?... jag gör inte det här längre, för jag är en bra kille?
unga män som tagit sig ur missbruk och kriminalitet ?en intervjustudie om maskulinitetsskapande
In this master thesis a category of men otherwise often taken for granted is examined: noncriminal,non-violent men. With the help of in-depth interviews with young men who havepreviously lived a life with drugs and criminal behaviour, I examine the young men's identityand masculinity projects. To do this, I use theories by researchers R.W. Connell and MichaelS. Kimmel, among others. It turns out that the young men use othering, distancing anddichotomization in their identity projects, and that they work very hard to build a newmasculinity, constructed as totally separated from their former one. They also work very hardto dichotomize their identities, separated in now/then, followed by dichotomies such aspure/impure, honest/criminal, good/bad, deep/shallow and communicative/closed-off. Theirpresent masculinity projects must be seen in a context of what can be called a regionalSwedish masculinity, where equality, fatherhood, communication and respect for women arecentral features. I claim that the young men in their masculinity projects work exceptionallyhard to reach this kind of masculinity, and that they, in their struggle to do this use discoursesof embodiment, class, (dis)ability, sex, and authenticity.