The current paper is a study of the character Christian Grey in the EL James trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey. The main aim is to find out how masculinity, sexuality and gender are constructed in this erotic fantasy. More over terms as femininity, unmanliness and gender have relevance to the study. Several studies have been done on romance novels and Harlequin in particular from a gender perspective, but few of them from a masculine point of view. Hence, no earlier study has been done on Fifty Shades of Grey with masculinity studies as the main tool of masculinity, or with theories of romance. The novels have been read and analysed with studies of the romance literature and masculinity as the main tool of analysis. The result shows that the character Christian Grey is ambivalent towards femininity and has a fear of losing control. And from this point of view the novels problematize patriarchy, male control and superiority.

This qualitative study aims to study how sexuality is constructed in web articles on the movie Fifty Shades of Grey. The study is based on a social constructivist perspective where language is seen as constitutive of reality. The study is based on a Foucauldian discourse analysis which is used in order to see what is excluded and included in the articles’ construction of normal sexuality. The result shows that there are similarities in how the web articles produce normal sexuality. Firstly, sexuality is constructed as partner violence, where men are depicted as superior to women and heterosexual sexuality depicted as normal, resulting in homosexual sexuality being constructed as abnormal. Secondly, sexual subject positions are used to enhance sexuality and to construct the woman as subordinate. Thirdly, media tends to produce an inaccurate picture of BDSM practitioners, resulting in a depiction of these practioners as being abnormal. The conclusion of the study emphasizes the importance of examining how sexuality is produced by media, since sexual norms constructed in media discourses affect us humans and the prevailing norms existing in society.

The aim with this bachelor thesis was to gain a greater understanding for the power media holds in today’s society. To approach this we used a quantitative content analysis, were we analyzed 102 articles from Swedish printing press. This was made to be able to say something about how the media har created a hype around Fifty Shades as a phenomenon, and also to illustrate how Fifty Shades depiction of BDSM has been framed in the news coverage. We used the framing theory and the theory of media hype to reach the resulte that showed that media has created a hype around Fifty Shades. This indicate that the framing of the phenomenon has changed.

This study has examined reader reviews that focuses on the novel Fifty shades of Grey. Through discourse analysis and the theories of Magnus Persson and Judith Butler the study has answered the question about why the readers read romance and erotica from their own point of view. The study aims to add tot he librarians ”critical look” based in gender theory and criticaltheory about literary taste when it comes to making selection choices. This study shows that the readers mainly verifies Butler`s heterosexual matrix by appealing to a heteronormative discourse and Perssons explanations as to why women read romance, i.e in a way more focused on feelings opposed to the more male and academically coded intellectual perspective, although there are some exceptions, for example interpretations that allows for a more disruptive gender reading. There are also examples of readers who have a more distanced and intellectual reading.

Denna undersökning handlar om representationen av BDSM i den samtida populärlitteraturen och gör detta med hjälp av en diskursanalys. Undersökningen använder Fifty Shades, Normal People och i några fall, artiklar ur den svenska dagspressen för att göra detta. Frågorna som är vägledande för uppsatsen berör samtycke, patologisering och kön. Syftet med undersökningen är att avkoda vilka föreställningar som litteraturen å ena sidan konstituerar och å andra sidan bryter emot. Undersökningen görs kvalitativt, och utgår ifrån främst Normal People men även Fifty Shades-trilogin. Att studera hur BDSM representeras i litteraturen är intressant eftersom socialstyrelsen i Sverige ansåg Sadomasochsim vara en sjukdom fram tills 2009. Friskförklarandet till trots så går det att tala om en kulturell eftersläpning, vilket bibehåller föreställningar om BDSM som en sjukdom. Undersökningen berör patologiseringen, men även frågor om kön. Från radikalfeministiskt håll så har BDSM ansetts vara ett ultimat tecken på ett förtryckande och patriarkalt samhälle. Undersökningen vill såväl undersöka som spräcka några av de myter kring BDSM, med fokus på litteraturen.

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The Fifty Shades-trilogy by E. L. James has become a cultural phenomenon, and is widely debated as such. The main issue of the debate is often concerning the story’s relation to women’s position in society. Common standpoints are that it is either contributing to women’s sexual liberation or that it perpetuates violence against women. The story is also considered to be of poor literary quality. In my thesis, I seek for approaches to understand the story beyond polarisation. I am performing a reparative reading of the first novel of the trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey, through Michel Foucault’s notions of knowledge, power and pleasure. The purpose is to examine how these work in relation to each other, and how they relate to the presentation of sexuality and subjectivity in the novel. Furthermore, I engage in dialogue with previous research on Fifty Shades in the feminist field. In my analysis, I illustrate how knowledge, power and pleasure are synergetic and under constant negotiation. They are woven together and move between characters, laying the foundation for the subjects and their sexualities. I demonstrate how the power relations operate in multiple directions between Christian, Ana and Ana’s friend Kate, which is something that Ana shows awareness of. Further, I find that a conflict between mind and body occurs. Ana assumes the position of the knowing subject, through which she approaches corporality, and thereby gains new independence. Finally, I reflect on corporality’s intrusion of language in relation to the (de)valuation of the literary quality of the novel. As a question to bring to future studies, I ask whether the reading of Fifty Shades of Grey might be understood as consumption of body rather than consumption of literature, sexism or heteronormativity. / Fifty Shades-trilogin av E. L. James har blivit ett populärkulturellt fenomen som omdebatterats kraftigt. Temat för diskussionerna gäller ofta berättelsens förhållande till kvinnors sociala position i samhället. Vanliga åsikter är att den antingen bidrar till kvinnors sexuella frigörelse eller att den normaliserar våld mot kvinnor. Berättelsen anses även vara litterärt undermålig. I denna uppsats söker jag efter sätt att förstå berättelsen utanför polariseringen.  Jag genomför en reparativ läsning av trilogins första del, Fifty Shades of Grey, genom Michel Foucaults begrepp vetande, makt och njutning. Syftet är att undersöka hur begreppen fungerar i relation till varandra samt hur de förhåller sig till framställningen av sexualitet och subjektivitet i romanen. Jag går även i dialog med tidigare forskning om Fifty Shades i det feministiska fältet.  I min analys belyser jag hur vetande, makt och njutning samverkar med varandra och är under ständig förhandling. De rör sig mellan karaktärerna och vävs ihop till ett nät som lägger grunden för subjekten och sexualiteterna. Jag visar hur maktrelationerna är verksamma åt flera håll mellan Christian, Ana och Anas vän Kate, vilket Ana genom berättelsen också är medveten om. Jag finner även att det uppstår en konflikt mellan sinne och kropp. Ana intar rollen som ett det vetande subjektet. Genom denna roll närmar hon sig kroppsligheten, i vilken hon finner ny självständighet. Avslutningsvis reflekterar jag över kroppslighetens inträngande i språket, i relation till (ned)värderandet av romanens litterära kvalitét. Inför framtida studier ställer jag frågan om läsandet av Fifty Shades of Grey skulle kunna förstås som konsumtion av kropp snarare än som konsumtion av litteratur, sexism eller heteronorm.

This thesis compares eroticism in the post-revolutionary work of the Czech prose writer Vladimír Páral with the bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey by the British writer E. L. James. From Páral's work, the works of Dekameron 2000 or Love in Prague, Playgirls, Book of pleasure, laughter and joy, and the Book about the whip are discussed. Also included is The Professional: Vladimír Páral about himself and other interesting things, which came out in the 1990s, but it is an autobiography. Therefore, this book will be included in the chapter on autobiographical connotations. The thesis is divided into three main parts. The first one is mainly terminological, it explains the terms sex, eroticsm, pornography, erotic and pornographic literature and love. The second part deals with the authors themselves and their body of work. It is organised into sub-chapters in which specific pieces are analysed. In the case of Páral, the parallel between the Book of pleasure, laughter and joy and Kundera's Book of laughter and forgetting is also taken into account. In the case of Fifty Shades of Grey, some similarities with the erotism in Milan Kundera's work are found. In the summary, the texts are compared in terms of the role of eroticism, sex tools, plot characters as well as author's intention and style. The subjective...

The aim of this thesis was to analyse the reception of the Fifty Shades book trilogy and a film adaptation of its first part from the perspective of a female audience - both women who like the books and/or the film and women who do not like them. The thesis sought to describe the fundamental ways of the reception of the Fifty Shades phenomenon and to connect them to media and public discourse about the trilogy. The research questions were particularly focused on women's motivations to reading the books and/or watching the film, their approach to and evaluation of the trilogy. A part of the thesis was also a comparison of the two groups of female readers and viewers regarding the questions mentioned above and a connection of those questions with media and public discourse about Fifty Shades. During the conducted research 13 individual semistructured interviews with female readers and viewers of Fifty Shades have been done. The gained data were analysed by using the grounded theory method (particularly in vivo coding and axial coding). The outcome of the analysis is a description of two different ways of reception and interpretation of Fifty Shades which show persisting ambiguity of romantic fictions for women. The analysis also revealed an impact of media and public discourse about the trilogy on...

The aim of this sociological study is to understand whiteness in relation to available selections of makeup products. The research was made in a small town in Sweden. Data has been gathered from local stores and their selection of makeup with availability of makeup that resembles and matches ones own skin color. The theory includes earlier studies that are considered relevant for the study and also historical background. This is used to explain how whiteness is produced and reproduced and the notion of Swedes as white and discoures therein. The result show that 99 percent of makeup available is for white skin not for dark skin. The reproduction of whiteness directly dictates the available selection of makeup. This confirms the aim of the study that dark skin is excluded and that whiteness in relation to available makeup. / Uppsatsen undersöker hur utbud av foundation i en svensk småstad kan förstås i relation till normer om vithet. Utbudet hos samtliga butiker i staden har räknats. För att förtydliga vilka hudfärger som analyseras i uppsatsen används som analysverktyg en ”karta” över hudfärger, avsedd för konsumenter att finna sin rätta foundation utifrån vilken hudfärg som mest liknar sin egen. Teoridelen innehåller tidigare studier som anses vara relevanta analysverktyg för att kunna besvara syftet. Inläsning av studier om vithetsnorm samt inläsning av historia har ansetts relevant för att förstå de strukturer och relationer som har inverkan på normer om vithet. Teoridelen sammanfattar och presenterar därför relevant historia, om hur föreställningen om svensken som vit skapats och presenterar olika diskurser som skapar och reproducerar vithet. Resultatet visar att en procent av utbudet riktas till mörkhyade medan 99 procent är för ljus hy. Cirkeldiagram och tabeller över utbudet av foundation skapades för att tydliggöra redovisning av resultatet. Socialt skapade strukturer om svensken som vit syns tydligt i resultatet. Resultatet förstås i relation till de strukturer som skapas socialt för att producera och reproducera vithetsnormen. Genom ett nästan uteslutande av mörkhyade tolkas resultatet som en föreställning om svensken som vit och att det är en rådande vithetsnorm som påverkar utbudet. Den historiska kontexten påverkar därmed parallellt med de rådande diskurser som avgör vad vitheten gör. Studien anser därmed ha besvarat sina frågeställningar om hur utbudet av foundation kan förstås i relation till vithetsnorm.