This paper interprets the myth of the hymen through the archetypal theory of Carl Gustav Jung. Today it has been proven that there exists no hymen that breaks at a woman?s first intercourse. Nonetheless, the myth of the hymen lives on ? creating enormous consequences for girls and women.

The aim of this study was to investigate how mothers in families with strong patriarchal traditionssee their role as a mother and as a woman. The study is built upon two main questions: What arethe expectations of your family and your immediate environment on you as a mother and as awoman? And what does ?honour? mean for you as a mother and as a woman? In our paper wehad as a starting point a gender perspective that was further on applied in defining our researchquestion. We are also giving an account of the phenomenological perspective that we also had asa basis of our work. We interviewed six mothers living in families with strong patriarchaltraditions.

The murders of Pela Atroshi, Sara Abed Ali and Fadime Sahindal, started a debate concerning the underlying motives of honour related violence. This paper aimed to describe and explain in what way honour related violence is perceived in publications by academics, public authorities and voluntary organisations to name a few. Different types of literature were thematically analysed as well as analysed using a model by Lorentzon. The scope of this paper was narrowed down to Swedish conditions and excluded men as victims of honour related crimes.The conclusion suggests a definition of honour related violence as a result of general patriarchy with different features. For example, men?s honour is connected to women?s behaviour and retaining of Virginity.

Islamic masculinity which quite often associates with oppression of women has remained an underexaminated category despite its constant presence in the debate on honour related oppression. Honour has primarily been studied from a feminine point of view and theories of masculinity have taken insignificant interest in the issue of honour. The aim of this study is to understand what attitudes boys/young men from the Muslim world have toward native Swedish men and what these attitudes do imply for their own conceptions of masculinity and honour. The ambition of this study is also to make explicit the similarities, differences and connections between honour and masculinity.The empirical basis of this study consists of twelve interviews with boys/young men from the Muslim world about their notions of honour and masculinity. The theoretical platform arises from theories of masculinities and honour.Some prominent ?patterns? that I have found:- That religious norms and rules appear to be significant in how the masculine manners of conduct should be adjusted.- That honour and women as carriers of men?s honour, play a crucial role for the constitution of proper masculinity.- That the Swedish context and its policy of equality seem to threaten the obviousness of the islamic masculinity.