the non existing research on Kamratposten concerning this specific topic. The aim is also to evoke a broader discussion about the relationsship between gender representation and pedagody. The theoretical framework is based on three concepts, namly Yvonne Hirdman?s gender contract, Judith Butler?s performativity and the idea of heteronormativity.

Although Sweden is considered to be in the lead concerning an open-minded perception of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population, very little attention has been given to the elderly within this target group. The elder LGBT population?s got special needs that haven?t been made sufficiently visible, neither as a research field, from social institutions nor from the LGBT movement itself. This study has described the target group's specific needs, based on the results of a focus group consisting of older LGBT people. Their experiences and stories have given an idea of what adjustments must be made to satisfy their specific needs.

I bakgrunden tas betydelsen av en bra vårdrelation upp, liksom transpersoners plats inom dagens vård. Även tidigare forskning presenteras. Syftet är att belysa transpersoners (könskorrigerade och icke könskorrigerade) upplevelser av brister inom vården. För att besvara syftet har en litteraturöversikt utförts enligt Fribergs (2006) modell. Resultatet redovisar att vården idag för denna minoritetsgrupp är bristfällig, med diskriminering och okunskap som ständigt möter transpersoner inom vården, liksom att vården styrs av heteronormativitet.

The purpose of this thesis is to find out how young girls reason about norms and attitudes towards female sexuality. Through a qualitative research approach ten girls in grade 9 has discussed in two focus-groups on what is typically female, the ideal images of the ultimate woman as well as what is considered to be characteristic of female sexuality. The results were analyzed using Tina Mattson's theory of intersectionality, Beverly Skeggs theory of respectability and Göran Burenhults thoughts about biology and sexuality. Some of the main findings are that the girls in the study associate femininity primarily with external attributes and beauty and the ideal image of the woman is beautiful, yet independent. Further they describe different conditions for boys and girls to explore their own sexuality, and also that for girls the risk of being branded a "whore" is ever present.

The aim of this essay is to investigate how the author JT LeRoy (a. i. Laura Albert) questions and broadens the concept of authenticity in literature and authorship. My study is based on LeRoy?s novel Sarah [2000] and the collection of short stories The heart is deceitful above all things [2001], as well as articles written about the construction of Laura Albert?s alter ego JT LeRoy.

The aim of this studie centers on how lgbt (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) are portrayed in women?s magazines. The magazines we have chosen to analyze are FRIDA, VeckoRevyn and amelia, which all three have different target groups. We have, with the assistance of the rhetorical and semiotic analysis methods, assessed 18 articles with their associated photographs. These methods are part of the qualitative analysis model and are used in order to study less empirical data with more depth.

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate how seven homosexual men in the age between 18 and 26 years experience openness with their sexuality in Stockholm. We wish to investigate how these men experience and handle their everyday life in a community characterized by a heteronormative foundation. We will focus on how they handle their openness in an urban environment and if they experience any limitations dependent on the situation or surroundings they live in, and also how they handle these situations. The study is hermeneutically inspired where seven life story interviews are analyzed within the theoretical frameworks provided by Connell, Goffman, Foucault and Queer theory.The results show that the respondents? openness varies depending on a variety of factors where surroundings, situations and previous experiences are influential.

This essay examine the meaning produced around bodies and body fat in the queer community, but also in the surrounding straight community. The author has interviewed fat activists, and are using queertehory, to examine and analyze the relationship between body fat and the understanding and construction of sexuality and gender. The author concludes that even if norms around body shape and body fat are overlapping between the two contexts to some degree, they also differ. In the straight community, people with larger body shapes and sizes are punished, and encouraged to stay, or become, slim. However, in the queer community, ?fat? or bigger body sizes are not frowned upon in the same degree.

Att behärska två språk och två länders syn på pedagogik är en bra förutsättning om man vill undersöka och jämföra dessa två länders syn på barn med funktionsnedsättning. Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är därmed att belysa hur skolans styrdokument i Sverige och i Ungern formulerar och beskriver barn med funktionsnedsättning. En del av syftet är också att finna likheter och skillnader mellan det svenska och det ungerska styrdokumentet.Som material till ändamålet används den nya svenska Skollagen (2010) och den ungerska Utbildningslagen (1993). Analysen genomfördes med analysverktyget diskursanalys där jag har analyserat språket som beskriver barn med funktionsnedsättning.Resultaten visar att båda skollagarna har en tydlig koppling till de gällande internationella dokumenten där allas lika värde poängteras. Den svenska Skollagen har dessutom en relationell och deltagande syn på funktionsnedsättning medan den ungerska Utbildningslagen, som är 17 år äldre än den svenska lagen, betonar en kompensatorisk och individinriktad syn..

 The aim of this thesis is to examine men's attitudes towards literature, and how social norms affect their book reading, in order to contribute to the knowledge of why men's book reading is decreasing. This is realized through a discourse analysis of literature recommendations in men's lifestyle magazines.Two magazines, King of Sweden and Magazine Café, are examined through critical discourse analysis. Theories of discourse are combined with theories of gender to explore how gender stereotypes affect men's reading habits.The analysis shows that ideals of masculinity have a great influence on the book recommendations. Social norms, associated with gender, also seem to have significance to whether or not a book is considered suitable for men to read. These are, inter alia, norms of heterosexuality and violence.

Within this essay a study is made of an LGBTQ-orientated Christian service in Stockholm called Queer Service. The following questions seek to be answered: What reasons does an individual set for his/hers participation in Queer Service? Which aspects of a queer service highlight the participants as important to them?As a method to answer these questions, the author has observed a number of queer church services in autumn of 2012. Moreover communication within the group of the assembly on the social media page Facebook has been followed and five individuals from the Queer Service congregation have been interviewed. As a background to the study, the European religious climate seen from Grace Davies eyes is depicted.  The reader also learns of how the Swedish church has handled questions about homosexuality and bisexuality and what liberation theology is.

Engelfors Trilogy is a three-part fantasy novel consisting of Circle, Fire and The key, written by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgrens. Circle was nominated for the August Prize award 2011, which is a literary prize awarded each year. The book has also been translated into 25 different languages. Fire came out in August 2013 and is the part of the novel that I will concentrate on in these theses. What I will do in this paper is a queer feminist analysis of the novel's main characters in the book Fire.

När Sverige blev medlem i dåvarande EG 1995 fick det bland annat följden att EU:s fördrag och lagstiftning skulle implementeras och göras gällande i svensk lag. I många fall har detta skett utan större problem men i vissa frågor har det uppstått skiljaktliga meningar om huruvida den svenska lagstiftningen och förvaltningen lever upp till de regler som EU gemensamt fattat beslut om. Denna uppsats tar fasta på detta fenomen, närmare bestämt på hur EU och Sverige under en lång tid inte kunde nå en samsyn om hur den svenska vargstammen skulle förvaltas. Genom att beskriva de förutsättningar som ledde fram till den svenska licensjakten på varg kommer uppsatsen att försöka förklara vilka preferenser den svenska regeringen utgick ifrån när den försvarade sitt beslut att genomdriva licensjakt på varg trots EU-kommissionens protester..

The aim of this master thesis is to examine high school students? understandings and experiences of gender equality and to critically study the formulations and the basis of the project from Save the Children Sweden which are the basis for this master thesis. By using critical discourse analysis and gender theories the formulations and basis of the project and the interviews has been analyzed. The analysis of the project showed neglect for intersectional perspectives and taken for granted hidden opinions about masculinities and femininities. The interviews have been conducted with four high school students, and the students felt that they attend schools which are equal between genders.