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This paper aims to analyse heteronormativity and queer characters in the game World ofWarcraft and its accompanying literary works Exploring Azeroth: The Eastern Kingdoms,Shadows Rising, and ”Terror by Torchlight” by comparing how they differ between the gameand the books. To accomplish this, the paper focuses on the characters Flynn Fairwind andMathias Shaw and their budding relationship. Through the analysis, I establish the world ofWorld of Warcraft as heteronormative, and continue by discussing what roles queer charactersplay and how they differ from heteronormative characters. The paper concludes that queercharacters play smaller roles focused on tension-relieving comedic moments that tend to getwritten out of the story as their storylines conclude. It also finds that the relationship betweenFlynn and Mathias is treated as a character in its own right and that the two characters gettheir own voices amplified through the relationship.

Detta projekt söker efter vägledande principer för en kunskapsproduktion kring fetischistisk sexualitet. Detta har utförts genom diskursanalytiska och genealogiska studier av hur fetischism konstrueras i olika sociokulturella sammanhang. Analysen indikerar att fetischistisk sexualitet existerar i en marginaliserad position i ett maktrelationellt landskap, där yttre grupper har olika incitament till att återge fetischism på bristfälliga, sexualiserande och andrafierande sätt. Detta medför olika problem vad gäller kunskapsproduktionen kring fetischistisk sexualitet och kan antas bidra till upprätthållandet av nuvarande sexualnormer. För att minimera dessa kunskapsproduktionsproblem föreslås åtta vägledande principer: En ansvarstagande kunskapsproduktion som utgår från subjektet; medvetenhet om stereotyper och om patologins kvardröjande ok; användande av icke-andrafierande terminologi; medvetenhet om könsorienteringsnormen; medvetenhet om politiserade begrepp; undvikande av låsning i subkulturell identitetspolitik; en förståelse för den abjektas möjligheter att tala; samt bruk av intrasektionell analys. Dessa principer kan förstås bidra till ett tillgängliggörande av forskningsfältet kring fetischism samt bidra till en allmän förståelse för sexualitet bortom kön. This project aims to find guiding principles for a knowledge production around fetishism. This has been conducted through discourse analysis and genealogical studies of the construction of fetishism in central contexts. The analysis indicates that fetishism is marginalised in a weave of power relations, where external interests have incitaments to vilify, sexualise and otherise fetishistic sexuality. This is understood to potentially cause various problems when it comes to knowledge production around fetishism. In order to minimise these problems, eight guiding principles are suggested: A knowledge production based in the subject; awareness of lingering pathological notions and stereotypes; usage of non-othering terminology; awareness of the sex/gender orientation norm; awareness of politicised definitions; awareness of subcultural identity politics; an understanding of the abject's ability to speak; and usage of intra-sectional analysis.

På Båtgravfältet i Vendel har det hittats fjorton gravar och den första hittas i samband med byggandet av ett dike till kyrkans nya mur. Gravplatsen undersöktes första gången 1882 och det visade sig att många av gravarna hade blivit störda och utsatts sedan tidigare. Gravarna är daterade mellan 575–1050 e.Kr. Uppsatsen beskriver hur båtgravarna i Vendel har könsbestämts som manliga krigargravar utifrån stereotypiskt manliga vapen/krigargravar. Däremot står två av gravarna ut då det fanns kvinnlig attribut som könade artefakter (pärlor). Krigargravar har traditionellt blivit tolkade som manliga gravar utifrån de begränsade binära genusrollerna. Det kommer också diskuteras om det kan ha varit någon individ som har definierat sig som icke-normativ. In the boat-gravefield in Vendel, fourteen graves have been found and the first one was found in connection with the construction of a trench for the new wall of the church. The burial site was first investigated in 1882 and it has been shown that many of the graves have been disturbed and exposed since before. The graves are dated between 575–1050 AD. The essay describes how the boat-graves in Vendel have been gendered as male warrior graves based on stereotypically male weapons/warrior graves. However, two of the graves stand out as there were female attributes, gendered artifacts (pearls). Warrior graves have traditionally been interpreted as male graves based on the limited binary gender roles. It will also be discussed whether it may have been that some individual has defined themself as non-normative.

It is certainly important for the Swedish school to prepare students for the adult world. It iscertainty a priority according to our curriculum, once students graduate, they should behaving democratic principles which includes an understanding and respecting all humankind, regardless of ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. For this to be achieved, the Swedish teachingin schools must incorporate teaching contents which allows students to understand socialstructures and norms that underlies in society that causes inequality. Such contents should bemore about racism, sexism and for this research primarily focus, homophobia. Often within subjects, LGBT+ has been invisible in Swedish teaching which causes students to be rather ignorant to their surroundings. Therefore, it is crucial and necessary to teach especially in the subject history for upper secondary schools. Hence, the fact that history contributes to shaping students’ identity. Thus, this research investigates how history teachers includes the LGBTQ+ in their history teaching. It is also in this study’s interest to analyze how heteronormativity underlies in teachers teaching ability in relation to history teaching. To research this matter, the method for this study is a qualitive method which has collected data in form of interviews from seven different teachers and different schools. The chosen theory was queer theory as the study primarily focuses on how sexuality is conceptualized and understood by teachers aswell as their reflection on heteronormativity. The result of the findings was that none of the teachers had taught about LGBTQ+ in history but simultaneously showed a great amount of interest in doing so near the future. However, the teachers expressed some uncertainty in how LGBTQ+ could be taught in a more practical sense. According to the teachers, this uncertainty that was an obstacle they needed to overcome, had many factors. Among the factors were that the teachers were uneducated in the history of LGBTQ+, time seemed to be against them and there are no proper teaching materials which the teachers can confine in. This gap has also caused teachers to be unprepared for conflicts in the classroom related toLGBTIQ+-questions. This finding shows that both the academic world along with the teaching programs must educate teacher students about such important matters for them to be prepared once their careers begin.

The aim of this study is to explore and understand school counselors' experiences and work methods towards students in elementary school who identify as LGBTQI and experience vulnerability as a result of this. LGBTQI-youth are described by the Swedish government as particularly vulnerable in schools because of their LGBTQI-identity. Previous international research confirms that LGBTQI-students experience vulnerability, which affects them in their health, wellbeing and school experience. However the context in Sweden is quite unexplored, which implicates a research problem. A qualitative method was used to answer these questions by conducting eight digital semi-structured interviews with school counselors from different municipalities in Sweden. These interviewees were contacted by gathering their email addresses from school websites. Two theories were implemented in order to understand the empirical data, which include queertheory and the critical theory. Both of which are part of a social constructionist theory approach. The results of this study shows that Swedish school counselors have different opinions on the targeted group’s vulnerability and the possibilities, conditions and obstacles of their work. Therefore they also work in different ways. Still there is a consensus that this is an important issue that all schools should prioritize and that the responsibility does not lie solely on school counselors. These results are important because they shine light on the Swedish context and inspire further research.

The purpose of this study is to examine the representation of heteronormative, versus non-heteronormative, social actors in teaching materials for SFI (Swedish for immigrants). The intention is to bring an eventual heteronorm to light in these teaching materials. The results show that heteronormativity is over-represented compared to non-heteronormativity. The textbook Mitt i mål does not contain any examples of specific LGBTQ+ people, while the textbook Gilla svenska contains a total of four people, gathered in a family constellation. A heteronormative discourse prevails in both books. In relation to Rubin's (2008) sex hierarchy, the books mostly mirror the inner circle, which presents what is considered sexually normal. With the exception of some occurrences of discussions around non-heteronormativity, which correspond somewhat to the outer circle of the sex hierarchy, which in turn presents what is considered sexually abnormal. In accordance with queer theory, some non-heteronormativity is lifted, where the man takes a traditionally female role and vice versa. But even here, the heteronormative occurrences are over-represented. To name one example from one of the books, the word bög (gay man) is used as an insult. In Swedish, this has become increasingly charged in recent years and has more and more come to be equated with the English word fag.

This thesis investigates the way lgbtq-adults are represented within contemporary early children's literature and asks: is their love and their relationships visible? Are lgbtq-adults represented in the way other adults are, or differently? Through a discourse analysis of twelve contemporary Swedish children's picture books and reviews of them on online blogs, this thesis is able to conclude that, as a result of lgbtq-peoples political reality, lgbtq-adults are represented only within a family dicsourse and thereby secluded from the rest of society. The homonormative discourse that rules the way in which lgbtq-adults are represented in picture books has consequences for how pre-school teachers in Sweden perform part of their job; namely the task to transfer democratic values of human rights and equality into children's lives. Since lgbtq-picture books make up a great part of the material which pre-school teachers use when working with lgbtq-equality, the content of these books, as well as pre-school teachers opinions of it informed by the homonormative discourse, shape the way pre-school teachers work.

Introduction. This thesis seeks to investigate the construction and application of subject headings within Queerlit; a database designed to collocate Swedish works of fiction containing LGBTQI motifs. The aim of the study is to identify which principles guide the use of subject headings within Queerlit. The findings of this study can in turn provide insights as to the practical and epistemological challenges that can arise in the subject indexing of LGBTQI materials in general. Theory & Method. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are social constructionism and queer theory. A Foucauldian understanding of the concept of discourse has been applied during analysis. The study also makes use of theories concerning categorization of sexuality and gender as described by Sedgwick and Halberstam, along with the LIS concepts of aboutness and meaning. The method used is discourse analysis, which has been applied to Queerlit’s subject heading list, as well as the indexing of two novels included in Queerlit. Results & Analysis. The analysis has shown that the subject heading list contains several discourses pertaining to LGBTQI. In identifying these discourses, it is shown that Queerlit emphasizes sex and sexuality, while expressing ambivalence concerning temporality and intersectionalism. As for the analysis of the indexing of the two novels, the study has demonstrated that subjective interpretation is a vital part of identifying LGBTQI motifs, and that the indexing of older literature is influenced by presentism. Conclusion. The findings prove that LGBTQI materials provide a particular set of challenges for the practice of subject heading indexing. This is largely due to the fact that LGBTQI concepts tend to be fluid, unstable, and heavily dependent on context, both within literature and intellectual thought, whereas thesauri by necessity treat documents and the language within them as stable and definitive. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att genom en innehållsanalys ta reda på hur läroböcker i samhällskunskap framställer HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet. I uppsatsen beskrivs en bakgrund till både genusteori och queerteori för att kunna få en förståelse för de teoretiska begreppen som ligger till grund för uppsatsen. Kodschemat i uppsatsen är konstruerat utifrån olika teoretiska begrepp. Denna uppsats ger en bakgrund till tidigare forskning inom området och materialet som studien genomförs på är totalt sex läroböcker i olika kurser för samhällskunskap på gymnasiet. Resultatet av analysen visar att HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet framställs olika i läroböckerna och genom fyra identifierade teman. Dessa teman är sexualitet och kärlek, lagstiftning och rättigheter, kön och könstillhörighet samt HBTQ som paraplybegrepp. Resultatet visar att läroböckerna har ett heteronormativt perspektiv samt innehållet få normkritiska reflektioner. Resultatet visar även att i några läroböcker framställs inte HBTQ-personer eller könsidentitet alls. Resultatet visar även att läroböckerna inte definierar begreppen och att det i vissa fall inte stämmer överens med de vetenskapliga teoretiska begreppen. Uppsatsens resultat indikerar på konsekvenser för både lärare och elever. En avsaknad av HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet i läroböcker kan få konsekvenser för elevers utbildning. Slutsatsen är att lärare kan behöva komplettera läroböckerna i sin undervisning och ta ansvar för att ha kunskap om HBTQ-personer och könsidentitet för att inkludera och genomföra normkritiska reflektioner i sin undervisning. Förslag på vidare forskning kan vara att intervjua bokförlag om processen och innehållet i läroböckerna.

This essay analyses the songs from Den poetiska Eddan (The Poetic Edda) with a queer perspective through a queer reading. I use Tiina Rosenberg’s concept of queer leakage along with historical contextualization to figure out how to approach an older text through a modern perspective. Throughout the essay, I discuss how queer leakages appear throughout the text either in representations of gender and norm-breaking behavior, or through an analysis of the use of insults. The analysis establishes that there are queer leakages to be found in The Poetic Edda and that the conclusion avoids being anachronistic through the historical context that the evidence is tried against. The essay concludes that identities our society views as static are rather dynamic and in constant need of assertive actions for their own enforcement. Den här uppsatsen analyserar tre kväden ur Den poetiska Eddan genom ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv. Uppsatsen använder Tiina Rosenbergs begrepp queera läckage tillsammans med en historisk kontext. Detta för att pröva hur en kan möta äldre texter genom ett modernt perspektiv. Under analysen diskuterar jag hur queera läckage ter sig genom texten, antingen genom olika typer av könsroller eller normbrytande beteende, samt genom en analys av förolämpningar. Analysen påvisar att det finns queera läckage i Den poetiska Eddan, och att slutsatsen undviker att bli anakronistisk på grund av den historiska kontext som textexemplen prövas gentemot. Uppsatsens slutsats är att de identiteter som vårt samhälle ser som statiska i själva verket är dynamiska, samt att de ständigt behöver hävdas för att fortsätta existera.

The aim of this qualitative study is to with the help of discourse theory according to Michel Foucault and queer theory, to define and understand how the sub discourse of regretted motherhood is communicated on online platforms in Sweden. More specifically, how the responses to women who express their regretted motherhood on online platforms take form and what communicative strategies are used. The second part of the study focuses on what characteristics define this specific taboo. The third part focuses on how normative parenthood is maintained. The material in question consists of fifteen media texts, also known as comments, from two different platforms. The first platform is Facebook where the five most liked comments were chosen from a post containing an interview with a woman who discussed why she regretted her motherhood. The second five comments were chosen from the platform Familjeliv from an anonymous post from a woman explaining how come she regretted her motherhood. The last five were also from Familjeliv that refers to a post regarding a mother who wanted to give her 3 year old up for adoption. The result from the analysis showed there is a deep incomprehension regarding what regret means and how it should be met. Subjective experiences were used as universal facts with the intention to shame the woman who regrets her motherhood. The lack of empathy resulting in shameful comments throughout the material, resulted in a wide taboo within the sub discourse dicated by normative parenthood.

This dissertation investigates relations between sexualities, children and childhoods by examining the following questions: How are heteronormativity and normative life courses repeated, negotiated and challenged by children? How are norms of age, children and childhood given significance in relation to heteronormativity and queerness? How is the child featured in contemporary discourses regarding sexualities, normative life courses and possible futures? The study is based on the discourse analysis methodology of Foucault (1972, 1980, 1993, 2002) and inspired by Marcus’ (1995, 1998) ’multi-sited ethnography.’ Children’s play and meaning-making during the school day are studied using participatory observations. Preschool policy documents are analyzed to investigate in what way ‘sexual orientation’ is discussed in relation to discrimination and equal treatment, and teachers are interviewed on the subject of working with lgbtq certification and norm criticism in preschool. Sources within children’s culture, showing representations of same-sex love, provide another entrance for investigating how queerness is presented, and how this is discussed among adults. Critical perspectives from queer theory and childhood studies, where sexuality and age are considered simultaneously discursive, material and performative (Butler, 1990, 1993; Castaneda, 2003, Foucault, 2002; Lee, 2001), are combined theoretically. How age (childhood) norms and sexuality norms interact is investigated using queer-temporal theories (Ahmed, 2006; Dyer, 2014; Edelman, 2004; Halberstam, 2005; Stockton, 2009). The results of the included articles indicate that children normalize heterosexuality by (re)producing heteronormative family and couple discourses in their family play and wedding play. This emerges as age-coded heteronormativity, where norms of children and adults become visible through the way in which heteronormativity is repeated. At preschool, representations of ‘sexual orientation’ are primarily focused on families and family constellations, rarely mentioning interactions among the children. Queerness in relation to childhood emerges, at the same time, as something that is demanded and questioned. The child is used as a space for negotiation of society values, disguised as the question of what is good or bad for children. A conditional queerness emerges, at the intersection of lgbtq+ questions, as an increasingly desirable symbol of a democratic, modern and urban society, and as the expected absence of childhood sexuality, particularly queer sexuality. Queerness is made conditional through, for instance, desexualized love and family discourses. Age norms, in this case norms of children and childhoods, are significant for how, when and with which arguments queerness is represented.

This paper examines the Church of Sweden’s changing approach to same-sex marriage from a queer theoretical and queer theological perspective. A discourse analytical method examines the previous discourse and how it has come to change over time. The analysis takes place among the statements that priests, bishops, and other theologians have expressed in the public debate, the Church’s theological committee and the church meetings that take place every year. The study also addresses the changes and explanations of the new Church Handbook based on a theological statement. The queer theoretical basis is based on Michel Foucault and Judith Butler's foundations for the theory and culminates in two explanatory models. The study's stated aim of investigating the Discourse of the Church of Sweden also lands in how the Swedish Church responds to National Socialist and value conservative forces in society such as the Sweden Democrats.The Church of Sweden’s policy to flag with the rainbow flag and meet homophobic expressions in both the society as in its own ranks.

I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag Simon Snow från Carry On trilogin (2015–21) och Morrigan ”Mor” från A Court of Thorns and Roses serien (2015–). Huvudsyftet med studien är att undersöka hur dessa två karaktärers sexualitet och identitet fungerar i sina respektive fantasy serier, hur de gestaltas och om de får chansen att utvecklas. Med queerteoretisk utgångspunkt undersöker jag hur karaktärerna kommer ut och hur de lever sina liv efteråt, likaså hur deras sexualitet får en roll i deras respektive fantasy-värld. I min analys visar jag hur bisexualiteten ignoreras och hur båda karaktärerna har svårt att komma fram till vilken sexualitet som passar dem bäst. Mor har även en långsammare utveckling när det kommer till hennes sexualitet, och finner det svårare att våga komma ut. Simon och Mor är även olika som personer och i min analys visar jag på hur slutet av deras respektive berättelser blir annorlunda; Mor försvinner ur berättelsen nästan direkt efter att hon kommer ut, medan Simon blir mer bekväm i hans sexualitet och relation. In this paper, I study Simon Snow from the Carry On trilogy (2015–21) and Morrigan, nicknamed Mor, from the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015–). The main aim of this study is to examine how the two characters’ sexuality and identity work in their respective book series, how they are described and if they are allowed to develop. Using queer theory, I examine how the two characters come out and how they live their lives afterwards, as well as how sexuality work in a fantasy novel. As a result, I have discovered that the label of bisexuality is frowned upon, and that both characters have a hard time figuring themselves out in terms of what sexuality and identity they relate to the most. Mor also had a slower development when it comes to her sexuality and a bigger struggle with coming out to her friends in comparison to Simon. Mor and Simon have very different journeys with their sexuality and are at very different stages in their acceptance at the end of their respective stories. In Mor’s case, she left the story as soon as she came out to one person, whilst Simon became more confident in his sexuality and relationship.

I följande studie har olika sexuella identiteters skildring och inkludering analyserats i tre av RFSU:s reklamfilmer, men med ett specifikt fokus på homosexualitet. RFSU, Riksförbundet för sexuell upplysning, är en etablerad svensk riksorganisation som arbetar med sexual upplysning, preventivmedel, aborträtt, frågor gällande sexualitet och rättigheter. Det framgår att reklamkampanjernas primära fokus är att få fler att använda och prata om kondomer, men också att köpa deras kondomer. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur framställningen och inkluderandet av homosexualitet har sett ut i reklamfilmerna i förhållande till heteronormativa strukturer. Studien behandlar dessutom likheter och skillnader reklamfilmerna emellan. Analysen och resultatredovisningen har genomförts med hjälp av ett queerteoretiskt perspektiv och en semiotisk metod, och dess redskap; denotation, konnotation och myt. Studiens resultat visar att RFSU reproducerar heteronormativa strukturer, även om graden av heteronormativitet varierar i de olika reklamfilmerna. This bachelor thesis contains a study of how people who identify as homosexual, but also to some degree; people who identify as heterosexual, is portrayed in three commercials from RFSU, Swedish Association for Sexuality Education. RFSU is an established Swedish national organization working with questions regarding sexual education, contraceptives, abortion, sexuality, and human rights. The purpose of these three commercials is to encourage the usage of condoms and to deliver the importance of it but the intention is also to get people to buy their condoms. The purpose of this study is to examine how the representation and inclusion of homosexual people are portrayed in the selected commercials. The study also deals with similarities and differences between the commercials. A queer perspective and a semiotic method and its tools denotation, connotation, and myth are implemented in the analysis. The study shows that RFSU reproduce heteronormative structures, even though the extent of heteronormativity variegates and has altered in the three different commercials.

I denna studie är syftet att undersöka hur personal från behandlingshem för missbruk samtalar kring kön och sexualitet. Studien utgår från behandlingshem med inriktning på enbart kvinnor eller enbart män. I Sverige har homo-, bi- och transsexuella personer sämre psykisk hälsa än heterosexuella personer. Psykisk ohälsa ökar risken för missbruk och hbtq-personer har en ökad risk för missbruk jämfört med den generella befolkningen, varför det har varit av relevans att undersöka normer gällande kön och sexualitet på behandlingshem för missbruk. Det empiriska materialet, som har analyserats genom en kritisk diskursanalytisk ansats, har samlats in genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med personal inom behandlingshem för missbruk. I resultatet framgår att diskurserna kring kön och sexualitet till stor del fortfarande är heteronormativa, bland annat genom att utgångspunkten är att brukarnas relationer är heterosexuella samt i diskurser kring att visa sin nakna kropp vid övervakade urinprov. Resultatet lyfter att det kan finnas en osäkerhet kring bemötande av transsexuella personer utifrån vilket pronomen som ska användas samt på vilket behandlingshem en transperson ska placeras. Slutsatsen pekar på att det kan finnas ett behov av kunskap om det heteronormativa privilegiet för att det ska bli möjligt med förändring av ojämlika maktstrukturer kring kön och sexualitet. The aim of this study is to explore how professionals, from health and rehabilitation clinics for addiction, talk about sex and sexuality. The study includes health and rehabilitation clinics for only women or only men. In Sweden, mental illness is more prevalent among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual population than for the heterosexual population. Mental illness increases the risk for alcohol and drug addiction and people within the LGBT community have an increased risk of addiction than the rest of the population, thus it is of relevance to explore norms regarding gender and sexuality in rehabilitation clinics. The empirical material has been collected via ten semi-structured interviews with professionals of health and rehabilitation clinics for addiction. The result indicates that the discourses regarding sex and sexuality still in many ways are heteronormative and it shows among others by the assumptions that the relationships of the clients are heterosexual. It also shows when it is assumed that the clients are cis in the discourse regarding showing the naked body when leaving monitored urine samples. The result illustrates that there could be an insecurity among the professionals when it comes to use the correct pronoun when talking about transsexual people and in which health and rehabilitation clinic a transsexual person can be accepted for treatment. The conclusion indicates that knowledge about the heteronormative privilege could be necessary to enable change of unequal power structures regarding sex and sexuality.

Media is responsible to operate as a room for democratic and interacting discussions in our society. Furthermore, media is a significant part of the overall social context in which citizens are included. Despite increased equality in society, the media still represents women and men unequal which has an impact on the norms and values that prevail in society. Women are still underrepresented in Swedish media content and women’s perspectives and experiences are either marginalized or lacking. This thus confirms and reproduces a society and power structure in which men are superior to women. Further entrepreneurship is critical as it contributes with economic growth and social development and therefore of value for society and politics. The aim of this study is to examine how women’s entrepreneurship is represented in Framgångspodden and how this podcast discursively constructs gender. The research questions build upon previous studies that show how female entrepreneurs are represented and portrayed differently than male entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the representation of women’s entrepreneurship is gender stereotypical where masculine and feminine characteristics are contrasted. Previous studies also show how the entrepreneurship field is severe to unequal power relations and how female entrepreneurs are diminished. Through a thematic and critical discourse analysis this study examines how 13 Swedish female entrepreneurs are represented in Framgångspodden. The conclusion of this qualitative study validates previous studies and shows how gender stereotypes exist in a Swedish entrepreneurial context and that the discourse is dominated by a distinct order of power. Framgångspodden defends the masculine entrepreneurship discourse and reproduces the image of how a female entrepreneur should behave or be, by describing her with feminine qualities or placing her in a narrow spectrum of masculine stereotypes. This study confirms that the women's entrepreneurship discourse in Sweden is characterized by masculinity and female entrepreneurs are represented based on their gender roles.

Wendt, I. Good intention but insufficient knowledge. A qualitative interview study on social workers experiences of meeting young transgender people. Degree project in social work 15 högskolepoäng. Malmö University: Faculty of Health and Society, Department of (name of department), Year.The well-being of transgender youth is worse compared with cisgender youth. Transgender youth are exposed to threats, violence and discrimination. This population partly or fully avoid seeking help and support from social services even when needed. Social workers should provide fair treatment, though there is a lack of knowledge concerning transgender youth and the needs and issues specific to transgender youth. This study aims to research the experience of meeting transgender youth from the perspective of social workers, and how they reckon they’ve been prepared to meet this particular population in their academic education but also at their workplace. This study has a qualitative approach and interviews were conducted with four social workers to collect empirical data. The analysis resulted in five main themes: the possessed knowledge pre-study, ideas and prejudices, difference in transgender youth exposure, professional approach and treatment, lack of education and norm-critical work and language. The result of the study indicates acts of courtesy yet lack of knowledge. There was a presence of prejudices and preconceptions regarding what transgender people are and what it means to live as a transgender youth. The academic education of social workers appear lacking in content regarding gender, sexuality, and identity which are important aspects for understanding the experience of transgender youth as well as the inclusion of transgender youth. Societal norms and structures were perceived to have influenced the apprehension of transgender youth, the societal work and the academic education of social workers. The academic education of social workers lacks in knowledge regarding transgender youth. There is a great need for scientific studies regarding transgender youth to successfully develop the societal work and guarantee a fair treatment.

Considering the massive role that media plays in our lives, it can be interesting to wonder how different movements have adapted and become one with this new reality. A reality where most information we receive seems filtered through some form of media input, be it popular culture, social media or the news. Focusing on one of the most relevant movements of our time, the LGBT movement. This study attempts to explore the movements relationship with the Swedish news-media through a reading of Frame Theory, picking out certain Swedish news-articles published in 2019, and asking the research question: Do the selected articles tend to prioritize certain perspectives on LGBT activism, through their framing? With the perspectives analyzed and understood through queer theory, this study found that the selected articles tended to prioritize certain perspectives over others, perspectives that came with several heteronormative and other problematic tendencies.

In Sweden, the language of norm critique has gained increasing influence over the past ten years in connection with queer theoretical thinking and norm critical pedagogy becoming part of gender equality work and equality work in the (pre)school system. In this essay I examine, through interviews, how people who use norm-critical language view the normativity in the Swedish language with the main purpose of seeing if it works and how it is achieved. The essay also examines how norm-critical language users try to change the language to become more inclusive and how all this can be understood from the perspective of Butler’s performativity theory and ideas about power and normativity. The results of the survey show that norm-critical language works and contributes to the goal; a world where everyone gets a place and recognition in both language and physical space. We can see how children become subjects and are included in norm-critical language and how the binary perception of gender is set in motion, which leads to greater scope for action and inclusion. Furthermore, it is stated that there is a danger in the goal’s new normativity which leads to the conclusion that norm-critical language is and has to be a constant process and under constant reflection. As it is a small study and a large topic, I urge further research on norm-critical language.

Heteronormativity and norms concerning gender and sexuality are present in the entirety of Sweden, and their expressions are often wide and varied. This thesis studies the experiences of two upper secondary school teachers employed in Malmö through a case study in regards to work with gender and sexuality norms in religious studies. Additionally, how the pandemic COVID-19 and transit to digital teaching has affected work with gender and sexuality norms are explored. Using select parts of queer theory and thematic analysis, key components presented by the interviewees relating to work with gender and sexuality norms are identified and analyzed against the backdrop of previous research.

This study aims to examine the norm-breaking body in Sara Stridsbergs literary fantasy Drömfakulteten (2006) or The Faculty of Dreams (English translation, 2019) which explores Valerie Solanas’ life. Solanas is known for the feminist text SCUM Manifesto (1968, Swedish translation, 2003) and for shooting the artist Andy Warhol. Solanas has a very distinct separation between body and mind that is apparent in the novel. She ignores her body and whishes not to be aware of it. She only ever thinks about her manifesto, which becomes her mind. To explore the norm-breaking body, my essay is based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the grotesque body. In this work, I also present different theories that have been inspired by the grotesque, for instance; the female grotesque and the gurlesque. While the grotesque focuses more on the body as a biological organism, the female grotesque and gurlesque focus more on how the female body and femininity is perceived in society and how they break the societal norms. The women are making a “spectacle of themselves”, in Mary Russo’s words. I want to apply these theories on the protagonist, Valerie Solanas, and analyze how the grotesque and norm-breaking body is portrayed in the novel. To further the exploration between body and mind I have the decided to analyze the meaning of the manifesto for Solanas, and also the narrator’s role in how her body is described to the reader.

Fetischister är en sexuell minoritet vars sexualitet karaktäriseras av en inriktning mot någon sak, något annat än kön. Svensk lagstiftning kommunicerar en normerande bild av att endast sexualiteter riktade mot kön kan vara grundläggande och utgöra en persons sexuella läggning, övriga tillskrivs att vara sexuella beteenden med svaga konstitutiva kopplingar. I detta projekt undersöks något som inte undersökts kvantitativt tidigare; huruvida fetischisters egna upplevelser stämmer med lagstiftningens antaganden om gruppen. Eftersom lagstiftning är värderings- och tankenormerande och ytterst reglerar hur vi organiserar samhället är det högst angeläget att ta reda på hur det förhåller sig. Fetischisters upplevelser har fångats i en kvantitativ undersökning med 2028 respondenter. Resultaten av undersökningen har jämförts med fyra antaganden om fetischister som lagstiftningens förarbeten utgår från. Analysen pekar mot att: Fetischism kan vara såväl sexuellt som ickesexuellt och något som kan röra tankar, känslor och beteenden på ett konsistent sätt över tid. Att som lagstiftningen porträttera fetischism som ett strikt sexuellt beteende som ställs i kontrast till något personlighetsanstruket framstår därmed som otillräckligt. Denna undersökning synliggör att det finns en fetischistisk orientering, en fetischistisk sexuell preferens. Förarbetenas utgångspunkt att enbart könsinriktade sexualiteter har att göra med sexuell preferens är därmed en förenkling som framstår som felaktig. Undersökningen har visat att fetischism kan vara något grundläggande, stabilt, ej frivilligt valt och uppkommet i tidig ålder. Därmed stämmer inte förarbetenas antagande att dessa egenskaper är unika för sexualiteter riktade mot kön. Fetischistisk sexualitet har potential att vara en individs sexuella läggning då sexualiteten kan genomsyra sexuell praktik, identitet och preferens på ovan nämnda sätt. Därmed stämmer inte lagstiftningens bild av att enbart sexualiteter riktade mot kön kan vara sexuella läggningar. Den sammantagna analysen visar att fetischisters upplevelser inte stämmer med de antaganden om gruppen som lagstiftningen baseras på. Fetischism kan ligga till grund för flera olika situationer; både något som för en person kan utgöra ett svagare sexuellt intresse likväl som något som för en annan person kan vara grundläggande, såsom dennes sexuella läggning. Lagstiftningen återspeglar inte detta. Fetishism refers to sexuality focused on a specific thing; an object, a body part or, in some cases, a more abstract phenomenon. Swedish law states that only sexualities focused on sex/gender can be considered fundamental to a person – in Sweden referred to as a person’s ”sexual disposition” or ”läggning”; roughly equivalent to ”primary sexual orientation”. Sexualities focused on anything other than sex/gender are considered sexual behaviours with weak constitutive connections. This research project examines quantitatively how the self-percieved experiences of fetishists compares to the assumptions about the group made in Swedish law texts. Data focused on the experiences of 2028 fetishists has been collected through an Internet survey 2019 – 2020, specifically targeting persons with a fetishistic sexuality in a sexological sense. The respondents identified as 74.7% men, 19.3% women and 6.0% other gender, with an average age of 41.4 years. The results from the survey indicates: Fetishism can have sexual as well as non-sexual aspects. Fetishism can influence thoughts, emotions and behaviours in an individual consistently over a very long period of time. The law’s depiction of fetishism as a strictly sexual behaviour that is discursively portrayed in contrast to personality appears to be inadequate. The results highlights a fetishistic sexual preference. The law’s assumption that only sex/gender focused sexualities can be relevant for a persons sexual preference or orientation consequently appears to be misleading. The results shows that fetishism can be constitutive to a persons sexuality: It can be a profound and enduring sexual pattern, not voluntarily chosen and emerging in early age. Consequently, the law’s assumptions that those properties are unique for sex/gender focused sexualities appears to be inaccurate. Fetishism has the potential to be an individual’s sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation), as it can characterize an individual’s sexual practice, identity and preference in a constitutive way. Consequently, the law’s definition of sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation) as only being relevant to sexualities focused on sex/gender appears to be false. The research indicates that the Swedish law’s assumption about fetishism does not correspond with the self-perception of fetishists themselves. The result suggests that fetishism is a heterogenous sexuality, which for some fetishists can consist of a less constitutive sexual interest, while it in others can be a more fundamental sexual disposition (primary sexual orientation).

The question of homoerotic sensibility is, in the purpose of this thesis, a matter of visual language connected to the portrayal of male bodies. By identifying this sensibility throughout the western art canon the essay seeks to understand its origins, development and function in relation to expressions of power. With the introduction of theorists such as Alois Riegl, Laura Mulvey, Abigail Solomon-Godeau and Raewyn Connell, the aim is to deconstruct homosexual masculinity. Adapting formal analysis and parts of visual semiotics, the focus lies on the visual expression of power through the homoerotic gaze, and asks what consequences it has in forming homosexual identity. Greek antiquity is home not only to the ideals that foster western art history, but is also where we find early examples of same-sex affection being portrayed in the arts. Hence classical antiquity is so important for the homoerotic: whenever the classical language of style is popular throughout history, we are sure to find homoerotic sensibility. For reasons mentioned, the main periods analyzed are the Italian Renaissance, the French Neoclassicism and then, naturally the late 20th century onwards as this is the period of gay liberation and modern homosexual identity. By identifying classical acceptance of homosexual relations only in the form of a clear social hierarchy, we soon discover how homosexuality has appropriated the idea of binary difference within its masculinity throughout history. Accepting relationships only between erastes and eromenos, or man and ephebe, homosexuality is forced to exist only on the terms of difference of power. With classical ideals, these tendencies are recurring in the visual representation of male homosexuality, and becomes a big part of the liberation and forming of a modern identity in the late twentieth century. As a result of objectification of the male body, in combination with idealized and sexualized power, modern gay culture has in many ways embraced a destructive culture shaped by misogynist ideas of hegemonic culture, where sexual violence exists, but is not spoken of.

Aim. This study examines the attitudes of social work students towards LGBT-persons, and whether the students perceive that the content of the social work program provides competence on LGBT related questions. The theoretical frame of reference is based upon queer theory. Method. A quantitative method was adopted to address the aims and objectives of this study. The study is limited to comprise of social work students from 3-7 semesters, from a Swedish university. A survey based upon earlier surveys and containing 41 statements was translated from English to Swedish. The survey was emailed to 245 social work students through the university’s email system. Results. Findings suggest that the majority of the social work students demonstrate tolerant attitudes towards LGBT-persons while a minority show negative attitudes. Further results suggest that most students do not believe that the educational content of the social work program sufficiently addresses LGBT related questions. The majority of the social work students estimates their competence in LGBT-questions as neutral or neither. The results further show a significant negative correlation between attitudes towards LGBT-persons and educational content, as well as between content and competence. Significant differences between semesters and perceived educational content was found. Conclusion. The study concludes a low level of heterosexism among social work students, a lack of competence of LGBT-related questions and an insufficient course content. The results partially confirm the study's hypotheses but also indicate other correlations. Course content offering more in-depth insights into LGBT-issues is seen as an area of improvement within the social work program. To conclude, this study is the first to investigate the subject at national level and therefore further research within this field is both suggested and recommended. Syfte. Denna studie undersöker socionomstudenters attityder gentemot LHBT-personer och huruvida de anser att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet ger kompetens om LHBT-frågor. Studiens teoretiska referensram är baserad på queerteori. Metod. Studien använder kvantitativ metod för att besvara studiens syfte. Studien är avgränsad till att innefatta socionomstudenter mellan termin 3–7 på ett lärosäte i Sverige. Enkäten innehåller 41 påståenden vilka är baserade på tidigare studier. Påståendena är översatta från engelska till svenska och har mailats till 245 socionomstudenter via lärosätets mailsystem. Resultat. Enkätstudiens svar fann att de flesta socionomstudenter uppvisar toleranta attityder gentemot LHBT-personer, men att det också finns studenter som uppvisar negativa attityder. Vidare framkommer att de flesta studenter upplever att utbildningsinnehållet på socionomprogrammet berör LHBT-frågor i låg utsträckning. Majoriteten av socionomstudenterna skattar sin kompetens om LHBT-frågor som varken eller. Resultaten visar att det finns ett signifikant negativt samband mellan attityder och utbildningsinnehåll samt mellan utbildningsinnehåll och upplevd kompetens. Signifikanta skillnader går att finna mellan terminer och upplevt utbildningsinnehåll. Slutsats. Sammanfattningsvis fann studien en låg grad av heterosexism bland socionomstudenter, en avsaknad av kompetens kring LHBT-frågor samt bristande utbildningsinnehåll. Resultaten bekräftar delvis studiens hypoteser men påvisar också andra samband. Kursinnehåll som mer specifikt behandlar LHBT-frågor ses som ett förbättringsområde på socionomprogrammet. Den aktuella studien är den första att undersöka ämnet på nationell nivå och vidare forskning inom ämnet föreslås och rekommenderas.

The ​aim​ of this study was to examine transgendered persons experiences of social norms andattitudes related to their gender identity. More specifically the study focused on thecisgender- and hetero norm and how these affect transgender persons transition process andtheir everyday life. The ​method​ used to collect data was by reading five autobiographicalbooks written by transgendered persons. Collected data was analyzed using queer theory andthematized into four different themes; ​The importance of passing, The environments attitudesand reactions, To be yourself or someone else ​and ​Social relationships​. The​ results ​indicatethat transgendered persons are highly affected by norms and are often victims ofdiscrimination due to their gender identity. To “pass” as either man or woman is thereforecrucial to avoid negative attitudes and harassment. The results also showed the difficulty fortransgendered persons to reveal their gender identity to society and their close ones and howdifferent reactions can either discourage or normalize the heteronormative structures thatexists in our society. The​ conclusion ​was that transgendered persons are affected bycisgendered- and heteronormative norms in both their transition process and their everydaylife. Society is categorizing people as either man or woman, and whoever doesn’t fit in thegiven gender roles is classed as deviant

The purpose of this thesis is to provide in-depth knowledge by exploring how image cataloguing provides a context for expressions related to sex, gender, and queerness through metadata and textual descriptions within library databases. This thesis examines how normative conceptions related to sex, gender, and queerness affect the praxis of image cataloguing and how the material’s retrievability is influenced by these aspects. To examine how biases and preconceptions about sex, gender, and queerness are expressed through metadata and descriptive cataloguing the study focuses on catalogued portrait photographs, especially images portraying unknown individuals. The conclusions of this study are that descriptions of images portraying unknown individuals are heavily characterised by a binary view of sex and gender. Unknown individuals are categorised as women or men based on outer appearances, and not in a sex/gender neutral way. Since interpretations are based on clothing, hairstyles, accessories et cetera and not the naked body it may be argued that gender is being categorised, and not necessarily sex. If gender is to be understood as a social construction not attached to any specific physicality it may be expressed in any way by anyone. The assumption of being able to place people in sexed categories based merely on their appearances may therefore be questioned. A further conclusion is that queerness isn’t included when images are being catalogued. The study however shows that heteronormative assumptions may be traced in the way images are described. It may also be concluded that describing portrait photographs mainly through aspects related to sex/gender ignores other informative aspects of them as images, making them less retrievable for users. This is a two years master's thesis in library and information science.

The aim of this study is to analyze how homosexuality is represented in the modern tv-series Riverdale (2016-). Two confirmed homosexual characters from the show, Kevin Keller and Cheryl Blossom have been used to examine this. To showcase how their homosexuality is represented a multimodal discourse analysis was conducted. The method was used to analyze 34 scenes from varying episodes of the currently available three seasons. Queer theory was used as a theoretical point of departure in the study of the characters sexuality. Findings of the analysis shows that Kevin often withers down to stereotype of being a feminine and comedic gay best friend. Cheryl on the other hand is shown being more than just a stereotype but however noticeably lacking in sexual relations with her same-sex partner. Comparisons with previous studies was further used to see how homosexuality is constructed in the show. Through the comparison similar representation could be found from previous gay characters in terms of stereotypes and roles. The study showed however that Cheryl and Kevin’s depiction in the show was noticeably more positive.

This bachelor thesis examines how terms of heterosexuality are negotiated within the Swedish reality show Gift vid första ögonkastet (Married at first sight), which is presented as a social experiment where strangers marry each other and go on to live together for four weeks. The couples are matched by four experts (two psychologists, one sexologist and one couple’s counsellor), and their roles as professionals and distributors of knowledge are the main focus of this study as it permeates how the terms are negotiated by the six participants. By applying queer theories such as the heterosexual matrix, performativity and temporality, the terms are identified as monogamy, height difference, desire, emotional labour, and equality. These are analysed using the three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis, while also adopting its framework for ideological power to examine how the experts use their position to give way for their interpretations of relationships, love and gender. The findings conclude that the programme works within a discourse of gender equality to support its own eligibility and does not challenge heterosexual ideals but rather furthers them by offering the heteronormative idea of monogamous love as a solution to a supposed increase of loneliness.

I den här uppsatsen utforskas André Acimans roman Call Me by Your Name (2007) och regissören Luca Guadagninos filmatisering av verket (2017) i relation till det antika begreppet eros (ung. begär). Det finns sedan tidigare en konstnärlig tradition i västvärlden att tillämpa antik tematik vid gestaltningen av manligt samkönat begär och för att åskådliggöra hur detta sker även i Acimans och Guadagninos respektive verk används i den här uppsatsen Platons Gästabudet (Symposion, ca 385 f. Kr) som en återkommande utgångspunkt i analysen. Utifrån ett urval tematiska inslag i Gästabudet, som alla anknyter till Platons övergripande behandling av begär ur ett filosofiskt perspektiv, riktas i det här arbetet uppmärksamheten mot hur dessa teman även förekommer i Call Me by Your Name, roman som film. Detta gäller inte minst Platons presenterade tanke att eros, under rätt omständigheter, har förmågan att leda filosofen mot upplysthet och förståelsen av en upphöjd och evig ordning. Utöver att visa på hur båda verken (som utspelar sig i relativt modern tid) genomsyras av denna antika begärstematik är ett annat mål med uppsatsen att genom en komparativ analys, och med ett genusvetenskapligt och queerteoretiskt perspektiv, blottlägga hur skillnaderna mellan romanförlagan och filmadaptionen påverkar bilden av den unge huvudpersonen Elio och dennes utforskande av sin sexualitet – även då bilden av sexualitet i en mer generell mening. Slutsatsen som den här uppsatsen leder fram till är att Acimans förlaga vid en första anblick framstår som mer utmanande i förhållande till en modern heteronormativ ordning (så som åskådliggjord av Judith Butlers heteronormativa matris) medan Guadagninos version – trots skildringen av samkönat begär i berättelsens centrum – innefattar mer konservativa indikationer. Samtidigt är de utmanande aspekterna i Acimans roman inte heller helt oproblematiska vid en andra anblick. I den mån Acimans skildring med hjälp av den antika tematiken gör motstånd mot moderna uppfattningar om sexualitet, begär och relationsformer leder nyttjandet parallellt till att andra diskriminerande och begränsande uppfattningar om kön, genusidentitet och könsmaktsordning snarare bekräftas inom berättelsens ramar mer än vad de utmanas.

The Swedish author Agnes von Krusenstjerna is known for her depictions of girls becoming women, a motif that she returns to again and again throughout her works. Previous academic literature on Krusenstjerna highlights that she writes about girls, maturation, and eroticism, but does not explore what ‘becoming a woman’ means. While the terms ‘girl’ and ‘woman’ are commonly regarded as signifiers of age and sex only, they are in fact laden with a number of assumptions, which I explore in Krusenstjerna’s novels. This thesis analyses the depictions of girls coming of age through their encounter with love and sexuality in Krusenstjerna’s early novels Ninas dagbok (The Diary of Nina, 1917), Helenas första kärlek (Helena’s First Love, 1918), and the Tony trilogy Tony växer upp (Tony Grows Up, 1922), Tonys läroår (Tony’s Apprenticeship, 1924), and Tonys sista läroår (Tony’s Last Apprenticeship, 1926). I explore how the idea of girls becoming women relates to love and sexuality, and I pose the following questions: How is the term ‘girl’ constructed in Krusenstjerna’s early novels? How does a girl become a woman and what implications does womanhood have? Which characters and phenomena in the girl’s surroundings constitute the conditions for her becoming a woman, and which ones risk delaying or even preventing this transition? Furthermore, I seek to connect the depiction of girls, love, and sexuality with Krusenstjerna’s contemporary literary critics’ view of her early novels as girls’ books, i.e. novels for young women, or associated with that literary tradition, even though they were not published as such. I use a combination of feminist and queer theory focussing on temporality. Throughout the thesis, I connect Krusenstjerna’s writings to those of other authors. The following novels are connected to the tradition of books for girls and are used as the starting point for my hermeneutical readings of Krusenstjerna’s works: The Girls at His Billet (1916) by Berta Ruck, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886) by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Daddy-Long-Legs (1912) and Dear Enemy (1915) by Jean Webster, as well as Anne of Green Gables (1908), The Blue Castle (1926), and Emily’s Quest (1927) by L. M. Montgomery. Examining these novels, I focus on the motif of girls becoming women as well as a selection of other related topics. The thesis addresses two different ways of coming of age depicted in Krusenstjerna’s early novels. The protagonists of the first two novels, Nina and Helena, are portrayed as ‘girls’ who become ‘women’ through their encounter with men and their choice in love, whereas the protagonist of the Tony trilogy is described as a ‘girl’ who only temporarily becomes a ‘woman’ but then turns into a ‘girl’ again. Accordingly, the act of becoming a woman in Krusenstjerna’s first two novels, which is typical for the girls’ book tradition, follows normative expectations of the life trajectory, whereas the queer act of becoming – or rather un-becoming – a woman in the later Tony trilogy does not adhere to the same assumptions. I argue that the fact that the second part of the Tony trilogy has the same plot as Ninas dagbok, and the third instalment the same story as Helenas första kärlek, amplifies the impression that the Tony trilogy queers the normative life trajectory that is found in those two novels and is typical for the girls’ book tradition. Thus, as this thesis proposes, the girls’ book as seen in Krusenstjerna’s work, is queered.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how categorisation of marginalised groups is done on Swedish Wikipedia. Taking its starting point in social constructionism and critical knowledge organisation research, classic knowledge organization is seen as inherently flawed. In its quest for universal knowledge organisation systems, the fact that knowledge is contingent (emerging and constructed), is obscured. This runs the risk of marginalising marginalised groups further. Instead it is claimed that knowledge organization systems ought to strive for transparency by inviting its users to witness and take part in the knowledge process. A discourse analysis was made on two source materials: an interview study with three editors of Swedish Wikipedia and openly available discussion threads from Swedish Wikipedia. The result of the discourse analysis shows that the wider to write at Wikipedia discourse contains two nodal points: neutrality and consensus. The neutrality nodal point is a floating signifier in the sense that two different discourses try to give it two different meanings. In one of the discourses neutrality is seen as possible to achieve when describing reality. Categorisation is uncomplicated, it is simply a case of reflecting the categories that already exist ”out there”. In another discourse neutrality is seen as something impossible to achieve when describing reality because it is ever-changing and many-faceted. Categorisation is hard and complicated. Between these two discourses there is a discursive struggle which is mitigated by the nodal point consensus. Through discussions leading to consensus a ”neutral enough” way of describing the world is achieved. Categorisation on Wikipedia can thus be seen to achieve the transparency that critical knowledge organization research requests: the categories are results of discussions that all reading users can access. But there is doubt as to how many of the reading users of Wikipedia actually find and read the discussion pages. If there are only a few who ever finds the discussions, the transparency remains low and the constructed nature of Wikipedias knowledge organization system remains obscured. This is a two years Master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

This doctoral thesis investigates popular romance, a mass-cultural genre with a large female audience. Popular romance is often considered ”lowbrow” and is referred to by terms such as ”porn” and ”garbage”. The female reader of this so called “sentimental trash” is often portrayed as naïve and unworldly. The thesis makes this derogatory view of the genre its point of departure, to investigate what cultural understandings of gender and sexuality the critique against popular romance entails. The thesis further investigates how these conceptions of gender and sexuality deviate from and challenge a culturally promoted and normative sexuality. The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter describes the selection of the empirical material and the theoretical and methodological framework. The empirical material consists of the three novels in the popular series Fifty Shades of Grey and the four novels and five films in the popular series Twilight. The thesis places itself within the field of feminist cultural studies and queer theory. It makes use of the concept of masturbation (both literal and figurative) as an analytical entry point and as a method focusing on the “here and now” of romance reading. The second chapter contextualizes the study by defining the term “popular romance” and by providing a brief historical overview of the genre. Previous research on popular romance is presented and discussed in relation to the derogatory view of the genre. The third chapter studies the Swedish media commentaries on Fifty Shades of Grey and Twilight to define how the rejected romance reader is conceptualized, and how this romance reader is presumed to be reading. This “romance reader” is thereafter discussed in relation to the Western historical discourse on masturbation, “female illness” and (women’s) private reading. The chapter closes with a discussion on the form of reading that the romance reader is associated with. This self-immersed, excessive and over-invested reading form is defined as “masturbatory”. The fourth chapter explores the act of romance reading when defined as a sexual activity. The romance community is compared to the “second wave” feminism of the 1970s in order to demonstrate how the genre establishes a separatist female community where relations, positions, and identifications are in motion, revealing both homoerotic and autoerotic elements to this homosocial context. In the fifth chapter, a close reading of the material is performed with a focus on the “here and now” of the reading situation. The dichotomy of desiring subject and desired object is problematized in relation to looks and gaze. The thesis argues that the romance text uses detailed and intimate descriptions to instill a sexual charge and to freeze the flow of the storyline in order to make room for constant erotic contemplation. These “frozen moments” and the repetitiveness of the genre are discussed in relation to theories of queer temporality. The romance text constructs a room “outside of time” that privileges the overwhelming pleasures of the “here and now”. This liminal room is not only available for the heroine and hero of the story, but for the romance reader as well. The sixth and final chapter ties together the main arguments of the thesis in an overarching discussion on how conceiving romance reading as a form of masturbation challenges previous research on popular romance and the gendering of and contempt for mass culture.

My intention with this essay is to analyze how lesbianism is described in Swedish youth literature. I have done a queer reading of three books written in the 2000’s to find out if lesbian love is described as a problem, and if it isn’t: what it causing problems in the novels? When reading the novels I have also observed how the environment and the characters themselves perceive lesbian identity. The novels I have chosen are Det händer nu by Sofia Nordin (2010), Som eld by Sara Lövestam (2015) and Du och jag, Marie Curie by Annika Ruth Persson (2003). To apply queer theory I have used several concepts, such as heteronormativity, coming out, shame and internalized homophobia, when analyzing the texts. The conclusion of my analysis is that one of the novels describes the lesbian love itself as a problem, while the other two are wider in their descriptions. Some characters are comfortable in their lesbian identity, while some are struggling with shame and coming out-issues. My final conclusion is that it is heteronormativity that is causing problems in the novels, not lesbianism.

In fantasy literature, representations of gender and sexuality outside of the heteronormative binary have historically been limited. Although queer fantasy is on the rise, depictions of non-conformational identities are still rare and far in-between. This thesis seeks to examine one of the earlier fantasy representations of a queer character, the non-binary Beloved in Robin Hobbs fantasy series The Realm of the Elderlings in terms of gender and sexuality. Throughout the series, Beloved assumes different identities of various genders and sexual orientations, and continuously claims that these are all equally true and valid representations of themselves, although these are distinctly separated by ways of, often gendered, physical attributes. Therefore, a central part of this thesis will be to examine how these shifts between genders and sexual identities are established performatively, something I will do with the support of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity as it is presented in Gender Trouble. While the text ultimately lends itself to a reading in Beloved’s favour, they are often othered and met with scorn from other characters of the series, something that is quite central to their characterization. Consequently, this thesis will also investigate these reactions and the often heteronormative and conservative stances they demonstrate, and, most notably, how these reactions mirror exterior societal attitudes and change in accordance with these.

The aim for this study was to investigate how social workers perceive that they are responding to clients who define themselves as transgender. The study has a qualitative basis with six semistructured interviews based on an elaborated vignette method. The selection of interviewees was social workers, three in the field of public authority and three workers at various excutive agencies. The material have been analyzed based on Queer theory and Honneths Recognition Theory. The findings indicate that social work organizations are lacking in knowlege of transgender people and their experiences. There is also a lack of evidence-based procedures, action plans and policies to respond to transgender people within the organizations. The findings also implies that social workers can respond to transgender people and address them more empathically, with greater acceptance as well as recognition through a professional self-reflection and a humble attitude. Denna studies syfte har varit att undersöka hur verksamma inom socialt arbete uppfattar att de själva tillika verksamheten i stort bemöter transpersoner. Studien har en kvalitativ grund och baserar sig på sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med vinjettmetod. Urvalet av intervjupersoner är verksamma inom socialt arbete, tre inom myndighetsutövning och tre arbetande på olika utförarinstanser. Materialet har analyserats utifrån Queerteori och Honneths erkännadeteori. Resultatet visar bland annat att verksamheter inom socialt arbete brister i sin kunskap kring transpersoner och deras upplevelser samt saknar evidensbaserade rutiner, handlingsplaner och policys för att bemöta transpersoner inom organisationen. Resultatet visar även att yrkesverksamma inom socialt arbete kan bemöta transpersoner mer inkännande, med större acceptans och med en erkännande karaktär genom en självreflekterande och ödmjuk attityd.

The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge about how people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system look upon treatment from people in different contexts and how the strategies they use in relation to treatment are expressed. As an approach to this study, we chose to do a qualitative internet study, the empirical material included ten various blogs written by people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system. By using a content analysis we were able to distinguish themes concerning good and bad treatment as well as different forms of coping in our empirical material. The analysis was based on two different kinds of perspectives: queer theory and the concept of coping strategies. The result of this study showed that people who identify themselves outside the gender binary system experience poor treatment more often than good treatment from people in different contexts. One important result that this study showed was that most people described that they felt reduced and ridiculed by, for example, government officials and family members because of their gender identity. We also found that the people in this study used different strategies to cope with the poor treatment they received. A strategy that most of the people in the study used to avoid being treated badly were dressing in gender-neutral clothes. The main conclusion of the study is that it is important that we humans do not assume that all persons belong to the gender binary system. More knowledge about the area is needed to enable us to treat people who identify outside the gender binary system adequately.

This paper aims to examine how sexuality is represented in six children's books who claims to be either norm critical and/or queer. I am using a qualitative method that consist of text and picture analysis designed by Stuart Hall, to examine what discourses and norms that the childrens depicts. I will also aid in the queer theoretical perspective to visualize and point out the heteronormative power structures and how they can be understood. The theoretical concepts like parenting, birth giving, biological aspect, family and stereotypes. The results of this paper shows that with help of theory, method and analysis that it is possible to determine that only one of the six chosen children's books is norm-critical and queer. The rest of the children's books shows more or less heteronormative structures and patterns that goes against the claimed norm-criticaland queer perception of the books. Not only are these five children's books recreating heteronormative structure, they are also cnhancing them. According to international research there seems to exist a trend within western children's literature whereas some sexualities are censored and placed in pecking order acoring to society's norms and values. Lastly it is therefore of crucial importance that pedagogues active in preschool continuously remain critical, analytical and evaluative toward the material they aim to acquire and use.