Bruhner, C. Det händer även män! En kvantitativ studie om myter och normer kring män som utsatts för sexuellt våld. Examensarbete på magisternivå i Kriminologi 15 högskolepoäng. Malmö högskola: Fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle, institutionen för Kriminologi, 2013.Män som utsatts för sexuellt våld är ett fenomen som får ytterst lite uppmärksamhet inom samhällsvetenskaplig forskning. Ämnet är outforskat och har en klar brist på framförallt kvantitativ data. Syftet med denna studie var att testa de myter som normen om mäns utsatthet bygger på, huruvida de bekräftas eller inte, på ett större urval. Detta för att belysa ett existerande problem samt för att kunna urskilja variabler som påverkar attityden till normen. Myterna som testades konstruerades med tidigare forskning som underlag och mynnade ut i fyra myter; definitioner av det sexuella våldet mot män – präglas av grovt våld, hot och berusning av en manlig, homosexuell förrövare. De efterföljande konsekvenserna och sanktionerna – männen bemöts med negativa sociala sanktioner och med stark misstro, reagerar inte starkt på händelsen och anmäler inte. Synen på maskulinitet – män ska vara fysiskt och psykiskt starka, heterosexuella samt kunna värja sig och därför kan de heller inte bli våldtagna. Karakteristika om den utsatte i form av ”brist på manlighet” – en utsatt man är svag fysiskt och psykiskt, homosexuell och får oftast skylla sig själv för att ha blivit utsatt. Dessa myter testades genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning med 160 svarande studenter. Respondenterna förkastade i stort sett alla normer, i synnerlighet offerbeskyllningen och synen på maskulinitet – de två myter som visade sig ha mest inverkan på synen till ämnet i stort. Studien visade att om man har en syn på maskulinitet som ligger nära den stereotypiska normen, är man också mer benägen att hålla med om myterna. Studien visade också att de bakgrundsvariablerna som påverkade synen på myterna mest var religiositet, invandrarbakgrund samt ålder. Äldre respondenter med invandrarbakgrund och som var aktivt troende påvisade tendenser till att bekräfta myterna i större utsträckning. Dessa resultat har i studien analyserats med hjälp av Bourdieus begreppsapparat om symboliskt kapital mellan dominerande och dominerade. / Bruhner, C. It also happens to men! A Quantitative study about myths and norms regarding the sexual violence towards men. Project for a one year master degree in Criminology 15 hp. Malmö University: Faculty of health and society, Department of Criminology, 2013.Men who suffered from sexual violence are a phenomenon which gets extremely little attention in the research of social science. It is unexplored and in an almost desperate need of data, particularly quantitative data. The aim of this study was to test the myths which lay the ground for the norms about the sexual violence against men on a grander sample to see if they are confirmed or rejected. The myths that were tested are based on previous research and resulted in four different myths; definitions of the sexual violence against men – characterized by severe violence, threats and intoxication by a male homosexual perpetrator. The subsequent consequences and sanctions – the victimized men are met with negative social sanctions and strong distrust, do not react strongly to the incident and do not report to the police. Perception of masculinity – men are supposed to be physically and psychically strong, heterosexual and have the ability to defend themselves and can therefore not be raped. Characterisations about the victim in form of a lack of masculinity – a victimized man are physically and psychically weak, homosexual and are often blamed for the rape himself. These myths were tested through a quantitative survey which 160 students replied. The respondents rejected largely all of the myths, particularly the blaming of the victim and the perception of masculinities – the two myths that showed most impact on the attitude towards the subject as a whole. The study showed that if you have a view on masculinity close to the stereotypical norm, you are also more likely to confirm the myths about the sexual violence against men. The study also showed that older individuals, actively religious people and people of other origin than Swedish tend to be more prone to confirm the myths. The results are analysed throughout Bourdieu’s concepts about symbolic capital between dominant and dominated.

The focus of my research has been the reverberations of the 2001 Argentine economic crisis, as they affected and were responded to by women in social movements. This dissertation contributes to studies of globalization by highlighting the unintended consequences of neoliberalism in Argentina in the form of the collective empowerment of women in egalitarian social movements. The negative consequences of neoliberalism are well known, but I found that these policies produced more than misery. They also helped to stimulate a new kind of politics —a set of autonomous movements aimed at democratizing society as well as the state. In response to rapidly deteriorating living conditions, contemporary Argentine social movements organized their constituencies in what I have defined as the field of politics by other means. In the context of failed governmental programs and discourse designed to create docile, mobile subjects (governmentality), egalitarian social movements engaged in the creation of social movements whose democratic structures contrasted with the dispossessing nature of the neoliberal global power they confronted. In Argentina, this new political culture and methodology fostered, through street theater and pageants, 'other means' of making politics, including a concern for internal gender democracy in what has been called the “solidarity economy.” My research suggests that struggles against gender inequities have a synergistic relationship to democratic political structures. I found that receptivity to feminist discourses and opportunities for women’s participation were greater in antihierarchical opposition movements than in those with a more traditional leftist orientation. In these autonomous movements, women were able to challenge gender inequities, democratizing both the movements and their family relationships. Their struggle for democracy and freedom contrasts with the role of neoliberal policies and practices responsible for the weakening of democratic institutions in Argentina. In this way, my research not only broadens understanding of Argentina’s crisis and recovery, but it raises questions about the implications of the present worldwide economic and social crisis on struggles to transform gender relations.

Research over the years has shown that there is a global rise in hashtag activism, this type of activism has also inspired what scholars call - hashtag feminism. Hashtag feminism utilizes Social Networking Sites to raise awareness about issues that are often not covered in traditional news media outlets such as TV, newspapers, and Radio Stations. Through this paper, I seek to investigate how Instagram has become one of the Social Networking Sites that has recently started being used for online activism in South Africa. This is done by conducting a qualitative analysis of 700 posts from the hashtag #AmINext, with a period focus of 3 months during South Africa's COVID-19 Level-5 Lockdown. The findings suggest that activists follow similar lines of the hashtag and social media activism parameters such as those of the #MeToo and #BeenRapedNeverReported movements. The analysis found that activists use Instagram to participate in Citizen Journalism by sharing information, raising awareness, organizing, mobilizing, and advocating (Vegh, 2003). Furthermore, there is clear Civic Engagement and Citizen Journalism through things such as sharing information and having calls to action while utilizing hashtags as a way to gain momentum and attention. The findings suggest that these hashtags are able to cultivate a community of activists all around the country while also making sure to encourage more participation. The analysis also shows how there is an importance of such activism when movement is restricted due to national Lockdowns implemented to curb COVID-19, as many victims of SGBV found themselves at home and trapped with their abusers. In paying attention to this analysis, I conclude that perhaps through the exploration of new ways of activism, we can ensure that no voice is ever left behind. Furthermore, despite the possibilities of these new ways of raising awareness and activism, it is always important to see how we can apply the old with the new.

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In this thesis, I analyse the representations of masculinities in replies to Sam Smith’s and Harry Styles’ bent masculinities on Twitter. My thesis is grounded in masculinity theory, mainly that of R.W. Connell (2005) and Judith Butler’s (1990) theory on gender performativity. The two questions that guide my research are 1) What makes a male-bodied individual (un)masculine? and 2) How does masculinity intersect with other (identity) categories? To answer these questions, I coded the material which resulted in three main themes: disgust, nostalgia and (queer) joy, each of which is discussed in a separate chapter. The first chapter on disgust exposes, through applying Sara Ahmed’s (2004) concept stickiness on the material, how masculinity intersects with sexuality, identity, age and corporeality. This shows that heterosexuality lies at the core of masculinity. This is further developed in the second chapter on nostalgia, as the comments in this chapter highlight the role of the heterosexual male-bodied individual in upholding a prosperous society. A key concept here is restorative nostalgia (Boym 2001), which helps expose two main narratives in the comments: conspiracy theories and the need to return to origins. The third chapter on (queer) joy accentuates what was concluded before: masculinity is strongly entwined with heterosexuality, as Styles is deemed a queerbaiter because of his apparent heterosexuality. Smith, on the other hand, is praised as a queer icon. This points out another element: queer seems to be separate from masculinity and an essentialist identity. The main conclusion of the thesis, then, is that masculinity intersects with many different categories and that when masculinity is bent, heterosexuality lies at the core of masculinity. Furthermore, all these comments are explained to be an attempt to defend hegemonic masculinity (Connell 2005).

Disordered eating in men is said to be uncommon with men forming less than ten per cent of reported cases. Yet it has been suggested that the number of males with eating disorders is beginning to increase, affecting more men than ever before. This presents problems for healthcare services that have created previous models of support around women. Current research offers pathological and epidemiological data, including information about testing men for eating disorders using male-centred instruments. However, understanding is aetiolated due to a focus on medical accounts of male disordered eating, rather than focusing on the stories that men themselves have to tell. This exploratory qualitative study addresses this problem by focusing on men’s stories of disordered eating. Four men share their accounts of living with an eating disorder and these are analysed using a hermeneutic approach, in order to glean insights into their experiences with food, body and self. These insights include an examination of the meaning of fat male bodies, analysis of the phenomenon of gender ambivalence that prevails in men with disordered eating and the fragmented and colonised nature of the male eating disordered self. These represent an original contribution to understanding as they have not been considered elsewhere in the literature to date. Additionally, an extensive analysis of the male eating disorder literature, use of a hermeneutic methodology and the positioning of male eating disorders within the context of masculinities studies further add to the novel value of this research.

This thesis conducts an analysis of gay identity in Dominican poetry through a queer reading on Frank García’s poetry collection: Lo que escribí mientras esperabas en una habitación vacía (2023). The Dominican society in which the bildungsroman narrative takes place is contextualized as a tender culture, yet largely not acceptant of homosexuality and nonheteronormative forms of gender expression, with high levels of violence against gay people, including at the hands of police and militiamen. The aim of the investigation is to both expand the limited existing body of research analyzing gay Dominican literature, as well as identifying and exploring intersecting factors that detrimentally contribute to the homophobia that the author endures as reflected in his writing. It is concluded that such factors permeating his experience intersecting with homophobia are the peripherical position of Dominican Republic in Spanish-speaking literature and the world system, the relevance of Christianity in Dominican Republic, a vulnerable social class, and his mixed race. This investigation also acknowledges the construction of blackness in Dominican Republic in opposition to Haiti, and the subsequent rejection of several mixed race Dominicans to identify as black, but rather using terms such as trigueño, moreno, or mulato (even though the latter is pejorative) to refer to themselves instead. The author rejects colorist discourses and both claims and embraces his black queer Dominican identity in his writing, further humanizing a highly disregarded and marginalized demographic in mainstream literature and arguably the world system: black gay Dominican men.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om exposekonton reproducerar befintliga maktstrukturer och samhällsnormer bland unga. Därtill hur fenomenet påverkar dagens unga i deras liv och relationer. Målet var att öka kunskapen och lyfta ämnet kring exposekonton då det är ett socialt fenomen som saknar omfattande vetenskaplig forskning. Det är viktigt att vuxna har kunskap om ämnet, eftersom det är en del av ungas digitala vardag. Att bidra med kunskap hoppas vi leder till en ökad dialog bland vuxna. Studien genomfördes med kvantitativ metod och enkätundersökningar, totalt deltog 109 respondenter mellan 15–18 år i undersökningen i Skåne län. Resultatet i studien visar att det främst är killar som är förövare och tjejer som blir utsatta för att blir uthängda på exposekonto, vilket visar på att det finns en tydlig maktförskjutning. En stor andel av respondenterna menar på att exposekonton skapar förväntningar och normer på respektive kön. Det är tydligt att den utsatta påverkas på flera plan i livet samt upplever starka känslor av skam, nedstämdhet och ilska. Resultatet analyseras utifrån Michel Foucault & Judith Butlers teori om könsmakt samt Thomas Scheffs teorier om skam och sociala band och Raewyn Connells teori om maskuliniteter. / The aim of the study was to investigate if expose accounts reproduce society's existing power structure and social norms among young people. In addition, how the phenomenon affects the lives and relationships of today's youth. The goal was to raise awareness about the topic, as it is a social phenomenon that has no scientific research. It's important for adults around young people to have knowledge about the subject, as it is a part of young people's digital life. The study was conducted using a quantitative method with surveys. A total of 109 respondents participated in the region Skane. The results of the study show that primarily boys are the perpetrators and girls are the ones who become victims for being exposed, indicating a clear power imbalance. A large percentage of the respondents believe that expose accounts create expectations and norms for each gender. It is clear that the victim is affected on several levels in life and experiencing strong emotions of shame, sadness, and anger. The results are analyzed based on Michel Foucault & Judith Butler's theory of gender power, Thomas Scheff's theories of shame and social bonds, and Raewyn Connell's theory of masculinity.

Historically and presently most people employed in military forces worldwide are men. With a focus on peacekeeping and equality, the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) aim to recruit more women. But even as gender issues become a central focus of the SwAF, policy is mostly aimed towards women despite most employees being men. This study came about by leaning on feminist scholars’ arguments that men and masculinities need to be examined and involved when working towards positive peace, so that they do not remain naturalized and become unidentified obstacles. To achieve this aim, this thesis draws on semi-structured interviews with Swedish Peacekeepers and present a complex, contradictory puzzle of how masculinities are performed, perceived, and reproduced. Masculinities are admired but ridiculed, used as a tool for battle but an obstacle for rehabilitation, a source for deep emotional bonds and rigorously performed to turn off emotionally, and is mainly existing in the eyes of the beholder but seldom seen in oneself. The results support theoretical complexity of militarized masculinities and confirm that militarism is not inherent or come natural to men but is a performative, social construction.