Den här studien handlar om olika diskurser kring genitala ingrepp på personer som upplever att de har en annan könsidentitet än den juridiska könstillhörigheten, och vill genomföra en juridisk könsändring. Syftet med uppsatsen var att genom analyser av dessa diskurser försöka förstå hur genitalierna är kopplade till den sociala konstruktionen av kön och genus. Intervjuer har gjorts med personer som finns med i utrednings- och beslutsprocess eller har verkställighetsfunktion som berör de genitala ingreppen. Det har inneburit psykiatriker, kirurger och jurister. Intervjuer har även gjorts med föreningsrepresentanter för transsexuella, före detta transsexuella och transpersoner. Flertalet inom professionen uttrycker att genitalierna har en avgörande betydelse för bestämmande av kön och genus. Även om de har en uppfattning om att könet ”sitter i huvudet” måste detta överensstämma med känslan för genitalierna. Det finns en skillnad i resonemanget för KtM (Kvinna-till-man-transsexuella) och MtK (Man-till-Kvinna-transsexuella). Penis ses som den mest avgörande könsmarkören och flertalet av de intervjuade inom professionen hade svårt att förstå att en person som vill behålla sin penis kan ha en könsidentitet som kvinna. Vaginan uttrycktes inte ha samma status som könsmarkör men livmoder och äggstockar och dess reproduktiva funktion uttrycktes nästan ha samma betydelse som könsmarkör som penis. De inom professionen hade därmed svårt att förstå hur en gravid person skulle kunna ha en könsidentitet som man.De som representerade transsexuella, före detta transsexuella och transpersoner uttryckte olika syn på kön och definition av kön. Det gavs både uttryck för att hela kroppen inklusive genitalierna skulle ha stor betydelse för kön men det gavs även uttryck för att kroppen och genitalierna inte i sig skulle ha betydelse för kön utan att ”könet i huvudet” var det viktigaste för bestämmande av kön. / The aim of this thesis was to, through the analyses of different discourses surrounding sex reassignment try to understand how the genitals are linked to the social construction of sex and gender. I have interviewed psychiatrists, surgeons and people dealing with the laws surrounding sex reassignment surgery. I also interviewed people from organizations who represent transgender persons, transsexuals and former transsexuals. Most of the professionals indicate in the interviews that the genitals have an essential meaning in the decision-making regarding sex and gender. Even if they have an idea that the gender is “in the head”, it has to match the feelings for the genitals. There is a difference between the reasoning for FtM (Female-to-male-transsexual) and MtF (Male-to-female-transsexual). The penis is seen as the most essential sex marker and most of the professionals that were interviewed had difficulties in understanding how a person who wanted to keep the penis could have a gender identity as a woman. The vagina did not have the same status as a sex marker but instead the reproductive function from the ovaries and the uterus had almost the same status as a sex marker as the penis. For this reason the professionals that where interviewed had difficulties in understanding that a pregnant person could have a gender identity as a man. People from organizations who represented transgender persons, transsexuals and former transsexuals had some differing views. One considered that the whole body including the genitals was important for the feeling about ones gender while the other person expressed that the gender “in the head” was more vital for the decision and feelings of sex and gender.

Same-sex marriage has been heavily debated in academics and in the public sphere. During the 2004 Presidential election same-sex marriage became an issue that polarized the candidates. It has become a lightning rod for public debate. Due to the increasing attention to the controversy of legalizing same-sex marriage, it is an important topic for research. This paper seeks to contribute to the research of same-sex marriage by providing insight into claims-making efforts to define same-sex marriage as a social problem. My findings shed light on this topic from a social constructionist perspective by examining the use of rhetorical idioms of the claims made by opposing parties in the debate over same-sex marriage as it relates to the court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.

A moral panic erupted during the 1980s among the American public when stories about crack cocaine saturated the media. In this thesis I analyze how discursive productions of deviancy operated in the CBS news documentary: 48 Hours on Crack Street (1986) and other print news sources at that time. Three salient characters that appear in news media discourse during the panic are "crack mothers," "crack babies," and "Black male dope dealers." The news media frightened the public with such representations (among others) and the public urged politicians to get tough on drug crime to control the so-called crack cocaine plague. Politicians responded with omnibus drug reforms that established mandatory minimum sentences and the controversial 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. The enforcement of the draconian drug laws that were passed in response to the crack cocaine panic continues to be a contributing factor to America's current prison crisis. Moreover, the laws are enforced in ways that disproportionately punish the poor and African-Americans. I conclude that the criminal disenfranchisement of millions of people since the 1980s relates to the media's representation of the crack cocaine "epidemic" and the legislation that was passed to control illicit drugs such as crack cocaine.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.