Haiti experienced the greatest urban disaster of international history in 2010 when the county was hit by an earthquake which triggered one of the largest responses of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts ever identified. The Haitian population was harshly affected by the earthquake, killing approximately 200 000 people, injuring 300 000 and displacing over 2,3 million. Reports from the post-disaster period also revealed that gender inequalities were growing deeper and that cases of sexual based violence against women and girls increased massively. The history of Haiti shows similar patterns of discrimination and gender based violence against women and children. Research upon gender based violence in the aftermath of disaster presents that disastrous events such as an earthquake, often is followed by an increase in gender based – and sexual gender based violence. Disasters could also provide a window of opportunity for change of  traditional roles and social norms in societies where they are deeply rooted. In order to seize this opportunity disaster management needs to acknowledge and adapt to gendered needs and capacities in all stages of disaster relief efforts in order to provide these opportunities for the subordinated gender. This research is studying the responsive policies of the Haitian government in the aftermath of the earthquake 2010, presented in the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti. The aim is to investigate if any exercises of power could be observed to have affected the increase of gender based violence and sexual gender based violence for women and children in the post-earthquake responsive period. The study will be carried out as a text-analysing, desk study and by applying the theoretical framework of Steven Lukes three-dimensional power approach and the theory of radical feminism abductively. The findings of this research presents that power exercises by the government can be observed to have affected the increase of gender based – as well as sexual gender based violence in the period of study.

Sexhandel har existerat sedan lång tid tillbaka och har alltid ansetts problematiskt på olika sätt. Sedan 1999 är sexköp förbjudet enligt lag (SFS 1962:700, 6 kap. 11 §) och anses av regeringen som en del av mäns våld mot kvinnor och mäns överordnade ställning i samhället. Nya siffror från folkhälsomyndigheten visar att en av tio män i Sverige någon gång betalat för en sexuell handling. Trots att sexhandel har både en säljande och en köpande sida har forskningen mestadels varit ensidig och fokuserat på de personer som säljer, vilket har lämnat den köpande sidan relativt outforskad. Media däremot belyser ämnet från båda sidor vilket ger dem stor makt att påverka samhällets syn på sexköpare. Samtidigt influeras media i stor utsträckning av samhällspolitiken och verkar reflekterande av rådande maktordningar. Syftet med denna uppsats är därför att undersöka hur media framställer sexköpare samt hur sexköpsdiskursen speglar såväl könsnormer som genusrelaterade maktordningar.  Det teoretiska perspektivet utgår från Norman Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys samt radikalfeministiskt teori och med Faircloughs tredimensionella modell har jag undersökt och analysera 153 artiklar från Dagens Nyheter och Aftonbladet mellan den 1 januari 2018 och 31 maj 2020. Studien visar att fyra olika deldiskurser går att urskilja i diskursen om sexköpare i media: (1) anonymisering av de sexköpande männen samt referensen till dem som ‘’vanliga’’ män, (2) beskrivning av dem som rovdjur, förövare och samvetslösa, (3) måla upp en bild av sexköpare som offer samt ge utrymme för medömkan och (4) användning av marknadsdiskurs. Analysen visar också att olika diskurser reflekterar könsnormer och rådande maktordningar till olika grad där vissa till och med verkar utmanande och följer lagens samt det radikalfeministiska perspektivet på sexköp. / Sex trafficking has existed for a long time and has always been considered problematic in various ways. Since 1999, the purchase of sex has been prohibited by law (SFS 1962: 700, Chapter 6, Section 11) and is considered by the government as part of men's violence against women and men's superior position in society. New figures from the public health authority shows that one in ten men in Sweden have paid for a sexual act. Despite the fact that the sex trade has both a selling and a buying side, the research has mostly been one-sided and focused on the people who sell, which has led to the buying side being relatively unexplored. Media, on the other hand, sheds light on both sides of the subject, which gives them power to influence society's view of sex buyers. At the same time, the media is to a large extent influenced by social policy and reflects the current power structures. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine how the media portrays sex buyers and how the sex purchase discourse reflects both gender norms and gender-related power structures. The theoretical perspective is based on Norman Fairclough's critical discourse analysis and radical feminist theory. With Fairclough's three-dimensional model I have examined and analyzed 153 articles from Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet between 1 January 2018 and 31 May 2020. The study shows that four different sub-discourses can be distinguished in the discourse about sex buyers in media: (1) anonymization of men who buys sex and the reference to them as "ordinary" men, (2) the description of them as predators, perpetrators and conscienceless, (3) portraying sex buyers as victims and also provide space for compassion and (4) use of market discourse. The analysis also shows that different discourses reflect gender norms and current power structures to varying degrees, where some even act challenging and follows the law and the radical feminist perspective on sex purchases.

Gender equality is one of the fundamental values of the European Union (EU). The EU possesses the ambition as well as the legal obligation to promote equal rights beyond its borders. Hence, it is of most importance that the EU construct gender equality policies that foster positive change, certainly due to the EU’s normative ability to influence other actors. This paper is concerned with how problems of gender inequality is constructed by the European Commission and moreover which foreign policy approach that is proposed to combat inequality. While focusing on contexts where gender is present, this study applies feminist theoretical approaches to critically examine statements given by the European Commission. The ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ approach allows the study to identify problem representations, underlying assumptions and effects. It is determined that elements from both liberal and radical feminism is evident in the European Commission’s problem representations and that the male/female dichotomy which the problematisations are based on might prevent equality between men and women. Mostly due to its focus on the differences between genders. The findings also show that the European Commission suggest to combat inequality using a multidimensional problem-solving approach where actions are executed at individual, national, international and supranational levels simultaneously. Additionally, much emphasis is put on solving issues at grass-root levels.

This thesis explores to what extent prostitution policy can influence human trafficking for sexual purposes. It questions if criminalization of prostitution and legalization of prostitution can result in different outcomes, interfering with sex trafficking. This research is conducted as a comparative case study where Sweden illustrates the criminalization of prostitution and the Netherlands legalization of prostitution.  This study will focus on three main theories to understand the complexity behind the issue and the background of the different policy designs. First, the three-pronged approach commonly used in trafficking legislation will be implemented as a framework to analyze the national action plans to combat human trafficking. Moreover, the prostitution policies will be explored from a sexual liberal and radical feminist perspective. The main findings are that both criminalization and legalization of prostitution affect the establishment of sex trafficking within the country. Sweden and the Netherlands share the aim of combatting human trafficking by implementing their prostitution policy. However, they disagree on how to do so effectively. The conclusion will suggest that both approaches can succeed if enough resources and funding are put towards the issue.

The American civil rights movement created a ready environment in which exploited people protested their social status and demanded change. Among the forefront, women contended against their male oppressors and demanded autonomy. Ultimately, however, women disagreed amongst themselves regarding the severity of their oppression and the ideal route to implement change. Thereafter, radical feminism became a strong force within the women's liberation movement. Group members denied that capitalism oppressed women, and countered that women's status as a sex-class remained the essential component in their subjugation. To obtain true freedom, women had to reject the deeply ingrained social expectations. As radical feminists, Redstockings, New York Radical Feminists, and Cell 16 shared the goal of female freedom, but the process of acquiring freedom remained unique to each group. Nevertheless, although they focused on distinct issues, they each identified men as the source of female oppression and offered legitimate alternatives to social expectations.

This research aim was to investigate any gap in the international and national legal framework regarding sex trafficking and prostitution, as well as to identify areas for improvement to better protect victims. The research took on a feminist perspective to critique these laws and used Thailand's national framework for further research on how anti-trafficking and prostitution work on a national level. The feminist views come from feminist legal theory as well as radical feminism. Feminist theories are combined with existing literature, along with a qualitative method, legal analysis, and feminist legal method for examining legal frameworks addressing sex trafficking to find gaps in the field. Thailand was chosen due to it being a country with high problems with sex trafficking and prostitution. Thailand has also tried to combat these problems by implementing laws such as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2008 as well as The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996. Thailand has also signed The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children which was relevant to this thesis.  In summary, legal feminists and radical feminists share many important perspectives about the gaps and improvements that need to be made in the international and legal framework concerning prostitution and sex trafficking. Some of the gaps are that laws fail to address the root causes of prostitution and sex trafficking, struggles with interpretation, and criticism like MacKinnon's claim that laws are fundamentally gendered and cannot be neutralized. furthermore, Thailand's anti-trafficking laws fail to recognize prostitution as trafficking, which criminalizes women in the industry. Rather than handling the demand side (those who pay for sex) the emphasis frequently tends toward prosecuting traffickers, while failing to address enough protection for victims. solutions for the gaps partly involve guidelines for Thailand's officers to easily identify victims.

The aim of this study is to make visible and analyze how male subordination is described and which ideals of masculinity are highlighted as worthy of aspiration in material from internet personality Andrew Tate. The material consists of interviews and podcasts that are available on the internet. The analysis draws on a qualitative content analysis, in which three feminist perspectives are used as an analytical lens for interpreting the material: liberal feminism, radical feminism and queer theory. The results show that male subordination is described as coming from an inverted gender order, a matriarchy, as well as inherent differences between the nature of the sexes that inhibit men. Among these inherent differences is a male sense of duty and a societal view of male value as lower than female. The results also show that violence, dampening of emotions, and money constitute masculinity traits that are highlighted as desirable. Tate's view of male subordination and ideals of masculinity is characterized by a tendentious argument that collides with the three feminist perspectives. Thus, it is possible to understand Tate's approach as anti-feminist, which is consistent with research on, among other things, the Manosphere that Tate can be connected to.

Drawing on my own process of entry into local queer, lesbian and feminist public cultures, I argue that a powerful relationship between feminist and lesbian existence can be felt and that this sensibility bears influence on the way queer erotic and politicized identities emerge in relation to one another. These affective links remain frequently unacknowledged and/or are actively repudiated due to popular accounts of feminist genealogy whereby second wave lesbian-feminist positions are rendered fundamentally incompatible with contemporary queer/third wave feminist ones. I challenge this narrative by building on select early articulations of radical lesbian feminism to show that when affirmed consciously, the sense that lesbianism and feminism are interconnected constitutes a “woman-identified experience” and an opportunity to bear witness to the unrealized possibilities of second-wave radical feminism in the present. I conclude that politicized “lesbian” and/or “woman” identification remain indispensable strategic sites from which to observe and confront heteropatriarchy.

Syftet med föreliggande uppsats var att granska populärkultur för att undersöka om könsmakt-ordningen återspeglas inom den kulturgenren eller ej. Frågeställningen var: Präglas populär-kulturens innehåll och uttryck av könsmaktordningens ojämställda förhållanden? Om så är fallet, på vilka sätt? I uppsatsen avgränsades populärkultur till att gälla amerikanska filmer under år 2009. Det empiriska materialet utgjordes av de fyra mest sedda filmerna under det aktuella året. Datainsamlings- och analysmetoden var filmanalys med diskursanalytisk ansats. I uppsatsen användes även en deduktiv ansats, vilket innebar att radikalfeministisk teori användes som utgångspunkt i granskningen av filmerna. Resultatet visade att könsmakt-ordningen återspeglades inom den utvalda populärkulturen på så vis att kvinnor och män framställdes med könsbundna roller och temperament, genom att kvinnorna bland annat skil-drades som hjälpbehövande och gråtmilda medan männen bland annat skildrades som själv-ständiga och heroiska. Vidare visade resultatet att kvinnor framställdes som sexuella objekt samt att exponeringen av kvinnors kroppar inom sexindustrin framställdes positivt ur såväl kvinnors som mäns perspektiv. Slutsatsen var att denna ojämställda framställning inom populärkulturen kan vara en bidragande orsak till könsmaktordningens reproduktion och vidmakthållande. / The aim with this essay was to analyze popular culture to examine whether or not the gender power structure is reflected in that culture genre. The question was: Is the content and expression of the popular culture characterized by the unequal conditions of the gender power structure? If so, in what ways? In the essay, popular culture was limited to American movies during 2009. The empirical material was four of the most watched movies during that year. The method for data collection and analysis was film analysis with a discourse analytic approach. In the essay, a deductive approach was also used which in this case meant that the analysis of the movies was based on radical feminist theory. The result showed that the gender power structure was reflected in the selected popular culture due to the fact that women and men were portrayed with stereotypic gender roles and temper, that women were presented as sexual objects and that the exposure of women's bodies in the sex industry was portrayed in a positive sense. The conclusion was that this unequal narrative in the popular culture can be a contributing factor to the reproduction and maintenance of the gender power structure.

Drawing on my own process of entry into local queer, lesbian and feminist public cultures, I argue that a powerful relationship between feminist and lesbian existence can be felt and that this sensibility bears influence on the way queer erotic and politicized identities emerge in relation to one another. These affective links remain frequently unacknowledged and/or are actively repudiated due to popular accounts of feminist genealogy whereby second wave lesbian-feminist positions are rendered fundamentally incompatible with contemporary queer/third wave feminist ones. I challenge this narrative by building on select early articulations of radical lesbian feminism to show that when affirmed consciously, the sense that lesbianism and feminism are interconnected constitutes a “woman-identified experience” and an opportunity to bear witness to the unrealized possibilities of second-wave radical feminism in the present. I conclude that politicized “lesbian” and/or “woman” identification remain indispensable strategic sites from which to observe and confront heteropatriarchy.