The object of this essay is the Swedish author Agnes von Krusenstjerna's novels Ninas dagbok (The diary of Nina) and Helenas första kärlek (Helena's first love) as well as the cycle novel Fröknarna von Pahlen (The misses von Pahlen). The purpose is to explore her use of the discourse of girls' fiction, which I analyse by the depiciton of women's sexual awakening, and her depiction of sadomasochism. The theories of Elaine Showalter, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Judith Butler are used.Women's sexual awakening is depicted similarly in the novels but more explicitly in Fröknarna von Pahlen. In Ninas dagbok and Helenas första kärlek there is an eroticization of dominance and submission, which is not explicitly sadomasochistic. In Fröknarna von Pahlen, sadomasochism is explicitly described as a "perverted" sexuality and reveals the inequality in the violent sexuality, which is described as "normal".

AbstractHomosexuality is surely accepted in today´s society - or isn´t it? Many things have changed, for instance laws, which are in favour for homosexuals, have been introduced, in Sweden that is. As we although know, many things are not only dependent on what laws tell us to do. The society also contains values and norms and they furthermore exist in individuals. Regarding sexuality, the norm is heterosexuality.How much does the norm affect our way of living? In what way is it encouraged? What happens to people who don´t live up to the norm? How is it to be homosexual in today´s society? These are some of the questions that we look upon in this paper.

Den här studien använder sig av en queerteoretisk utgångspunkt för att försöka reda ut vad som kan sägas om genuskonstruktionen i två välkända religiösa berättelser: den hinduiska Ramayana samt Ruts bok som återfinns i den hebreiska bibeln. Studien använder en hermeneutisk metod och en queerteori med teoretiska modeller av Judith Butler och Yvonne Hirdman. Det kan ses i båda berättelserna att genuset hos både manliga och kvinnliga karaktärer ändrar sig under berättelsens gång, flera gånger och i relation till varandra. Slutligen diskuteras resultaten och det visar sig att den teori som används i uppsatsen, queerteori, saknar en förståelse för det slags dynamiska genus som finns att se vid en läsning av Ruts bok och Ramayana..

Uppsatsen undersöker skildringen av den kvinnliga samkönade sexualiteten i Agnes von Krusenstjernas romanserie Fröknarna von Pahlen. Den utgår från den queerteoretiska tanken att identiteter är uppbyggda på motsatser och att heterosexualitet behöver homosexualitet för att definiera sig själv. Således är homosexualitetens funktion att vara allt det som heterosexualiteten inte är. Det finns en diskrepans mellan samkönat begär och den homosexuella identiteten, och den homosexuella identitetens uppgift är att hålla den heterosexuella identiteten ren.Jag fokuserar den gräns som Krusenstjerna drar mellan lärarinnan Bell von Wendens homosexuella identitet och hennes elev Angela von Pahlens samkönade begär, samt hur Angelas sexuella identitet, trots hennes samkönade begär, hålls ren genom skildringen av Bells homosexuella identitet.Den gräns som dras mellan Bells homosexuella identitet och Angelas samkönade begär är emellertid inte rigid. Därför är det inte alltid tydligt när Angelas samkönade relationer till Bell, Stanny Landborg och Agda af Sauss går från att vara vänskapsrelationer till att bli kärleksrelationer.

In Malin Kivelä?s novel Du eller aldrig (2006) the reader experiences the world through the body of Aija, the narrator; a middle aged woman living in Helsinki. Aija has no family or other social relations. Hers is a life of strict routine: she spends her time reading, cleaning and studying snowflakes. Critics of the novel have stressed that Aija?s way of narrating creates a strong sense of presence in the text, but also that Aija?s atypical social behavior evokes a sense of loneliness and alienation.

The gap between practise and theory is often described in negative words in teachers? professional lives. Learning study is a model for teachers´ professional development where a theoretical framework is used to enhance practice. The theoretical framework used by teachers in learning study is variation theory. In this study the research object is variation theory and the aim is to present how variation theory becomes a guiding principle to understand teaching and learning processes.

The purpose of the essay is to examine the views on sexuality that guide the Swedish Migration board and court?s judgments and decisions in asylum cases. The essay investigates seven cases from the Swedish Migration court regarding asylum seekers from seven different countries seeking protection in Sweden due to their sexuality and/or gender identity. By applying discourse analysis, along with the theoretical perspectives of Judith Butler and the postcolonial critique of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, the essay discuss what kind of criteria and/or practice is demanded of the asylum seekers to be rendered as trustworthy. The essay concludes that the asylum seekers are considered untrustworthy by the migration authorities when not acting according to a (hetero)normative sexuality.

This master thesis concerns whether Swedish non-financial listed firms act in accordance with the optimal capital structure theory and/or pecking order theory. The examined period is 1998-2004 and we discover that Swedish companies neither follow optimal capital structure theory nor pecking order theory. From our results we conclude that there exists no single point of the capital structure which is optimal. Rather it seems as if the optimal point lies in-between an interval from 0 to the industry average, where firms tend to be indifferent to their debt-ratios. Our results show that Swedish companies prefer internal financing followed by equity and as last choice debt issuance..

This text concerns itself with war, the just war theory, and the application of that doctrine on the ?war on terrorism?. I present different views on the theory's place in the discourse, its relevance for unconventional wars followed by the analyses of above mentioned empirical situation.Particular interest is given the criteria concerning proportionality, both ad bellum and in bello, due to in part its difficult nature, and the attention it has received from others. This paper asks the question: Is the just war theory adequate for analysis of modern war?There are few alternatives.

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..

  Author: Moa di Zazzo EilertsenTitle: ?Children should not grow up like that. They may turn out the same?: Social workers, working with foster care investigations, reasoning about family and family structures of foster homes. [translated title]Supervisor: Annika StaafAssessor: Norma MontesinoThere has been a change in family structure which shows that the nuclear family, which is still the main form of family pattern, is becoming less frequent nowadays.

The purpose of this thesis is to do an inventory of Swedish Bronze Age rock carvings depicting intercourse, and other sexual acts; applying gender traits on these in order to get a glimpse of what kind of normative outlook people at this time had upon sexuality. .

The purpose of this study is to identify and make attitudes among social workers towards homosexual and bisexual people visible, examine how these attitudes relate to their actions in their professional role and how these attitudes and actions can be understood by theories of heteronormativity and power. The study is a cross-sectional quantitative survey in the form of a questionnaire completed by social workers. The result shows that there are two groups among the social workers. One larger group that reproduces a norm of acceptance toward homosexual and bisexual people and one smaller that reproduces a heterosexual norm. This reproduction of heteronormativity increases the risk for homosexual and bisexual people to be made invisible and treated more negatively in contact with social workers, which in turn can lead to worse health among the clients..

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore in what ways Franz Kafka?s ?The Metamorphosis? can be read as a story of gender. By bringing together Judith Butler?s theory of materialization and Lennard J. Davis?s crip theory I have spoken of Dismodernity as the domain of abject bodies that have been repudiated by (post)modern societies as untintelligible and dysfunctional.

The purpose of this study is to explore how different discourses about risk linked to HIV prevention is likely to affect the decisions on the distribution of state funding for preventive activities aimed at 'men who have sex with men' (MSM). This by making qualitative interviews with principals that have an impact on this decision. Using a discourse analytic approach, based on both theoretical and methodological foundations, I investigate the discursive constructions of risk of HIV linked to certain groups and behaviors. MSM is found in the material placed into two different formations of groups, on one hand by the behavior on the other hand on the basis of identity. The identity position is organized discursively from a ?victim? position while MSM provides an "operator" position.