The purpose of this qualitative, purposeful, bounded case study was to explore the influences that promoted and restricted three women early childhood educators' inclusion of open-ended outdoor learning in a Head Start center. A continued degradation of nature, along with the predominance of women working in the early childhood workforce, led me to the use of the ecofeminist theory for this study. Research methodology included participant interviews, observations, and a study of the site's documents. In the analysis of the data, four themes were identified as promoting or restricting open-ended outdoor learning. These themes included: (a) participant's attitudes, (b) Head Start program requirements, (c) classroom and playground context, and (d) student behavior. Each of the themes included codes that were categorized as promoting or restricting open-ended outdoor learning. Some fell into both categories. Through the use of the ecofeminist lens, a view of the dualistic relationships between (a) teachers and the Head Start program and (b) teachers and their students were identified. These dualisms were found to support the "logic of domination" in which social structures were created to justify the domination of one group over another. These structures have historically been identified as patriarchal and were present at the research site. Children's culture and nature's intrinsic values were considered less valuable than adults' expectations for school readiness. This study provides a view of an ecofeminist early childhood analysis in which limited research is currently available. Further work in this field would aid in the understanding of the dualistic model and its presence in early childhood outdoor learning environments.

Through the lens of hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary game development industry, this paper will present the current state of the LGBTQ+ representation in major Japanese fighting games that were released from 2010 to 2021. By performing a quantitative data analysis of the characters from the games, where each character is coded for their gender and sexuality, the frequency of representation can be determined over the period of time and across games which can indicate the state of LGBTQ+ representation in these games.  Not much research has been conducted in the field of gender studies and representation when specifically focusing on fighting games. It is also a genre that has the reputation of not having good representation and inclusion in the games, but also within the community. It is a genre where the characters are front and center and play a primary part in the appeal of the game, so having good representation should be a requirement. Many players will want to be able to identify and connect with the characters they play but for many this is not a possibility due to the lack of diversity. The results show that there may be a slight increase in the representation over time, but the numbers are still surprisingly low. This shows us the importance of needing to bring more attention to this topic as it is a critical issue that is present within this game genre but also within the gaming industry as a whole.

This dissertation traces the circulation and consumption of Japanese anime, or Anime, in Kuwait to examine the changing consciousness of normativity regarding gender and sexuality for audiences and fans. Anime has been distributed and accessible since the 1970s in Kuwait. Nonetheless, with the advent of "New Anime" after the 2000s, the audience has widely accepted characters and protagonists that deviate from the existing representational practices portraying active men and passive women. Drawing from gender and sexualities studies, media and anime studies, Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony as well as Raewyn Connell's theory on masculinities, this study critically investigates "hegemonic masculinities" in Kuwaiti society to argue the ways in which the reception and practices of Anime help to erode them. / 博士(アメリカ研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

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The term incel refers mostly to white heterosexual men who live in involuntary celibate.Sweden is estimated to have one of the most frequent number of incels per capita in the world which has led the Swedish government to raise the anti-terror preparedness, as incels are considered a security risk. The aim of this study is to, with help of gender and exclusion theories, develop a deeper understanding of what this type of exclusion may result in and how new types of groups are created out of societal exclusion. To answer this, a discourse analysis of two threads on the Swedish forum Flashback was made and the chosen threads were designed so incels themselves could discuss their opinions and experiences. Previous research shows that societal exclusion results in health problems, hatred and distancing from women, which motivates the need for this study. The results showed that incels maintain bad boys as the hegemonic masculinity through legitimizing it themselves and that incels can be seen as a separate type of masculinity. Incel, as masculinity, is based and dependent on men experiencing exclusion from society and the sexual market. In order to be included in the community and be allowed to call oneself an incel, the individual must be recognized by an already legitimate incel. If the individual does not meet the criteria for being an incel, he is quickly rejected and discredited by the incel community. / Begreppet incel syftar till största del på vita heterosexuella män som lever i ofrivilligt celibat. Sverige uppskattas vara ett utav det inceltätaste länderna i världen, och den svenska staten har höjt den nationella anti terrorberedskapen då incels anses vara en säkerhetsrisk. Studiens syfte är att med hjälp av genus- och exkluderingsteorier skapa en djupare förståelse för vad denna typ av utanförskap kan leda till och hur nya grupper skapas ur samhällelig exkludering. För att besvara detta utfördes en diskursanalys över två trådar i det svenska forumet Flashback där de utvalda trådarna var formade efter att incels själva kunde diskutera sina upplevelser och åsikter. Tidigare forskning har påvisat hur detta utanförskap leder till hälsoproblem, hat och distansering från kvinnor vilket motiverar till varför studien har genomförts. Resultatet visade att incels upprätthåller den hegemoniska maskuliniteten genom att själva legitimera den samt att incels kan ses som en egen typ av maskulinitet. Incel som maskulinitet bygger på och är beroende av att männen upplever en exkludering från samhället och den sexuella marknaden. För att få vara med i gemenskapen och få kalla sig som incel måste individen bli erkänd av en redan legitimerad incel, om individen inte når upp till kriterierna för att vara incel blir den snabbt avvisad och misskrediterad av incels som gemenskap.

Hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon has gradually taken on a position as one of the post popular music genres in recent history. A form of music that still strongly relies on its roots as an artform for black males. Which has generated an excluding culture that enhances the dominating norm of masculinity. In regard to Sweden’s case of being an egalitarian country and even so having a hip-hop scene that reflects a different type of discourse in accordance with the dominating masculine norm. This generates an interest in how Swedish hip-hop artists (both female and male) construct gender from 2001 to 2021 which this thesis seeks to contribute to understand. Through critical discourse analysis which aims to facilitate the understanding of song lyrics through a three-step analysis of text, discursive practice, and social practice. Through six albums from 2001, 2011 and 2021 the interpretation and analysis came to an understanding that norms and structural circumstances seeks to exclude women and enhance a continued masculine music industry. With variations in the order of discourse with an underlying will of empowerment and autonomy.

The purpose of this study is to examine how female soldiers view their role as soldiers and what they perceive as good soldier qualities to see if it differentiates from the traditional view of what a soldier perceived as. The study will also deal with the female soldier’s perception of equality within the Swedish military. To gather empirical material the study has uses a qualitative method consisting of five semi structured interviews with the female soldiers. All respondents work in the same group as medic soldiers and are at the start of their soldier career. The theories that have been used to analyse the material gathered from the respondents are of hegemonic masculinity and critical vs gender neutral approach. Within hegemonic masculinity different archetypes exist in a hierarchy, for this study the archetypes have been stripped down to the warrior hero to fit the framework of the military organisation. The warrior hero will be used to analyse the respondents view of themselves as soldiers and the qualities that should be expected of a soldier. Critical vs gender neutral theory will be used to examen the responder’s relation to the organisation.The result for the study is that the view of the female soldiers differed in some aspects from the traditional view of the warrior hero. The respondents also had a joint view of the Swedish military as gender neutral.

This paper discusses the issue of how different masculinities are being represented in the English classroom. It specifically aims to examine how a teacher’s own principals concerning gender will be reflected in the texts she chooses to use. The field was explored through a case study, where interviews with an upper secondary English teacher as well as a content analysis on the texts she chose to use in the classroom were central to the study. The results of the case study showed tendencies towards a discrepancy between the teacher’s self-expressed thoughts on gender issues and her choice of texts. The teacher conveyed modern ideas on gender issues, while most of the texts she chose to use in the classroom were positive towards more traditional gender patterns. Therefore, our hypothesis did not correspond to the findings. The findings were analyzed by comparing the teacher’s reported attitudes to the different aspects of gender in the chosen texts. In relation to these findings, the paper focuses on the possibility of further studies within this field of research, such as e.g. observation of how gendered texts are being used in classroom and a more quantified investigation, concerning the number of teachers being studied.

The purpose of this study is to enlighten and discuss if there is any possible differences of how female ice-hockey players experienced norms and the masculine culture within ice-hockey. By asking women from three generations, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, this study wants to find out what these differences might be. Six female ice-hockey players, two born in each decade are interviewed in this study. The study have examined what norms were apparent and how these were dealt with as female ice-hockey players. During what conditions could young girls play ice-hockey and how were they met by people in that environment. Furthermore, the study examines the differences of these experiences.    The primary result of the study shows that it´s a bigger difference between the experiences of the women born in the 1970s and 1980s than the difference between the ones born 1980s and 1990s. Primarily the differences are of how they were met and what others thought of women playing ice-hockey. The conditions of playing ice-hockey have, throughout the generations, stayed the same as well as the norms within the sport.

While the idea of self-help has historically been associated with women the growing popularity of online self-improvement groups has attracted both sexes. The growing popularity of people like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate - who speak of the importance of self-improvement alongside anti-feminist rhetoric - within the Manosphere online community also shows a trend of self-improvement moving towards a male audience. This study aims to examine the foundations of the self-improvement rhetoric and its relation to Michel Foucualt’s theory of the discourse of discipline and Raewyn Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity. Previous research on the topic of self-improvement has found arguments for the rhetoric as containing and perpetrating ideals of neoliberalism as well as the forming of citizens in line with the needs of capitalism. With the growing presence of more explicit promotions of masculine hegemony our study aims to provide another look into the world of hegemonic masculinity through less obvious promotions of it. With a thematic analysis of a Reddit-thread on self-improvement, our study finds that the rhetoric of the subreddit relies on (1) the presumed knowledge of a rational subject, (2) an ideal of control as the ultimate goal and (3) the reinforcement of these through specific strategies. Furthermore we find that the ideals that are perpetuated through this discourse are gendered in nature and correlate to the depiction of Connell’s transnational business masculinity. / Medan idén om självhjälp historiskt sett har associerats med kvinnor, har den växande populariteten av självförbättringsgrupper online lockat båda könen. Den växande populariteten av personer som Jordan Peterson och Andrew Tate – som talar om vikten av självförbättring samtidigt med användandet av antifeministisk retorik – inom Manosphere online-communityn visar också en trend av att självförbättringsämnet numera rör en manlig publik. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka grunderna för självförbättringens retorik och dess relation till Michel Foucaults teori om diskursen kring disciplin och Raewyn Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet. Tidigare forskning på ämnet självförbättring har funnit argument för att retoriken innehåller och bevarar ideal om nyliberalism såväl som formandet av medborgare i linje med kapitalismens behov. Med den växande närvaron av mer explicita främjande av maskulin hegemoni syftar vår studie till att ge en ny inblick i världen av hegemonisk maskulinitet genom mindre uppenbara skildringar av den. Med en tematisk analys av en Reddit-tråd om självförbättring, finner vår studie att trådens retorik bygger på (1) den förgivettagna kunskapen om existensen av ett rationellt subjekt, (2) ett ideal om kontroll som det slutliga målet och (3) förstärkningen av dessa genom specifika strategier. Vidare finner vi att de ideal som bevaras genom denna diskurs är könsbaserade och korrelerar med skildringen av Connells transnationella affärsmaskulinitet.