AbstractIn this essay I am examining the representation of popmusic with particular focus on gender and identity in two youth magazines called Kamratposten and Julia. Using the method of Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analysis I have studied ten interviews with popmusicians from each magazine based on the theorys of representations, discourses within popularmusic and queer theory. The intention with this study was to examine how popularmusic is represented in youth magazines. If the magazines were reproducing femininity and masculinity in the interviews with the musicians, and in the representation of popmusic in the magazines. And also if there were any differences and similarities between the magazines regarding the representation of popmusicians.The analysis lead to the conclusions that how popmusic is represented in the magazines depends on what the magazines wan´t to represent on the basis of their target groups and ideologies.

The Barbie doll is an icon filled with meanings; this thesis discusses the Barbie doll and herfeministic potentials and subject positions using a discourse analysis. The thesis analyzeswhat sort of femininity Barbie portraits in magazines, web series and films about her.Theories being used originate mainly from gender and queer studies, where the focus is on theperformative constructions of gender and femininity. Since the material mostly consists ofmoving images some influence is taken from feminist film theorists and semiotic theory,which focuses on signs and their meaning. The thesis centres around the questions: how isBarbie?s femininity challenged, strengthened and constructed in different types of mediaabout her produced by Mattel? And is there any feminist potential in Barbie?s subjectpositions in these media forms?.

In this paper I will examine the five Pussy Riot music videos that the group has published online on their official You Tube website. I will examine them through a ?gender lens? looking at their visual representations of gender vis-à-vis the hegemonic gender discourse in Russia. In addition I will examine their potential effects and if/how these visual representations can be understood as resistance.In my study I will take on a constructionist approach and the main theories being used to understand and analyze the Pussy Riot music videos are discourse- and representational theory including deconstruction, performativity and the social construction of gender as well as ?in-between? and deviant representations.

Men and women in advertising - a study of the ads in the magazines Café and Elle is an essay in media and communication studies covering 15hp. The author examines what is considered masculinity and femininity in a variety of advertisements, and which products are linked to masculinity and femininity. Besides this, the author also examines the production of happiness, and how this may differ between men and women. Although stereotypes, myths and metaphors are examined. The essay is examined on the basis of gender theory, and theories about stereotypes and myths.

This thesis uses the ?What's the problem?-approach developed by Carol LeeBacchi. This approach studies how the problem that a certain policy is supposedto take care of is represented. Each representation will rest upon certainassumptions and will accordingly support certain solutions while other solutionswill be considered less suitable to the problem as it is represented.The thesis therefore evaluates the competing problem representations forgender mainstreaming in Sweden. The theory chapter explores two developmentpossibilities for gender mainstreaming, based on diversity and deliberativedemocracy.

The aim of this essay is to study constructions of femininity and sexuality in Sara Stridsberg?s novel Darling River (2010). The analysis is based on queer theory and the term ?skev? ? a variation of ?queer? that allows one to focus on additional forms of normativity apart from sexual desire ? and examines how the characters of the novel are challenging the heteronormative framework by performing gender and sexuality in non-normative, subversive ways. In short, I discuss how the relationship between femininity, body and destiny is being portrayed, how the characters question heteronormativity by overdoing femininity, and by being unable (unwilling) to perform adult femininity.

There is an awareness of the importance of gender equality in most western societies, both at the political level and in everyday life. In academia, for instance, gender is nowadays a scientific field which indicates that there is a lot of knowledge about the subject. What we do not have much knowledge about is whether gender knowledge leads to changes in gender relations in practice. The aim of this study is to explore how gender scholars relate to using ? practicing ? gender knowledge.

I am a glassblower and I am a woman. In this project I've been working with alternative representations of the female body, muscles and technology. Mouthblown objects contains traces of body and form representations.I've been using muscle sensors to collect data from my arms while I blow glass. A special has made 3D-models from the collected data and I've blown these viritual objects in glass.My work is based around issues like: What happens when I measure my muscles? Am I (and my process) affected by the data gathering? How can I create alternative representations of the female body? What is the relation between glassblowing, the objects, body and gender?.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine how femininity, Silikon, Vecko Revyn, and Darling. The study is made from a critical discourse analytical approach and text, pictures, and layout are all analysed. Some of the main characteristics of the material are the division in the categories"we"and"them", double messages, and personal address to the reader. Femininity is strongly associated with body, sexuality, beauty, and looks.

This paper investigates the representations of Africans in the Swedish comic press around the time 1880-1920, with the purpose of establishing how Africans were depicted and how these representations can be explained. The sources consist of four comic magazines: Kasper, Söndags-Nisse, Strix and Naggen.Results show that images of Africans in the late 19th and early 20th century Swedish comic press highly conform to international representations. Traditional stereotypes and overall caricatures are widely applied, mediating racial difference and black subordination. The comic strips and jokes can be divided into categories, defined by their main theme: 1) Exotic animals and nature 2) Skin colour 3) The unintelligent or uncivilised savage 4) Cannibalism 5) The civilised African 6) Imperialistic overtones. The use of international stereotypes indicates that some comic strips might have been directly copied from foreign publications, and incorporated into Swedish contexts.Several theories, likely interacting, can be considered in explaining the imagery.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how homosexuals and homosexuality were represented in the press during the trials against the Pentecostal pastor Åke Green, and to what kind of social representations and narratives these representations can be related.Using critical discourse analysis and theories about the differentiation between in- and outgroups I try to unveil implicit meanings and attitudes towards gay people mainly at the local text level. The material consists of articles in Ölandsbladet and Dagens Nyheter that were produced before, during and after the trials.The analysis suggests that homosexuals are construed as a deviant outgroup and that the majority, the ingroup, is presented as an essentially heterosexual, tolerant community. Homosexuality is wrong and heterosexuality is the right way of living. Homosexuals, in terms of group lobbyism, are construed as an enemy, a threat, against Western ideals such as family values and freedom of speech. They indirectly become a threat to Swedish democracy.

Domestic weekly magazines in Sweden are characterized by an emphasis on practical editorial material such as cooking recipes and knitting patterns, and also contain a comparatively large share of reader material. This makes it possible to study the readers through texts produced by themselves. The aim of this study of columns of readers' tips on domestic work is to analyze how readers embody a specific femininity centered around the woman as responsible for the home, in the sense of everyday maintenance as well as aesthetic development. The author defines this femininity as "home maker". The theoretical framework for the analysis is the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu, and Jonathan Potter's and Margaret Wetherell's model of interpretive repertoire is also used where modality is discussed.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert?s and Maria Thulin?s picture Allt om min buske (literally, All about my bush) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler?s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault?s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if Allt om min buske is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture.

This paper takes it points of departure in a gender equality perspective and the perceived paradox between the governmental labour market policy and family policy. The first policy area has the aim to put people to work, whereas the other introduces a reform, vårdnadsbidraget, that point in the opposite direction. Which are the problem representations within the two policy areas and are the problem representations concordant or contradictive? From a constructivist perspective, langue is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. Drawing on political documents, speeches and articles formulated within the government, this paper analyzes problem representations through the use of discourse analysis and feminist political theory.

This study is about youths, democracy and school. It seeks to describe and problemize the school's role in the democratic society. Firstly, using Social Representations Theory, 44 upper secondary shool pupils? representations, or conceptions, of democracy are described and discussed. These representations are then analyzed in relation to the school's role in the democratic society, as it is described by different researchers.The results show that many of the youths have a rather simplistic and abstract view of democracy, describing it only in terms of general principles and the main features of the representative democracy, such as voting in national elections.