The present thesis explores how masculinity is constructed and negotiated in relation to race, class and sexuality in hip hop in Sweden. Theoretically, the study contributes to the increasing use of contemporary feminist theory in men and masculinity research. In so doing, it brings into dialogue poststructuralist feminism, feminist phenomenology, intersectionality and queer theory. These theoretical perspectives are put to use in a discourse analysis of rap lyrics by 38 rap artists in Sweden from the period 1991-2011. The thesis is based on the following four articles: Sticky masculinity: Post-structuralism, phenomenology and subjectivity in critical studies on men explores how poststructuralist feminism and feminist phenomenology can advance the understanding of subjectivity within men and masculinity research. Drawing on Sara Ahmed, and offering re-readings of John Stoltenberg and Victor Seidler, the article develops the notion of “sticky masculinity”. Degrees of intersectionality: Male rap artists in Sweden negotiating class, race and gender analyzes how class, race, gender, and to some extent sexuality, intersect in rap lyrics by male artists. It shows how critiques of class and race inequalities in these lyrics intersect with normative notions of gender and sexuality. Drawing on this empirical analysis, the article suggests that the notion of “degrees of intersectionality” can be helpful in thinking about masculinity from an intersectional perspective. ‘No homo’: Straight inoculations and the queering of masculinity in Swedish hip hop explores the boundary work performed by male artists regarding sexuality categories. In particular, it analyzes how heterosexuality is sustained, given the affection expressed among male peers. To this end, the article develops the notion of “straight inoculations” to account for the rhetorical means by which heterosexual identities are sustained in a contested terrain. Hip hop feminism in Sweden: Intersectionality, feminist critique and female masculinity investigates lyrics by female artists in the male-dominated hip hop genre. The analysis shows how critique of gender inequality is a central theme in these lyrics, ranging from the hip hop scene to politics and men’s violence against women. The article also analyzes how female rappers both critique and perform masculinity.

This study explores experiences of public sexual harassment among young women in the UKin light of a renewed focus on violence against women after Sarah Everard was raped andmurdered while walking home during lockdown. Thirteen young women were interviewed while this case dominated British media and public debate. The paper’s focuses is on how this cohort problematise street based harassment - how they encounter, negotiate and contextualise it at this time. The study uses qualitative methods of feminist phenomenology and narrative analysis. Participants describe everyday street harassments as a serious problem that regularly impactson their daily life and freedoms, while being sidelined and trivialised by wider society. They reject that it is a minor problem or a compliment, and push back about the onus being on them to problem solve and do safety work to avoid men’s violence and intrusions in public.They challenge the idea this is not worth talking about by telling their stories, particularly online. Collective storytelling is a form of agency and activism that empowers women to reframe social issues according to their own lived realities and terms. Two principle narratives emerge from the storytelling: resistance to mainstream ‘givens’, and positioning street harassment as a form of gender based violence that targets women as an entity. Participants situate VAW as men’s issue - men need to engage and address this social problem.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present research investigated the relationship between Catholic doctrine and the historic "feminization" of Pastoral da Criança's volunteer work. In order to do so, an intersectional methodological bias was adopted in the specific case of this study, where religion and gender were considered as social markers structuring human relations. Throughout the study, a dialogue of Religion’s science was maintained with the feminist phenomenology proposed by the nun, theologian and philosopher Ivone Gebara. The phenomenological method contributes to the studies of religions insofar as it proposes the re-signification of positivist scientific concepts and an overcoming of binarisms and patriarchal hierarchies. Epistemological everydayness is the foundation of this method and the starting point of this research. To access the lived experiences, we adopted the semi structured interview technique with a single respondent. Prior to the selection of the women to be interviewed, we accessed the Information System of Pastoral da Criança. The intention was to verify the quantitative of counties with parishes belonging to the Archdiocese of Aracaju / SE, with active volunteer work. For the present study, each county was represented by a woman leader. Therefore, methodological pre-occupation was centered on undestanding the relationships established by these leaderships with the pastoral action and with the Christian principles of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. A careful reading of the narratives was developed for the possible interpretation of the phenomena studied. The testimonies have revealed that, even being "trapped" in a system of patriarchal domination, "confined" to traditional places, experienced guilty feelings, and steeped in the Christian virtue of obedience, voluntary leaders assume functions that guarantee them the construction of a leading figure in the public environment. In addition, they access knowledge and human relationships that modify their lives, their bodies, their senses, their beliefs. The interpretations developed, throughout this writing, deal only with some perspectives in a plurality of possibilities. / A pesquisa investigou as relações entre a doutrina católica e a histórica “feminização” do voluntariado da Pastoral da Criança. Para tanto, foi adotado um viés metodológico interseccional, que considera, no caso específico dessa busca, a religião e o gênero, como marcadores sociais estruturantes das relações humanas. Ao longo do estudo, manteve-se um diálogo das Ciências da Religião com a fenomenologia feminista proposta pela freira, teóloga e filósofa Ivone Gebara. O método fenomenológico contribui com os estudos das religiões na medida em que propõe a ressignificação de conceitos científicos positivistas e uma superação de binarismos e hierarquias patriarcais. A cotidianidade epistemológica é o fundamento deste método e ponto de partida dessa pesquisa. Para ter acesso às experiências vividas, adotamos a técnica de entrevista, do tipo semiestruturada, com uma única respondente. Antes da seleção das mulheres a serem entrevistadas, acessamos o Sistema de Informação da Pastoral da Criança. A intenção foi verificar o quantitativo de municípios, com paróquias pertencentes à Arquidiocese de Aracaju/SE, com o trabalho voluntário ativo. Cada município, em questão, foi representado, na pesquisa, por uma mulher líder. Por conseguinte, a pré-ocupação metodológica esteve centrada na captação das relações estabelecidas, por essas lideranças, com a ação pastoral e com os princípios cristãos da doutrina social da igreja católica. Uma leitura cuidadosa das narrativas foi desenvolvida para o tracejo de interpretações possíveis acerca do fenômeno estudado. Os testemunhos ouvidos revelaram que, mesmo estando “presas” a um sistema de dominação patriarcal, “confinadas” a lugares tradicionais, experimentado sentimentos de culpabilidade e embebidas da virtude cristã da obediência, as líderes voluntárias assumem, por outro lado, funções que lhes garantem a construção de uma figura protagonista, no ambiente público. Além disso, elas acessam conhecimentos e relações humanas que modificam suas vidas, seus corpos, seus sentidos, suas crenças. As interpretações desenvolvidas, ao longo desse escrito, tratam-se apenas de algumas perspectivas ante uma pluralidade de possibilidades. / São Cristóvão, SE

This thesis offers an analysis of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body in the light of feminist philosophy. It reconstructs this philosopher’s account of corporeity, before showing its main weaknesses: that of obscuring the gendered dimension of the body, in particular in its sexual aspect. Thus, I point out the blind spots of a phenomenology of the body widely criticized for its phallocentrism. However, by focusing largely on the Phenomenology of perception, feminist phenomenology obscures an ontology of the flesh which is nevertheless rich for thinking the body in its gendered and sexual dimensions. By then focusing on a critical and feminist reformulation of a phenomenology of the erotic, this dissertation offers to analyze the later reformulations of the concept of corporeality in that of flesh in order to respond to certain issues localized in the Phenomenology of Perception, notably that of the very possibility of a thought of sexual difference. Finally, I apply the revised concepts of body and intentionality in a contemporary debate in feminist philosophy of sexuality: I propose a redefinition of the concept of sexual consent from a phenomenological perspective drawing from Merleau-Ponty, in order to show the emancipatory potential of thinking sexuality and the erotic in phenomenological, critical, and feminist terms. / Ce mémoire propose une analyse de la phénoménologie du corps de Maurice Merleau-Ponty à l’aune de la philosophie féministe. Il reconstitue la pensée de ce philosophe sur le concept de corporéité, avant de montrer ses faiblesses notoires : celles d’occulter la dimension genrée des corps, en particulier dans la sexualité. Ainsi, ce mémoire relève les angles morts d’une phénoménologie du corps largement critiquée pour son phallocentrisme. Or, en se concentrant sur la Phénoménologie de la perception, la phénoménologie féministe oublie l'ontologie de la chair pourtant riche pour penser le corps dans sa dimension genrée et sexuelle. En s’intéressant à une reformulation critique et féministe d’une phénoménologie de l’érotique, ce mémoire propose en somme d’analyser les reformulations tardives du concept de corporéité dans celui de chair pour répondre à certains problèmes inhérents à la Phénoménologie de la perception, notamment celui de la possibilité même d’une pensée de la différence sexuelle. Finalement, ces concepts de corps et d’intentionnalité sont appliqués à un débat actuel en philosophie féministe et en philosophie de la sexualité sur les limites du concept de consentement sexuel. Dans une perspective phénoménologique de tradition merleau-pontienne, ce mémoire a pour but de montrer le potentiel émancipateur issu d'une pensée de la sexualité et de l’érotique en des termes critiques et féministes.