Building on previous feminist literary criticism of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (1854-55), this essay analyses the portrayal of wives and mothers in the novel from an intersectional feminist perspective. It examines how the narrative shows that gender and economic status or class intersect to create varied representations of Victorian women's marginalisation. The analysis argues that the novel, on the one hand, depicts wives and mothers as united by their status at "the other" in patriarchal Victorian society. On the other hand, the novel juxtaposes economically privileged and poor wives and mothers to show that they are not equally isolated, powerless, or willing to comply with Victorian gender roles. The result is a complex and empathetic portrayal of wives and mothers' privilege and poverty under patriarchy, which challenges the Victorian ideal of wives and mothers as "angels in the house".

A collection of interconnected short stories set in diverse corners of Texas, converging on Galveston Island before and after Hurricane Ike.

An exploration of the idea that tangible change could be made in the world when norms are unsettled rather than reinforced or left untouched. Bloom focuses on creating a space for the individual to re-define the outdated, toxic norms surrounding masculinity to explore ‘what men can be’. This is tied into questioning ‘what food can be’ — now and in the future — in relation to the norm of consuming animal food products in western societies. In collaboration with people who have actively reduced their meat consumption or identify as plant based or vegan, I have aspired to use my practice as a visual communicator to illustrate connections and reveal hidden narratives of these individuals who are already challenging these norms as change agents within society. The outcome is the Bloom Box — an interactive box containing their stories visualised with ‘out of the norm’ plant foods.

This paper argues that in Golding’s Lord of the Flies feminine thinking is rational and masculine thinking is emotional. This essay provides historical background that presents the general patriarchal view of femininity during 20th century England of being seen as the inferior-emotional gender with intellectual limitations. By examining gender roles during the era that the setting of the novel takes place, what the terms feminine and masculine thinking indicate and by applying these terms, this paper categorises Piggy’s, Ralph’s and Jack’s behaviour and way of thinking. Furthermore, this paper argues that feminine thinking and feminine group-oriented logical behaviour are more advantageous, while the masculine individualistic emotionally driven thinking and behaviour cause some key problems. This essay’s goal is not to claim the superiority of one gender over the other but to question some of the masculine actions that Ralph and Jack engage in, by comparing them to the feminine actions that Ralph and Piggy engage in.

This thesis deals with the issue of gender stereotypes in the context of parental upbringing. This paper is based on qualitative research and analysis of eleven semi- structured interviews with parents who bring up at least two children of different sex. I focus on the relation between identified gender stereotypes in upbringing and parenting style. I also focus on gender stereotyped attitudes of fathers and mothers within individual families. On the basis of the interviews analysis I conclude that gender stereotypes in upbringing and overall optics of gender stereotypes are present in all families, regardless of parenting style. I am finding that differences among families with diverse parenting styles are primarily in the degree of awareness of gender stereotyped attitudes and the degree of active transmission of these attitudes to their children.

This diploma thesis is focused on the changes of intimacy between two generations of men and women that were born between 1960 - 1965 and 1985 - 1990. The work pays attention to the second demographic transition and distinct changes in society after the year 1989, and its influence on partnership in the Czech Republic. The main focus is on the transformation of timing of particular life transitions that are postponed to the higher age, changes of life course, kinds of partnership, circumstance of beginning in the new partnership, influence of new technologies and the development of health care (in term of reproduction) to the private life. This work is also about life plans, values and priorities and its influence on partner-biography of individuals. This thesis uses qualitative methodology based on biographic interviews with 16 men and women from aforesaid generations.

The fairy tale of Cinderella is known for its romance, but she seeks independence while being confused by her identity in a new version by Marissa Meyer called Cinder. This essay will present how Meyer’s Cinderella, Cinder, confuses the gender roles by taking on both feminine and masculine ones. This blend makes Cinder not entirely compatible with the norms, and her identity confusion makes it even harder, which results in her losing her conception of self. While she is trying to conform to the gender norms and receive recognition from others (be accepted by society), she denies her heritage and cyborg self to the point of creating a false identity. However, her cybernetics and abuse prevent her from being recognized – she even loses her only source of recognition, which indicates that a norm breaker is not worthy of having it. Nevertheless, Cinder shows signs of what a queer cyborg would do if forced into an identity; as queer, Cinder is not meant to be embodied or forced into an identity and should also have the ability to be free and change her identity as she pleases. Regardless of being queer, the abuse and society’s views prevent her from escaping her identity confusion.

The purpose of this study is to contribute with a sociological understanding of how Swedish news media contribute to “doing” and maintaining gender in society as a result of their choices in the media around high profile people (“celebrities”). Previous research has studied gender and the media from other angles, but mostly focused on the fact that women are subordinate to men, rather than questioning how that is maintained by the media. These inturn strengthen the argument about existing differences between women and men in the Swedish media supply. However, unlike previous studies, this study will focus on how the media’s choice of news and ways to contribute to “doing” gender can be affected by celebrity. This type of issue can generate knowledge about the mutual relationship that exists between society’s view on gender and the reproduction of gender roles as a result of media representations.To answer this, the study will analyze two Swedish cases, around two famous people, CissiWallin and Paolo Roberto. The study was conducted through a qualitative content analysisbased on material from the databases Mediearkivet and Pressreader. In total, the materialconsists of eight articles on each case, spread over the past five years. The analysis showed that news media play a central role in society's views on gender as a result of mediareporting. The journalists behind the media often took a male perspective where Paolo Roberto and other men in the articles appeared positive, while Cissi Wallin and other female actors who appeared were attributed a disparaged role. Judging from the analysis, there are differences in the journalists' presentation between women and men in the Swedish newsmedia that contribute to strengthening gender normative roles and maintaining gender insociety. This study argues that this can be explained by theories about power and gender. One of the most central results is that the journalists behind the media add to the normalization of female subordination by their choices of media reports. For example by exploiting the readers' interest in celebrities, which thus results in the media reaching a larger audience that absorbs the content and reproduces the current gender power structure. / Syftet med denna studie är att förmedla en fördjupad sociologisk förståelse rörande hur nyhetsmedia bidrar till “att göra” kön och upprätthålla genus i samhället till följd av sina val i media rörande högprofilerade personer (“kändisar”). Tidigare forskning har studerat genus och media från andra infallsvinklar, men har mestadels fokuserat på det faktum att kvinnor är underordnade männen, snarare än hur media är en bidragande faktor till att upprätthålla denna typ av könsmaktsordning. Dessa stärker i sin tur argumentet om existerande skillnader mellan kvinnor respektive män inom det svenska medieutbudet. Men, till skillnad från tidigare studier kommer denna undersökning att fokusera på hur medias val av nyheter och sätt att bidra till att ”göra kön” kan påverkas av att det handlar om ’högprofilerade personer’ (såkallade ”kändisar”). Denna typ av frågeställning kan generera kunskap om den ömsesidiga relation som existerar mellan samhällets synsätt på genus och reproducerandet av könsroller till följd av medierepresentationerna.För att besvara detta kommer den föreliggande undersökningen att analysera medialaställningstaganden vid rapporteringen om Cissi Wallin och Paolo Roberto. Undersökningen har genomförts genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys baserad på material från databaserna Mediearkivet och Pressreader. Sammantaget består materialet av åtta artiklar som behandlar vardera fall, fördelade över de senaste fem åren. I analysen framkom att nyhetsmedia spelar en central roll vad gäller samhällets synsätt på genus till följd av medierapporteringen. Journalisterna bakom medierapporteringen intog ofta ett manligt perspektiv där Paolo Roberto och andra män i artiklarna framstod positivt, medan Cissi Wallin och andra kvinnliga aktörer som förekom tillskrevs en nedvärderande roll. Från analysen att döma förekommer skillnader i hur journalisternas väljer att framställa högprofilerade kvinnor respektive mäninom svensk nyhetsmedia, vilket bidrar till att stärka könsnormativa föreställningar och upprätthålla genus i samhället. Denna studie argumenterar för att detta kan förklaras genom teorier om makt och kön. Ett av de mest centrala resultaten är att journalisterna genom sina val av nyheter i media spär på normaliseringen av kvinnlig underordning. Exempelvis genom att utnyttja läsarnas intresse för kändisar, vilket således resulterar i att medierna når ut till en större publik som tar till sig innehållet och reproducerar den rådande könsmaktsordningen.

Syftet med denna studie var att få en ökad kunskap och förståelse om gymnasieelevers upplevelser och syn av psykisk ohälsa samt huruvida könsnormer påverkar deras förutsättningar att söka hjälp. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod använts i form av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med gymnasieelever i Sverige. Intervjupersonernas svar har presenterats, tolkats och analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning samt studiens valda teoretiska utgångspunkter, vilka är genusperspektivet och det salutogena perspektivet. Resultatet i studien har påvisat att intervjupersonerna upplevde psykisk ohälsa som något negativt, vilket kan leda till negativa konsekvenser. Bidragande faktorer till psykisk ohälsa förknippade intervjupersonerna exempelvis med dålig mentalitet, försämrat mående och skolstress. Resultatet har även visat att intervjupersonerna upplevde att könsroller och normer påverkar deras sätt att tala och hantera psykisk ohälsa. / The purpose of this study was to gain increased knowledge and understanding of upper secondary school students' experiences and views on mental illness and whether gender norms affect their ability to seek help. To achieve the purpose of the study, a qualitative research method has been used and six semi-structured interviews with upper secondary school students in Sweden were held. The interviews have been presented, interpreted, and analyzed in relation to previous research and with the help of gender theory and the salutogenic theory. The results of the study have shown that the interviewees viewed mental illness as something negative, which can lead to negative consequences. Contributing factors to mental illness were associated with, for example poor mentality, impaired well-being, and school stress. The interviewees felt that gender roles and norms affect their way of dealing with mental illness. The results have also shown that interviewees experienced that gender roles and norms affect their way of speaking and dealing with mental illness.

This thesis researches the construction of gender ideals for the new Middle Class and women’s involvement in the same by analysing fashion magazines published in Germany and Sweden between 1786 to 1827 and 1818 to 1844, respectively. The analysis consists of two parts: first, the share of women’s involvement in the public sphere as defined by Habermas as well as the justification of the inclusion of female-written texts and second, the nature of gender ideals in relation to the separate spheres’ framework. They show that the highest percentage of female contributions to fashion magazines was 5.3 % for the Swedish magazine from 1840 to 1844, while the lowest percentage of female contributions was 2.1 % for the German magazine from 1820 to 1827. Furthermore, the inclusion of texts written by women was often justified through their domestic virtue or the statement that they never wanted their texts to be published. The publication was thus against their will, which firmly anchors the female authors in the private sphere. In the second part, this study shows that women authors in the fashion magazines mainly advocated for the separation of the public and private but, in comparison to gender ideals shared by male authors, did not advocate for the submission of women. Regarding the stereotypes of emotionality and rationality, I find that women were mostly portrayed as emotional by men but would contest these negative portrayals of their sex. At the same time, men were portrayed as emotional and rational by both female and male authors, which is surprising considering the prominent male ideal of rationality.