The image of Northern Sweden has long been subjected to stereotyping, and the stereo­typed image of the Northerner is widely spread in various media contexts within Sweden. Historically, Norrland has been regarded as a wide wilderness, and the Norr­landic literature in turn has typically been studied in terms of the pastoral genre, the romanti­cism of the wilderness, or from an eco-critical perspective. The study of masculin­ity within modern Norrlandic literature, however, is largely overlooked, de­spite the undeniable stereotyping of Norrlandic males within other forms of media. This the­sis aims to solve this anomaly by providing insights into the creation processes of masculinity in three contemporary Norrlandic novels. In the novels Smekmånader [Honeymoons, 2017] by Mikael Berglund, Solidärer [Solidarians, 2017] by Anna Jörgensdotter, and Silvervägen [The Silver Road, 2018] by Stina Jackson, the construct of Norrlandic masculinity is examined through close-reading. The questions of how Norrlandic masculinity is constructed is examined through a theoretical framework combining the hegemonic masculinity of R. W. Connell, the gender performativity and queer studies of Judith Butler, the frontstage and backstage perspective of Erving Goffman, and the creation of emotions of Sara Ahmed, in the reading of three contemporary novels following male protagonists—each seeing their identity challenged while on a journey far away from home. Viktor of Honeymoons is constructed as a brave cry-baby or a highly sensitive person whose self is disintegrated in the absence of his wife Maija. He is furthermore constructed as a person offering emotional comfort, despite being deeply void of such comfort himself. Ingemar of Solidarians is constructed as a mummy’s boy or a dreamer who ends up as a martyr, who always requires the presence of a woman—his mother Eivor, Klara whom he is wooing, or Conxa whom he meets in the war in Spain—in order to advance from a mere lust to an actual event of action. His emotions are slightly supressed. Lelle of The Silver Road is constructed as an emotionally blunted vigilant or a nervous wreck, who readily succumbs to aggression and violence towards other men, in his lack of emotional cathexis to a physical person. He is struggling with his perceived failure in his role as a father, and is furthermore driven to action by his need of reconciling with his past. Nonetheless, none of the male protagonists exhibits a lasting hegemonic masculinity. The study concludes that the analysed novels contribute to a new form of Norrlandic literature which challenges the traditional and stereotypical ideas of rural masculinity.

This dissertation deals with various gender aspects of playing computer games. It describes how gender stereotypes are connected with the level of production, content, and with the players themselves. In this sense, it shows that games are still created mainly by homogeneous male teams, in order to attract male players, they contain mainly male characters, while the female ones are created to be attractive to these ideal male players. However, the primary goal of this dissertation is to describe the different ways and intensities of the relationship with the avatar, the playable character in the game. The analytical part consists of two illustrative case studies, one concerning female heterosexual players, the other male heterosexual players. The basic premise is the fact that the player "plays gender" - that is, performs it similarly to social reality. However, this performance is not just a reconstruction and confirmation of hypothetically stable gender identities, but on the contrary their deconstruction ("playing with gender"). In this sense, the work pays particular attention to situations where the player and the avatar have different genders and the heterosexual player, therefore, identifies with the avatar but also objectifies him/her. This dissertation aims to emphasize the uniqueness of...

This thesis is concerned with expressions of toxic masculinity in television acting, illustrated on the case study of the television show The Big Bang Theory. This work sets the term toxic masculinity in the context of masculinity studies and draws on the theory of hegemonic masculinity formulated by the Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell. Her theory assumes the existence of multiple, hierarchically ordered masculinities, with hegemonic masculinity - considered by some authors tobe synonymous with toxic masculinity - on top. This work also surveys the history of the representation of the male hero from the early days of American cinema up to the present, as the empirical section deals primarily with an American television show. Special emphasis is put on the "nerd" character, who represents non- hegemonic masculinity and thus does not tend to be associated with expressions of toxic masculinity, although he is also guilty of this behavior. The aim of this thesis was to use qualitative content analysis to identify manifestations of toxic masculine behavior by the nerd characters of the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory and to determine how this behavior differs from that of the "jock" character, an embodiment of hegemonic masculinity. This research reached the conclusion that each of these two...

This thesis examines the reproduction of gender norms and the resistance against them in the Swedish reality TV show Paradise Hotel, using Raewyn Connell's theories Hegemonic Masculinity and Gender Hierarchy together with the method multimodal critical discourse analysis. Previous research has shown a reproduction of traditional gender norms in Reality-TV, along with the presence of a power imbalance between the contestants and the production itself, where the production holds the power. Despite discourses of feminist character taking a greater place in western society after the #MeToo movement, Paradise Hotel is yet today a subject of discussion in Swedish media, accused of presenting a sexist discourse. Discourses of hegemonic gender norms and resistance against them has been the subject of study in eight episodes from season 11 of Paradise Hotel. Through the usage of a theoretical framework focusing on gender, culture making and representation, the results show that typical gender norms can be spotted through the contestants' practices of stereotypical traits connected to the traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. The study also shows resistance against these norms, primarily by the female contestants and through their practice of typical masculine traits. The maintenance of the stereotypical gender norms is dominant by the production amplifying the contestant’s actions of resistance as comedy through special effects, reducing women to sexual objects intended for male pleasure and reinforcing the image of the man as the omnipotent gender role.

Destruktiv maskulinitet är en aktuell form av maskulinitet bland män idag som kort innebär att visa makt genom våldsbruk, utfrysning och exkludering. Därför syftar denna studie till att undersöka hur olika föreställningar om maskuliniteter påverkar vardagsvillkoren för unga män i ålder 21–24 år samt vilka olika maskuliniteter som unga män förhåller sig till. Studien utgår från fem kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med unga män från olika bakgrunder. Genus, hegemonisk maskulinitet och homosocialitet är begreppen som används för vidare analysering av det insamlade materialet. Det insamlade materialet analyserades och delades in i fem olika teman utifrån tematisk analysmetod. En del av intervjuguiden består av exponering av bilder som intervjupersonerna förhöll sig till. Utifrån dessa bilder kunde unga mäns föreställningar om manlighet blottläggas. Resultatet visar vilka maskuliniteter som unga män förhåller sig till samt att den dominerande formen är den traditionella maskuliniteten. Den traditionella maskuliniteten ställer krav på män som till exempel att försörja familjen. Resultatet visar även att intervjupersoner förknippar ordet manlig till kroppshets och fysik. Avgörande aspekter för unga mäns syn på maskulinitet är kultur, etnisk bakgrund, trosuppfattning samt samhällets förväntningar genom exempelvis sociala medier. Detta påverkar dem genom att de väljer att agera och se ut utifrån dessa aspekter till exempel att en vältränad man är manligare än en överviktig. / Destructive masculinity is a current form of masculinity among men today which in short means to show power through violence, freezing and exclusion. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how different conceptions of masculinities affect the living conditions of young men aged 21-24 and what different masculinities young men relate to. The study is based on five qualitative semi-structured interviews with young men from different backgrounds. Gender, hegemonic masculinity and homosociality are the terms used for further analysis of the collected material. The collected material was analyzed and divided into five different themes based on thematic analysis method. Part of the interview guide consists of exposure of pictures to which the interviewees related. From these images young men's conceptions of masculinity could be exposed. The result shows the masculinities that young men relate to and that the dominant form is the traditional masculinity. The traditional masculinity demands young men, such as providing for the family. The results also show that interviewers associate the word male with body image and physique. Crucial aspects for young men's view of masculinity are culture, ethnic background, beliefs and society's expectations through, for example, social media. This affects them by choosing to act and look from these aspects, for example that a well-trained man is more manly than an overweight man.

The aim of this study was to understand how masculinities are constructed in criminal contexts, and how men handle the changes in their identity during the exit process, to show how the Swedish Prison and Probation Service and other actors in social work can support men during their exit from criminal behavior. The study uses narrative analysis as a method, specifically the category-content method. Empirically the study is based on six autobiographies by six different authors who all identify as either criminals or ex-criminals. The results show that the authors’ masculinities are primarily constructed through the act of acquiring and exhibiting material and social resources, as well as displaying courage, capacity for violence, and recklessness, while simultaneously hiding emotions which they regard as weaknesses. The men handle their changing identities due to exit processes by receiving support from friends and family, and by not leaving the criminal context entirely. One identified strategy some of the authors use in order to manage identity conflicts that we have identified is the use of their life story, and knowledge regarding crime, as a means to change young potential offenders’ life trajectories.

This study aims to investigate how young men experience the norms of masculinity in societywith a special focus on mental illness. Previous research in the field clarifies that there aremasculinity norms in society that men are expected to relate to. Consequences that can occurfrom masculinity norms are a stigmatization of men's mental illness, which can lead to menrefraining from seeking care. Research also shows that men who do not seek care for theirmental illness can develop self-harming behavior. This is a qualitative study with a resultbased on six semi-structured interviews with young men aged 18 to 25. The empiricalmaterial from the qualitative interviews has been analyzed on the basis of a theoreticalframework containing social constructivist perspectives on masculinity, hegemonicmasculinity and homosociality. The results show that young men experience that masculinitynorms affect the jargon between men and that the norms also affect how young men perceivethe difference between what is manly and unmanly. Young men also experience that there areexpectations regarding how they should behave.The results of the study also show that youngmen experience that men and women feel equally bad, but due to the stigma that men have todeal with, they refrain from seeking care for their mental illness. Finally, when men feel thatthey do not live up to the norms of masculinity, it leads to a feeling of exclusion. When theyinstead try to live up to the norms, they become someone they do not identify as. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur unga män resonerar om rådandemaskulinitetsnormer i samhället med särskild fokus på psykisk ohälsa. Tidigare forskninginom ämnesområdet tydliggör att det existerar maskulinitetsnormer i samhället som mänförväntas förhålla sig till. Konsekvenser som kan förekomma av maskulinitetsnormer är enstigmatisering av mäns psykisk ohälsa, vilket kan leda till att män avstår från att söka vård.Forskning synliggör även att män som inte söker vård för sin psykiska ohälsa kan utveckla ettsjälvskadebeteende. Detta är en kvalitativ studie med ett resultat som är baserat på sexstycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med unga män i åldrarna 18 till 25. Det empiriskamaterialet från de kvalitativa intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverkbestående av socialkonstruktivistiska perspektiv på maskulinitet, hegemoniska maskulinitetsamt homosocialitet. Resultatet visar att unga män upplever att maskulinitetsnormer påverkarjargongen män emellan och att normerna även påverkar hur unga män uppfattar skillnadenmellan vad som är manligt och “omanligt”. Unga män upplever även att det förekommerförväntningar gällande hur de ska bete sig. Studiens resultat synliggör även att unga mänupplever att män och kvinnor mår lika dåligt men på grund av den stigmatisering som mänfår bemöta, avstår de från att söka vård för sin psykiska ohälsa. Avslutningsvis när mänkänner att de inte lever upp till maskulinitetsnormerna leder det till en känsla av utanförskap.När de istället försöker leva upp till normerna, blir de någon som de själva inte identifierarsig som.

This thesis will analyze how masculinity is depicted in the French-Argentinean director Gaspar Noé’s movie Love (2015), and how it is orientating and disorientating through an intersectional lens. In his films, the filmmaker often uses haptic images and sound traversing to interrogate the existence and to express a clear and abject visuality to expose the flesh. On that notion, the study will use a psychanalytic theoretical framework with hegemonic masculinity, and a phenomenological methodology with Bertolt Brecht’s theories on theatre to examine the bodily performances of the cinematic body, the bodies of the characters on screen, and the spectator’s body to reflect on the film’s thematic, aesthetic, and ideological features. Additionally, this study will explore how the viewer embodies the self-images and memories of the characters on the screen, and how that affects the spectator.

This thesis studies how the incel culture is portrayed in the Swedish news media and which explanatory models that are depicted for the phenomenon’s emergence. The thesis is based on a thematic medial analysis and is guided by a social constructivist approach. Based on 78 news reports from six different news media sources, six themes have been distinguished and also analysed through the concept of hegemonic masculinity. The findings show that Swedish news media produce a description of incels as being mentally and socially challenged. Incels are further constructed to possess hatred; against themselves, women and society. The self-hatred among incels is constructed to have connections to a strong fixation on appearance which is characterized by an ideal of being white. Finally, the portrayal of a minority of incels as terrorists is constructed throughout the news media coverage, but the majority of incels are rather portrayed as opposed to such acts. It has been possible to expound different portrayed explanations to the rise of the incel phenomenon, such as societal changes; an altered male role and a societal alienation. Two other explanations are also constructed which are based on male appearance and subject positioning. / Denna studie utforskar hur incelkulturen porträtteras i svensk nyhetsmedia samt vilka skildrade förklaringsmodeller till fenomenet. Studien är baserad på en tematisk mediaanalys och har vägletts av en socialkonstruktivistisk ansats. Utifrån 78 nyhetsrapporteringar från sammantaget sex olika nyhetsmediala källor, har sex tematiseringar utarbetats och även analyserats genom konceptet om hegemonisk maskulinitet. Resultatet påvisar att det i svensk nyhetsmedia förekommer en konstruktion av incels som psykiskt och socialt utmanade. Incels konstrueras vidare besitta ett hat; mot självet, kvinnor och samhället. Självhatet bland incels skildras ha kopplingar till en stark utseendefixering som i sig är präglad av ett vithetsideal. Slutligen återses porträtteringen av en minoritet av incels som terrorister, där majoriteten av incels snarare skildras motsätta sig sådana dåd. Det går vidare att uttolka olika skildrade förklaringar till incelfenomenets uppkomst där samhälleliga förändringar; en förändrad mansroll och ett samhälleligt utanförskap i media framkommer ligga till grund för fenomenet. Det konstrueras även två andra förklaringar som grundas i manligt utseende samt subjektpositionering.

Music is a ubiquitous part of society and has some capacity for spurring social change by stirring emotions with people. The music genre of punk is overtly political and promotes different kinds of social change, and all this makes punk relevant to study for the social sciences and humanities. However, on one hand, research suggests that punk scenes are masculinist and partly excludes women. On the other hand, other studies point to possibilities for alternative constructions of gender to take form through punk. Furthermore, research on punk is comprehensive, but the Swedish subgenre of trallpunk seems to have been overlooked in studies. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate how masculinity is constructed in trallpunk. Drawing on a discourse analytical approach, supplemented by the concepts of performativity and hegemonic masculinity, song lyrics and interview data are analyzed in order to discern constructions of gender in trallpunk. The main conclusion is that trallpunk carries a form of transformative potential pointing to the transformation of gender discourses. Such a potential suggests that restricting and oppressive discourses of gender and hegemonic masculinity could eventually be eradicated, which would be an important step towards a more open-minded and inclusive society.