This is a qualitative study that has investigated four people's experiences of making a physical change of life. With narrative depth interviews, the study was characterized by the informants own experience of their experiences and thoughts. With questions surrounding their experiences of alienation, belonging to the standard, people's attitude and prejudices against their appearance. The investigation revealed that the informants experienced shared experiences and things that separated them. The conclusion based on the people in this study was that people with low self-esteem are at greater risk for experiencing alienation.

This study aimed to find out whether or not gender related theories regarding the division between men and women can be applied to three novels written by Katrina von Bredow, Syskonkärlek (1991), Som jag vill vara (2007) and Flyga högt (2011). The theories used in this research were Yvonne Hirdman?s theory and R.W Connell?s theory. Hirdman claims that there are differences between men and women at different levels in the society while Connell believes that this is a myth because, according to the writer, men and women are psychologically similar. The intent with this research was to provide a gender analysis of Bredows novels, because these novels have not been studied previously.

Among those who graduate from the various schools of Social work in Sweden are a great majority women. At the same time men are sought after in the work field.  But not just to level up the equality between the sexes, but also to fill a gender specific niche to counter up a need for male role models. But a closer look at this need and the types of functions set to cater for it shows that male role models as a concept vary between contexts. In this study we examine the concepts and the practices of male role models in three different settings: a municipal social care center offering young boys male bonding activities; a non-profit organization warding young people from drug abuse and criminal behavior; and last, a long term residential home for young boys between the ages 13 and 19. Our research shows that the concept of the male role model vary between the organizations and less so within.

The aim of this study is to research images of the academic world that is presented, incorporated and reproduced within the frames of the mentorship in the basic level. Can these images derive to the view upon science as a traditionally male area? Is mentorship gendered? Can the mentorship on the basic level be viewed upon as a milestone of a academic career where men and women have different opportunities to succeed?By interviewing seven mentors, working in a social sciences institution in a larger Swedish university, I have come to the conclusion that knowledge is coded male and that this affect mentors mental images of what male and female students are expected to do. The male student represent the scientist, while the female student represent what the scientist is not.Depending on the work of, among others, Kerstin Norlander, Dorothy Smith and Eva Erson I have come to view upon the university as a patriarchal organisation witch produces knowledge based upon male values, experiences and concepts. This precludes the female within this organisation from relating to the knowledge she is supposed to incorporate.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine male social workers experiences of working in a female dominated work. The aim with this study was to find out how men perceive working with mostly women and how this effects their construction of masculinity. The theories that have been used in this study are a social constructive perspective on gender, Chodorows (1995) Theory of Socialization and Connells (2008) Theory of Masculinities. The method used in this study is qualitative interviews based on the experiences of five male social workers in Sweden.The interviews have been recorded and retailed in text in its full version, to enable analysis out of the above mentioned theories and earlier studies. The result of the study shows that the men in this study experience mostly benefits from working with women and they feel appreciated as being men.

This paper attempts to display how five teachers of social studies use and relate to the policy documents and their instructions on gender. To penetrate the subject, five teachers were intreviewed. Each interview focused on how the curriculum attempts to guide teachers regarding gender, sex differences and equality of opportunity. The collected information was processed, analyzed and discussed using gender studies and discourse theory.The results show that the interpretation and usage of the curriculum is very subjective and varies greatly between all the interviewed teachers. Their personal interpretation proves to be crucial when it comes to making reality of the stated goals in the curriculum, concerning actively working towards equality of opportunity between sexes.

This essay studied how six girls experienced their reading development during their college education in male-dominated profession programs. The issues assumed were how they experience their literature reading and literature education and what happened with their interest in reading. The theoretical frame included researchers Säljö, Rosenblatt, Gun Malmgren, Olin-Scheller, Ulfgaard and Molloy.The study showed that most of the girls felt their reading had worsened but not because of their male classmates but because of school. They had a lot of homework and participated in so many different school projects which would be completed that there was no time to reading for pleasure. The girls did not like the teachers? literate sample and did not like the methods used in learning literature.

The study aims to examine how three books written for teenagers and young adults address topics that are generally considered as deviant to social norms in order to conclude if they can contribute to a norm critical pedagogy in school. Norm critical pedagogy is foremost based on gender- and queer theory and tends to discuss how social norms and power structures are constructed and reproduced in different social contexts. To work in a norm critical fashion the teacher must be aware of the present norms and work to make the pupils conscious of them. Thereby the focus is on existing norms, rather on the deviances. To use norm critical pedagogy correct it must be incorporated in all subjects in school.The books that have been analysed in this essay are Syskonkärlek by Katarina von Bredow, Henrietta är min hemlighet by Maja Hjertzell and Tusen gånger starkare by Christina Herrström.

Based on 30 years of work experience in TV and film production, I have made a phenomenological analysis of my perception of meaning in work - how it arises and how it is undermined. The story starts in my experience of early professional film making in the 1980's and describes how a change to work in TV production required the development of a new professional identity. The text also illustrates how as a female director I have managed my role in a male dominated and structured work environment. Being defined as an exception from The Male Norm has pushed me towards femininist reflection and the need to redefine my own work role - the generally accepted view having felt uncomfortable. An analysis of structural change in TV and film production shows how market pressures and ways of thought have increasingly invaded cultural endeavour. Professional spheres of influence are weakened, while developments in the media are characterised by a commercialism which encroaches more and more upon artistic, spiritual and moral values. This attitude, where quality is in retreat, has transformedprogramme makers from creative originators into becoming suppliers of raw material in a factory- like process geared to produce great volume at low cost.The aim of this essay is to show how changes in society and in TV and film making have affected my perception of my work.

This essay explores the novel Charlie by Margareta Suber (1932) through lesbian narrative theory. The result is a revealing on how the lesbian main character can be established as a lesbian subject against the male and heterosexual narrative; how she escapes a simple male positioning in the narrative, how she subverts categorisation, how she parttakes in female bonding, and how she disturbs heteronormativity..

This study aims to seek knowledge about what preschool teachers think about gender issues, and if it affects their work. The study has been performed in a multicultural district in Stockholm. A working party of three teachers, one male and two females, has been interviewed and observed. The empirical material from the interviews and observations has then been analyzed based on theories about gender, femaleness, maleness and cultural behaviour. The result proves that one of the three teachers considers that there are general typical female and male behaviour.

This is a case study of work for gender equality, performed by the Employment and Competence Centre (Arbets- och kompetenscenter) in the municipality of Botkyrka. The aim of the study is to explore how gender equality is understood in the context of a municipality, and what underlying assumptions this understanding is based upon. The questions raised are; How is gender equality understood by the personnel? How do they understand gender? To what extent are women and men seen as homogeneous groups and what differences are (un)visible? What other power hierarchies besides gender are seen as important when working for gender equality? The analysis show that gender equality is a blurry vision, mainly understood in terms of equal conditions and rights, equal results for male and female participants and equal amount of women and men employed. Gender is seen as a binary system and differences between the genders are highlighted.

The aim of this thesis is to, from a feminist point of view, analyse the Universal Decimal Classification UDC, which is an international and widely used classification system. A number of the larger classification systems and subject heading lists have during the last decades been placed in the limelight of various gender studies and the systems treatment of women has been criticized. With this examination of the UDC, I dont merely wish to identify shortcomings and advantages with the UDCs way to treat men and women. The UDC is also used as an example of how the gender problem can be identified and interpretated in classification systems generally. My analysis is performed with a theoretical foundation in feminist science theories about knowledge and norms, together with a linguistic perspective on valuing and emotionally tinged language.

Studiens övergripande syfte är att göra en kvalitativ studie om hur transpersoners livsvillkor påverkas av deras könsidentitet, könsuttryck samt heteronormen. Ytterligare ett syfte var att undersöka hur transpersoner upplever att de blivit bemötta när de passerat som kvinnor och/eller uttryckt en kvinnlig könsidentitet jämfört med när de passerat som män och/eller uttryckt en manlig könsidentitet. Data samlades in genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fem självidentifierade transpersoner, varav tre identifierade sig som MtF (Male to female), en som FtM (Female to male) och en som intergender eller genderqueer. Deltagarna rekryterades med hjälp av Internet samt med hjälp av personliga kontakter. Med utgångspunkt i socialkonstruktivistiska teorier som queerteori har en tematisk analys av insamlad data genomförts, av vilken det framgått att transpersoners livsvillkor i stor utsträckning påverkas av heteronormen samt att de blivit bemötta på mycket olika sätt beroende på om de passerat som män eller kvinnor.

Purpose/Aim: This study is an analysis of the view on masculinity, male sexuality and creation of identity with the television series Queer as folk as a base. The analysis is partly based on a semiotic analysis of the representation of masculinity and male sexuality from an episode of the chosen television series Queer as folk, and partly based on a thematic analysis of focus group discussions with young men with different sexualities.Material/Method: This study is based on focus group interviews and a semiotic and thematic analysis. The focus groups consisted of three men in three different groups and were chosen on the criteria of gender and sexuality. All groups were presented with an episode of the television series Queer as folk to see how they perceived masculinity and male sexuality. Their discussions were analyzed with a thematic analysis and the television series Queer as folk with a semiotic analysis.Main results: The three analyzed characters in Queer as folk showed different representations of masculinity and male sexuality.