There is an ongoing fascination with the Victorian era as well as the genre of horror, and the characters originating from the first 18th century Gothic tales still appear in our Western popular culture today. The Victorian Gothic novels contain elements of romanticism and violence which often results in strong undertones of heated sexuality. I argue that it is one of the reasons for the genre’s wide popularity. This thesis examines the representation of femininity and female sexuality within a Victorian horror context by a comparative analyse of illustrations from British 19th century Penny Blood publications with contemporary fashion photographs. The images are analysed by applying Erwin Panofsky’s method of Iconography and with the theoretical framework of feminist visual culture, and historical theories on sexuality, biology and violence. The thesis shows how Gothic visualisations are interpreted and appropriated photographically today, where the latter is darker and more exaggerated than the former. Symbols of sexuality, female agency, dominance and submission are equally found in the Victorian and the contemporary material. However, the Victorian aesthetic has become a platform where a nude, sexual female body in a S&M situation can offer a spectrum of meanings and even symbols of feminism. It is a visual culture where women can fight back, taking revenge on their oppressor and looking fierce when doing so.

The purpose of this essay is to use a systematic literature review to examine what previous research highlights about honor-related violence and oppression. With a focus on women's vulnerability, but also to study what definition the term “honour” has in previous research, as well how different forms of violence are used in the maintenance of honour. The method that was used to be able to compile previous research is a systematic literature review that drew inspiration from hermeneutics. The essay is based on previous research consisting of 20 scientific articles, which have been systemically analyzed in order to be able to answer the purpose of the study and questions that consist of themes,; Definition of “Honour” – honour as sexual purity, the male versus female honour, ÿeref and namus,; The influence of power structures – factors that work together to maintain honour, roles within the family and the ideal victim, patriarchal values, laws that limit women’s rights, honour within culture, religion and ethnicity,; What forms of violence are used/expressed – violence triggering factors, isolation methods and different forms of violence. The results show that honour related violence and oppression is a difficult to define problem with complex roots and deadly consequences. Where the order of power and gender, female sexuality, sexual purity, and reputation are decisive factors that make the woman a subordinate individual and she is marked by the culture of honour within the patriarchy as the bearer of the honour of the family and the community. A man’s honour is his alone, while a woman’s rests on the whole family. Violence that women are exposed to is of various forms ranging from latent violence, psychological and physical violence, socioeconomic and socially structured violence, as well as various isolations in everyday life. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att med hjälp av systematisk litteraturöversikt undersöka vad tidigare forskning framhåller om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck, med fokus på kvinnors utsatthet, men även studera vilken definition begreppet “heder” har i tidigare forskning, samt hur olika maktstrukturer påverkar kvinnors utsatthet och vilka olika våldsformer används det i upprätthållandet av hedern. Metoden som användes för att kunna sammanställa tidigare forskning är en systematisk litteraturöversikt som hämtat inspiration från hermeneutiken. Uppsatsen utgår från tidigare forskning som består av 20 vetenskapliga artiklar, som systematiskt analyserats för att kunna besvara syftet och frågeställningarna. I resultatet presenteras olika teman som är kopplad till studiens syfte och frågeställningar som består av teman; Definition på “heder” – heder som sexuella renhet, den manliga kontra kvinnliga hedern, ÿeref och namus,; Maktstrukturers påverkan- faktorer som samverkar för upprätthålla heder, roller inom familjen och det ideala offret, patriarkala värderingar, lag som begränsar kvinnans rätt, heder inom kultur, religion och etnicitet.; Vilka våldsformer används/uttrycks – våldsutlösande faktorer, isolerings metoder och olika våldsformer. Resultatet visar att hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck är en svårt definierad problematik med komplexa rötter och dödliga konsekvenser. Där maktordning och könstillhörighet, den kvinnliga sexualiteten, sexuell renhet och rykten är avgörande faktorer som gör kvinnan till en underordnad individ och hon är märkt av hederskulturen inom patriarkatet som bärare av familjens och gemenskapens heder. En mans heder är bara hans, samtidigt vilar kvinnans heder över hela familjen. Våld som kvinnor utsätts för är av olika former allt ifrån latent våld, psykisk- och fysiskt våld, socioekonomisk och socialt strukturerad våld, samt olika isoleringar i vardagslivet.

Ce mémoire étudie la prostitution dans le roman Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure de John Cleland comme moyen réussi d'indépendance financière et de mobilité sociale dans une société patriarcale du XVIIIe siècle. Respectivement, il met en évidence la résistance de l'héroïne à ces structures. Dans le premier chapitre, j'analyse le personnage de Fanny Hill et l'importance des choix qu'elle fait pour transformer son statut financier. Ainsi, je discuterai des maquerelles, les femmes qui supervisent l’affaire du bordel, en tant que figures centrales dans la formation de la personnalité de Fanny en plus de sa relation amoureuse avec Charles, le jeune homme qu'elle rencontre dans le bordel et s'échappe avec lui. Dans le chapitre 2, j'aborde, à travers la figure de Fanny, la notion d'un corps féminin en contrôle, et les manières dont Cleland dépeint l'agence de Fanny à travers son corps ; Fanny présente son agence à travers son corps de plusieurs façons. L'une des principales façons dont elle le fait est de faire des choix concernant ses expériences et ses relations sexuelles. Tout au long du roman, elle a un certain nombre de rencontres sexuelles avec différents hommes, et elle est souvent décrite comme contrôlant ces rencontres.. Dans ce chapitre, je discuterai le pouvoir des femmes à travers le thème de la virginité feinte telle qu'elle est représentée dans le roman et le mariage comme un concept transgressif qui remet en question les normes patriarcales. / Through a reading of John Cleland’s Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748), this thesis explores prostitution as a means of financial independence and social mobility within the patriarchal structures of eighteenth-century Britain. It considers the resistance of the novel’s heroine, Fanny Hill, to these structures. In Chapter 1, I analyze Fanny Hill’s character and the importance of the choices she makes in her attempts to transform her financial status. Thus, I discuss Cleland’s portrayal of the ‘bawds’— the women who oversee the brothel business in which Fanny becomes involved — as central figures in shaping Fanny’s personality, while also considering her developing amorous relationship with Charles, the young man she meets in the brothel and escapes with. In Chapter 2, I address, through the figure of Fanny, the notion of a female body in control, and the ways in which Cleland portrays Fanny as finding agency through her body. She does so by making choices about her sexual experiences and relationships. I demonstrate that, throughout the novel, Fanny has a number of sexual encounters with various men, and that she is often depicted as being in control of theses encounters. In this chapter, I discuss female empowerment through the phenomenon of feigned virginity and through a particular version of marriage that challenges patriarchy.

<p>Ulla Isaksson (1916 – 2000) wrote many novels, often with a woman or several women as protagonists. In <em>Dit du icke vill</em> (“Where Thou Willst Not”) from 1956 she depicts a crisis of faith in a woman, which would not have been successful had she chosen a contemporary setting. She uses an adequate historical framework, the prosecution of witches in Sweden in the 17^th century, well documented in reliable sources. Her novel includes a message about oppression of women, manifest in patriarchal ambition to control ancient wisdom about healing and herbs and the denial of pre-Christian habits that include knowledge about female fertility, earlier exercised by midwives and wise women and men.</p><p>In “The Root of Evil” the novel is placed in a feminist tradition, where the author, like older writers like Fredrika Bremer, Ellen Key and Elin Wägner, pleads for “social mothering”.  A major difference is that, in her own life, Ulla Isaksson has experienced pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding which none of the pioneering Swedish feminist writers had. Emilia Fogelklou, pioneering theologian, wrote about witches as wise women, a study that influenced Ulla Isaksson. The witches are described as mirroring Hanna “the Good Mother”. Their fantasies about life at “Blåkulla” are similar to the everyday life at a wealthy farmstead. This kind of mirroring reminds of the theories of Gilbert and Gubar, who assume that female writers in the 19^th Century hid their revolt against patriarchy in mad women, like “The Madwoman in the Attic” in Jane Eyre. In the 1950s, golden age of the Swedish housewife, a female writer might well hide her anger at the circumscribed role model dedicated to women in a similar use of Anti-Women. The real witches clearly contrast the obedient protagonist, a true “Angel in the house”.</p><p>The villagers´ struggle to clear the ground from the ensnaring roots that hinder the male prosecution of witches imply a symbolic reading: this evil root is ancient matriarchal knowledge of childbearing and birth control. A theory on the original causes for the witch hunts in western Europe is introduced: the population sank in the 15^th century and one reason, beside plagues, starvation and warfare, was that women aware of how to prevent childbearing and giving birth to a lot of children were killed during the witch hunt. Churches and kings introduced the prosecution of witches and wise women, including midwives.</p>

Ulla Isaksson (1916 – 2000) wrote many novels, often with a woman or several women as protagonists. In Dit du icke vill (“Where Thou Willst Not”) from 1956 she depicts a crisis of faith in a woman, which would not have been successful had she chosen a contemporary setting. She uses an adequate historical framework, the prosecution of witches in Sweden in the 17th century, well documented in reliable sources. Her novel includes a message about oppression of women, manifest in patriarchal ambition to control ancient wisdom about healing and herbs and the denial of pre-Christian habits that include knowledge about female fertility, earlier exercised by midwives and wise women and men. In “The Root of Evil” the novel is placed in a feminist tradition, where the author, like older writers like Fredrika Bremer, Ellen Key and Elin Wägner, pleads for “social mothering”.  A major difference is that, in her own life, Ulla Isaksson has experienced pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding which none of the pioneering Swedish feminist writers had. Emilia Fogelklou, pioneering theologian, wrote about witches as wise women, a study that influenced Ulla Isaksson. The witches are described as mirroring Hanna “the Good Mother”. Their fantasies about life at “Blåkulla” are similar to the everyday life at a wealthy farmstead. This kind of mirroring reminds of the theories of Gilbert and Gubar, who assume that female writers in the 19th Century hid their revolt against patriarchy in mad women, like “The Madwoman in the Attic” in Jane Eyre. In the 1950s, golden age of the Swedish housewife, a female writer might well hide her anger at the circumscribed role model dedicated to women in a similar use of Anti-Women. The real witches clearly contrast the obedient protagonist, a true “Angel in the house”. The villagers´ struggle to clear the ground from the ensnaring roots that hinder the male prosecution of witches imply a symbolic reading: this evil root is ancient matriarchal knowledge of childbearing and birth control. A theory on the original causes for the witch hunts in western Europe is introduced: the population sank in the 15th century and one reason, beside plagues, starvation and warfare, was that women aware of how to prevent childbearing and giving birth to a lot of children were killed during the witch hunt. Churches and kings introduced the prosecution of witches and wise women, including midwives.

This paper is an interview study with 12 women between the ages of 17-88 from Bohuslän, Sweden and their thoughts about female virginity and the hymen. Today it has been proven that there exists no hymen that breaks at a woman’s first sexual intercourse. Nonetheless, the study shows that the myth of the hymen is still alive even though it is fading in the younger generations. All the women in the study have at some point in their lives believed there was a hymen but many have via education or media been informed that that’s not the case. Despite education, the hymen was still related to blood, pain, difficulties using feminine care products, or thoughts that something might rupture due to sport activities, like horse riding. Based on the women’s reports, this paper interprets why female virginity has become something that is in need of surveillance and control. As understood from Lévi-Strauss’s theories on the kinship system, the woman becomes a gift unit through the ritual of marriage. The alleged presence of the intact hymen is the valorizing factor in said structure.      The semi-structured interviews were analyzed through a content analysis and interpreted by using the post-modernistic theoretical frameworks, with focus on the ideas of Michel Foucault. Further post-structuralist theories are applied to interpret how language and action create norms and truths. The results indicate that the belief in the existence of the hymen as an anatomical structure took hold in medical science and popular culture in line with the hypothesis that power creates knowledge. The results also show that knowledge is not constant: from being an established truth among the older participants in the study, to the youngest generation expressing that the hymen is something “old”. Simultaneously, all women expressed that the hymen and female virginity are connected to discipline and power asymmetries. The results show that the hymen, in this specific context can be seen as a social construction with the aim of maintaining unity and discipline.

The Sound and the Fury is William Faulkner’s story of the Compson family’s downfall in the American South during the early 20th century. The novel illustrates the impact on the cultural identity of the South of strictly defined social roles and the tension they created in the aftermath of slavery and defeat in the Civil War. In my analysis, I have chosen to focus on gender issues, especially in their Southern manifestation. The Compsons’ daughter, Caddy, figures prominently in the sons’ narratives, but is only portrayed through their perceptions and memories. My aim is to determine Caddy’s significance in the novel by exploring her relationships with her brothers, as seen through their eyes, and how she is characterized by them. In Benjy’s narrative, I examine her actions as a little girl in light of the Eve myth and the icon of the virgin mother. Quentin’s obsession with Caddy's sexuality as a teenager reveals the implications of associating female sexuality with death, the role of language in reproducing and combating established gender power structures, and the impact of traditional gender roles on women and men. Jason’s binary categorization of women as virgins or whores turns the few glimpses of Caddy as a mother into that of a woman treated as a commodity of exchange. In each of their narratives, Caddy is a dynamic character whose words, body, and actions expose prevailing social and gender power struggles. By conjuring her presence through her absence, her brothers reveal the depth and destructiveness of the social imperatives that underlie their attempts to control her. I suggest that Caddy’s role in the novel is to disrupt the brothers’ narratives and challenge the underlying Southern social and gender constructs that imbue them.

[pt] Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar as repercussões do declínio da lógica fálico-edípica sobre a produção psicanalítica a respeito da sexualidade feminina. Para tanto, traça o perfil do lugar do pai na modernidade e a fragilização deste lugar na contemporaneidade. A seguir mostra os reflexos desse estado de coisas na teorização psicanalítica atual sobre a mulher através da apresentação e discussão dos conceitos de objeto a, por um lado, e feminilidade, por outro, representativos de duas teorias psicanalíticas contemporâneas que estudam a questão da mulher. / [en] This dissertation has the purpose of analyzing the consequences of the decline of the phallic logic on the psychoanalytic theory about female sexuality. In order to do so, it discusses the role of the father in modernity and its weakening in contemporary society. Next it shows the effects of this state of affairs on current psychoanalytic ideas about women by introducing and discussing the concepts of object a, on one hand, and femininity, on the other hand which represent two different contemporary psychoanalytic theories that study female sexuality.

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