ABSTRACTTitle: Cultural dimensions? and their relevance in the interpretation of TV commercialsThe purpose of this study has been to explain the cultural dimensions masculinity versus femininityand individualism versus collectivism and see what their impacts on interpreting commercials are.We also wanted to see if there are any other important aspects to consider when looking at theinterpretation of TV-commercials. To fulfill this purpose we also used this research question:?How are the cultural dimensions relevant when it comes to interpreting TV-commercials?We used a qualitative approach when conducting this study. We found that the dimensionindividualism versus collectivism seemed the most applicable, while the respondents? answers fittedthe best to the highlighted theories.

Title: Women's best beautiful will never be good enough: a rethoric and semiotic analysis of four advertisements for beauty products.Because of the medias central role in peoples lives in the modern society we today live in, they have become a reference in peoples processes of making sence of their subsistences and environments. Commercial companies also want to present an as good image as possible of them towards the recipients through their marketing. Both parts can lead to a distorted picture of the real och everyday and norms and ideals easily form, for example about the correct way a woman should act and be, as the media affect which references should be made available for society.The purpose of this thesis is to examine how four advertisements for beauty products produce ideals and norms of beauty as well as construct and reconstruct femininity through the ways women are represented. The study will also contain the question about how rethoric and semiotic tools are used to strengthen the messages and sell the products. The following questions will be answered within this study:How is femininity being represented in the advertisements?How can the advertisements contribute to the creation of ideals and norms of beauty? How do the companies use rethoric and semiotic tools in the four advertisements to sell their products and/or strengthen their brands?The study will be executed with a qualitative rethoric and semiotic analysis and the theories applied to it are Mediatization theory, Envisionment theory as well as a theory about gender and femininity.   The foremost results of this study has been that women are represented as constantly striving towards a better beauty to be able to also feel better about themselves, gain better self-esteem and to have more fulfilled and successful lives.

During the spring of 2014, I have investigated the visual culture of Lolita as practiced in Sweden and Japan. My focus has been on the performative aspect of Lolita. By looking and participating in this colorful subculture, I have met people who are living the Lolita lifestyle on a daily basis as well as former Lolita practitioners. My main concern has been how does one use Lolita.I?ve tried to investigate if it is possible to look at Lolita as being more than just a clothing style.

The purpose of this study is that through a discourse theoretical perspective, analyze young girls 'statements about living with self-injuring by sexual behavior. The aim is to locate the discourses that surround them, visualize how discursive constructions affect these young girls' identity as victims and/or actors in relation to self-injury, the sexual violence and in meetings with the professionals within the health authorities. In addition discourse theory as an analyze method, the authors also use Nils Christie's (2001) theory of the ideal victim and Ingrid Landers (2003) theoretical perspectives on normative femininity. The authors of the study show a diversity of discourses that surround the young girls. All discourses contain normative actor- and victim?s positions that young girls constantly are obliged to relate to, which partially conflict with social constructions of the idea of victim and femininity.

AbstractTitle: Vecko-Revyn, A study of how a women?s youth-magazine speaks to its readers, the content of the articles and interviews and the papers definition of femininity during the years1984-2004. (Vecko-Revyn En studie av en ungdomstidnings tilltal till läsaren, dess reportage och intervjuer samt definition av kvinnlighet under en period av 20 år.)Number of pages: 63Author: Anna WidénTutor: Göran SvenssonCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Spring 2006University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/aim: The purpose is to see how the women´s youth-magazine Vecko-Revyn speaks to its readers, what the content of the articles are with a special view at the articles that contains interviews and articles with the theme sex and relationships. The study will also see how the magazine Vecko-Revyn defines femininity and how that difference through the years. The investigation will study those different subjects over a timeperiod of 20 years, 1984 ? 2004.Material/method: The study is done with a combined qualitative and quantitative text analysis using five numbers of the magazine Vecko-Revyn from each of the years 1984, 1994 and 2004.Main results: The magazine Vecko-Revyn has a very open text to it?s readers.

Alice Lyttkens (1897-1991) was a very popular author in Sweden during several decades in the middle of the twentieth century. She was most famous for her historical novels. During her first period as a novelist in the 1930s, however, she wrote contemporary fiction, reflecting the situation of contemporary Women. The traditional view of the two sexes as ?complementary? permeated the interwar period.

ABSTRACTTitle: Cultural dimensions? and their relevance in the interpretation of TV commercialsThe purpose of this study has been to explain the cultural dimensions masculinity versus femininityand individualism versus collectivism and see what their impacts on interpreting commercials are.We also wanted to see if there are any other important aspects to consider when looking at theinterpretation of TV-commercials. To fulfill this purpose we also used this research question:?How are the cultural dimensions relevant when it comes to interpreting TV-commercials?We used a qualitative approach when conducting this study. We found that the dimensionindividualism versus collectivism seemed the most applicable, while the respondents? answers fittedthe best to the highlighted theories.

The purpose of this study was to find out whether young women´s conceptions on femininity are based on school culture or other possible factors. The theory chosen for this study is the sociological perspective. A theory where sociologists such as Emile Drukheim, Talcott Parsons and Pierre Bourdieu are all prominent. The discussion links to Habitus and their theories on social, cultural and collective groups. A qualitative method has been used.

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.

Through a critical discourse analysis this study explores the gender norms that students on Kvinnofolkh?gskolan produce, reproduce and experience. Kvinnofolkh?gskolan is built on the understanding that the world discriminates against women politically, culturally, economically and socially, and thus intends to give women, non-binaries and trans people an education with a feminist alignment. Despite studies being made on gender segregated schools as identity forming, I argue that there is a lack of studies that show how gender discourse and theory is produced in contexts where men are excluded.

The current paper is a study of the character Christian Grey in the EL James trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. The main aim is to find out how masculinity, sexuality and gender are constructed in this erotic fantasy. More over terms as femininity, unmanliness and gender have relevance to the study. Several studies have been done on romance novels and Harlequin in particular from a gender perspective, but few of them from a masculine point of view. Hence, no earlier study has been done on Fifty Shades of Grey with masculinity studies as the main tool of masculinity, or with theories of romance.

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.

Through this thesis I aimed to further investigate how we can adapt our western and modern views of masculinity and femininity in an ancient population, here on the Pitted Ware population from Ajvide on Gotland. A questionnaire survey was used to compile the modern view of masculinity and femininity. This modern view was then compared with patterns which had become visible through statistical processing of the burial gifts found on Ajvide. The thesis is mainly focused around the concept of gender, but age and status have also been discussed. Through several performed correspondence analysis, it became clear that the current view of male and female differed from the one that became visible in the archaeological record.

The essay's aim was to see which attitudes county council's and municipality representatives had about themes like: collaboration and competence in the work around double diagnosed persons. Its objective was to zero in on the attitudes of the representatives regarding a coallocated collaboration project in Stockholm. Also, it sought to find out what attitudes the representatives had about the other representatives attitudes concerning the above mentioned themes. A number of attitudes were presented during the qualitative interviews with the representatives, highlighting which attitudes seemed strongest. Then the interviews were analyzed using meaning condensation and then set against the theory of social representations.The analysis showed that before work with the target group starts, there?s a need for synchronization of the different representatives involved in the collaboration project.

Sweden is seen as one of the world?s most feminist societies. In January 2009 all grounds of discrimination were merged into a common law; Diskrimineringslagen. This paper examines representations of gender discrimination, linked to feminist perspectives, in the Parliamentary debate on Sweden?s new discrimination legislation through a discourse analysis.