This thesis is a qualitative study of firefighters, and focuses on how firefighters, a predominantly male, white and able-bodied group with popular public support, form tight knit teams on and off the fireground, and their motivations for so doing. It is also a study of gender, which aims to describe and deconstruct masculinity. In part the thesis was undertaken with a view to assisting the fire service (specifically the few women who are firefighters) with its difficulties in relation to equal opportunities. One understanding the thesis provides is that firefighters bond around a common professional ethos: to provide an efficient service to help the public. To achieve this, firefighters form informal hierarchies through which they create protocols for firefighting, thus setting the standards for what comprises a ‘good firefighter’: a label firefighters test themselves against when they ‘get in’ to fight a fire. However, before firefighters can achieve this they must first access the skills of firefighting (which experienced firefighters are pleased to hand on), but only after a newcomer ‘fits in’ with the agendas of the informal hierarchy, some of which have little to do with firefighting. However, there is a second view, and this suggests that ‘fitting in’ and ‘getting in’ to pass the test of being seen as a ‘good firefighter’ also coincides with the way firefighters form their masculinity. This then provides a second common cause amongst firefighters, and so might explain why firefighters gather so successfully under the umbrella of their union to resist their officers’ attempts to deskill and cut the fire service. Cuts would limit firefighters’ ability both to fight fires as they currently do and to pass the test of being a ‘good firefighter’. Thus blocking a third central but unacknowledged element: that of masculinity. This analysis involves a discussion of class, and recognition that antagonistic relations between officers and firefighters are not only economic, but are also about petty dividends involving power, status and gender construction. The conclusion provides a comprehensive overview to suggest that firefighters form their masculinity by acting at work in the way they subjectively judge that they are seen, by themselves, their peer group and the public. In so doing, they set themselves apart from the ‘others’ who cannot meet their expectations. It is these ‘special people’, as identified by both firefighters and others that this thesis has studied, a group of ‘special’ men and women.

Perfect Blue is an anime (Japanese animation) film directed by Kon Satoshi released in 1997. The film revolves around a female idol (a pop star) named Mima who quits her career as an idol to become an actress. She gradually loses her mind, as the pressures from her acting career, her managers, fans and a stalker catch up to her. Perfect Blue touches on the blurring line between fiction and reality, the objectification of women (and idols) as mere products, and the role of women in the idol industry. It is also a stark critique of the hegemonic masculinity and the gender roles that are imposed on women in Japanese society. This thesis presents anime as an important pop culture phenomenon with a massive influence worldwide. The thesis examines the gender stereotypes propagated by this phenomenon and proposes a that Kon’s work is different compared to other anime. This work compares how gender roles are portrayed in the different versions: The Japanese original and the US English subtitles and dubbing. Methodologically, the analysis relies on close observation of the use of the Japanese first and second person pronouns and sentence-final particles in the characters’ language, since “the use of these features is known to be highly gender-dependent” (Hiramoto 2013, 55). This study comes to the conclusion that the subtitles and the dubbing provide a relatively close rendering of gender of the Japanese text, even if the linguistic resources of English do not allow for the translation of gendered Japanese pronouns and sentence-final particles. This means that the subtitles and dubbings maintain the feminist message Kon wanted to give in his film. The study concludes by stressing the importance of taking into account the use of specific pronouns and sentence-final particles when translating Japanese, as these particles are gender-loaded. It also emphasises the importance of being critical of anime’s hegemonic masculinity, and argues that Kon goes against hegemony by portraying a strong and independent female character.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of gender inequality in China. Today, women are pressured to get married by the state and their social surroundings, as they told if they remain unmarried and have the "three highs"; high age, education and salary, they will become leftovers on the marriage market. Previous research on the concept of labelling women as "leftover" has 4 shown that labelling women as "leftover" can have several different negative impacts. In this thesis, both the theory of masculine hegemony and the theory of symbolic interaction have been used. The concept creates a hegemonic masculinity as it is a normative practice that promotes the subordination of women. However, as the concept is based on the notion that all Chinese men, or at least those of relevant social standing, would find the "three highs" undesirable, it is relevant to see how Chinese men in fact do position themselves in relation to the hegemonic masculinity on an individual level. In symbolic interaction, the concept of gender is created through social construction when people attach special meanings to the sex of a person, a process which is called "doing gender". Therefore symbolic interaction is used to see what special meaning Chinese men attach to women having the "three highs" and masculine hegemony to put their answers into a larger context. If it could be shown that Chinese men do not comply with the hegemonic masculinity, Chinese women would not have to feel obliged to adjust to the hegemonic masculinity and thereby making it easier for them to pursue higher education, high paying jobs and marrying at a later age. However, as this thesis is a qualitative study, and therefore a limited number of data subjects, the generalizability of the result should not be exaggerated. The interviews that were conducted for this thesis showed that the data subjects were familiar with the concept and that they considered it to be natural for there to be women China labelled as "leftover". Nevertheless, in relation to their own marital choices, the data subjects did not attach the negative meaning as set out by the hegemonic masculinity, a result which to some extent was confirmed by the data subjects’ experiences and other control questions. The result is interesting, and enforces Connell and MesserSchmidt’s theory, that even though a hegemonic masculinity is normative, not everyone has to comply with it. As the cornerstone of the concept is that Chinese men find women with the "three highs" undesirable, the result of the study shows that there is a need for the concept to be further examined and questioned. / 近年，性别不平等在中国又开始回潮。今天，中国女性在婚姻问题上受到来自社会的不小压力。如果这些女性尚未结婚而又具有?三高? ，即高龄、高学历和高薪，那她们将有可能成为婚姻上的剩女。以往研究表明，女性被打上?剩女? 的标签后，这?剩? 字会给她们带来若干负面影响。本文运用两个理论：「支配性男性气质」(hegemonic masculinity) 和「象征性互动」(symbolic interaction) 理论。「支配性男性气质」作为理论说明男性如何建立规范使妇女处于从属地位。此观念基于这样一个已有概念，即中国男性不喜欢?三高? 女性。本文主要讨论中国男人在「支配性男性气质」主导的社会里如何自我定位。根据「象征性互动」理论，性别的概念是经由社会建構创造的性意思，过程被称为「做性别」(doing gender) 。「象征性互动」理论因此被用来观察中国男性对?三高?女性存在的特殊想法。而「支配性男性气质」的理论则把他们的回答放到一个更大的范围内。如果我们能够证明中国男性并不完全赞同「支配性男性气质」的概念，那么中国女性就没有必要认为必须顺应「支配性男性气质」的一些规范，从而使这些女性更愿意接受高等教育，从事高收入工作和晚婚。需要指出的是，由于本论文是定性研究，样本数量有限，结果不一定具有普遍性。本文受访者均熟悉・剩女?这个观念，并且觉得这些・三高・女性很自然地被社会标签为?剩余?。但尽管如此，当谈及他们自己的婚姻选择时，这些受访者却并不在意「支配性男性气质」对女性标签的负面意义。此现象在一定程度上从受访者个人经历和我们附加的对照性问题上得到证实。这一结果相当有意思，根据康奈尔（Connell）和梅塞施密特（MesserSchmidt）的理论，即使「支配性男性气质」是一个常态，但其在统计学上并不一定最常见。由于已有的概念认为中国男性不喜欢?三高?女性，本研究结果显示，有必要对这一概念作进一步的探讨和分析。

En ce qui concerne la littérature féministe, il s’y trouve un chevauchement important et intéressant entre le manifesto en tant que forme littéraire et la fiction utopique. Les deux se servent d’une image imaginée de l'avenir ou d'un meilleur état futur pour critiquer et dénoncer tant les conditions actuelles que celles du passée qui ont donné naissance à celles-là. Cette thèse aborde à la fois le manifesto et la fiction utopique / dystopique pour élaborer les conditions de l’espace essentiel des femmes et du féminin. Ce lieu utopique se veut plus qu'un endroit où aller ; il exprime les origines du féminin, lesquelles vont au-delà de ce qui est masculin en visant un épanouissement du féminin en dehors et au-delà de la stricte dichotomie masculin-féminin de la société patriarcale. J'examine d'abord les termes en usage puis je discute du manifesto comme une forme littéraire d'un intérêt particulier pour les écrivains féministes. Je passe ensuite en revue des théories de fiction utopique, lesquelles me conduisent à des possibilités fructueuses du langage pour assurer une voix aux femmes ainsi que l’expression du féminin. Je prends comme exemple le livre The Activist de Renée Gladman pour appuyer mes arguments concernant le pouvoir performatif du manifesto comme une forme qui s’empiète sur la fiction utopique dans le but d'imaginer l'espace du féminin. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, j’entre dans une utopie fictive dans le cadre d'une exploration personnelle de ce qu’est le féminin et son expression. Le récit emmène le lecteur au pays de Cwenaland. A chaque étape de la narration d’autres voix percent et découpent le texte. Certaines sont sous la forme d'une image ou d'un portrait, d'autres sont des cris ou des gémissements qui dérangent la voix narrative. Ces voix en tangente et en diagonale enracinent mon utopie fictive dans la diversité d'expérience et d'expression féminine. / There is considerable and interesting overlap between the manifesto as a literary art form and utopian fiction in regards to feminist writing. Both use an imagined image of the future or of a better future condition in order to criticize and denounce conditions in the present, and the past that gave rise to them. The thesis looks at both the manifesto and writings about utopia/dystopia in order to frame a place for female and the feminine. This utopian place is more than a place to go. It is a place that expresses what femininity is based on - more than simply that which is not masculine - and offers some kind of fulfillment outside and beyond the rigid masculine-feminine dichotomy of patriarchal society. I first examine terminology then I discuss the manifesto as a literary form of particular interest to women writers. I then review notions of utopian fiction, which leads me to the important opportunities that language offers to women to have a voice, and to express that which is feminine. I examine closely Renée Gladman’s book The Activist to support my arguments regarding the performative power of the manifesto as a form that overlaps with utopian fiction in imagining space for the feminine. In Part Two I imagine and describe a fictional utopia as part of a personal exploration of how to identify that which is expressive of the feminine. The narrative takes readers on a journey to Cwenaland. At each stage in the narrative other voices pierce and slice the prose. Some are in the form of an image or a portrait; others disrupt the narrative voice like a shout or a wail. These voices that are tangential and diagonal to the narrative ground my fictional utopia in the many levels of feminine experience and expression.

En ce qui concerne la littérature féministe, il s’y trouve un chevauchement important et intéressant entre le manifesto en tant que forme littéraire et la fiction utopique. Les deux se servent d’une image imaginée de l'avenir ou d'un meilleur état futur pour critiquer et dénoncer tant les conditions actuelles que celles du passée qui ont donné naissance à celles-là. Cette thèse aborde à la fois le manifesto et la fiction utopique / dystopique pour élaborer les conditions de l’espace essentiel des femmes et du féminin. Ce lieu utopique se veut plus qu'un endroit où aller ; il exprime les origines du féminin, lesquelles vont au-delà de ce qui est masculin en visant un épanouissement du féminin en dehors et au-delà de la stricte dichotomie masculin-féminin de la société patriarcale. J'examine d'abord les termes en usage puis je discute du manifesto comme une forme littéraire d'un intérêt particulier pour les écrivains féministes. Je passe ensuite en revue des théories de fiction utopique, lesquelles me conduisent à des possibilités fructueuses du langage pour assurer une voix aux femmes ainsi que l’expression du féminin. Je prends comme exemple le livre The Activist de Renée Gladman pour appuyer mes arguments concernant le pouvoir performatif du manifesto comme une forme qui s’empiète sur la fiction utopique dans le but d'imaginer l'espace du féminin. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, j’entre dans une utopie fictive dans le cadre d'une exploration personnelle de ce qu’est le féminin et son expression. Le récit emmène le lecteur au pays de Cwenaland. A chaque étape de la narration d’autres voix percent et découpent le texte. Certaines sont sous la forme d'une image ou d'un portrait, d'autres sont des cris ou des gémissements qui dérangent la voix narrative. Ces voix en tangente et en diagonale enracinent mon utopie fictive dans la diversité d'expérience et d'expression féminine. / There is considerable and interesting overlap between the manifesto as a literary art form and utopian fiction in regards to feminist writing. Both use an imagined image of the future or of a better future condition in order to criticize and denounce conditions in the present, and the past that gave rise to them. The thesis looks at both the manifesto and writings about utopia/dystopia in order to frame a place for female and the feminine. This utopian place is more than a place to go. It is a place that expresses what femininity is based on - more than simply that which is not masculine - and offers some kind of fulfillment outside and beyond the rigid masculine-feminine dichotomy of patriarchal society. I first examine terminology then I discuss the manifesto as a literary form of particular interest to women writers. I then review notions of utopian fiction, which leads me to the important opportunities that language offers to women to have a voice, and to express that which is feminine. I examine closely Renée Gladman’s book The Activist to support my arguments regarding the performative power of the manifesto as a form that overlaps with utopian fiction in imagining space for the feminine. In Part Two I imagine and describe a fictional utopia as part of a personal exploration of how to identify that which is expressive of the feminine. The narrative takes readers on a journey to Cwenaland. At each stage in the narrative other voices pierce and slice the prose. Some are in the form of an image or a portrait; others disrupt the narrative voice like a shout or a wail. These voices that are tangential and diagonal to the narrative ground my fictional utopia in the many levels of feminine experience and expression.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:48:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 71050100666.pdf.jpg: 20494 bytes, checksum: 8333bd3ae66ca7fad9f78cef2e970df2 (MD5) 71050100666.pdf: 1238997 bytes, checksum: 1e4b53f618cae75498567a1134e4105d (MD5) 71050100666.pdf.txt: 745247 bytes, checksum: 60d372a039a05439ca15e410a03a0c70 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-09-05T00:00:00Z / The object of this research is to understand the impact of the multiple sexual orientations on the organizations and how this diversity is perceived by the homo, bi and heterosexual employees. Ontologically, this study uses the critical postmodernism, specifically the Queer Theory, which deconstructs all conventional categories of sexuality and gender. The field research consisted of four visits to 13 large companies, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, between July 2005 and November 2007, as well as 95 interviews, divided in four groups. The first one was composed of heterosexual and the second of homo and bisexual individuals, who were informed of the real object of this research. As a discrepancy of what the heterosexuals said during the interviews and their attitudes in the work environment as well as their comments to other heterosexuals was observed, a control-research was also carried out. Two othe groups – one of heterosexuals and the other of homo and bisexuals – were interviewed; nevertheless, they were informed that the object of the research was to study health in the workplace. The fieldnotes as well as the interviews were transcripted and submitted to discourse and conversational analyses. The findings were presented in five sections: the individual dimension, the social dimension, the workplace environment itself, the psychosomatic costs and, finally, the outcome of the research on health at the workplace. This study revealed that, when questioned about discrimination at the workplace, gays, lesbians and bisexuals tend to recognize the existence of such practices, as well as advocate that they also have been a victim of such. On the other hands, the heterosexuals tend to minimize the existence of such practices, as well as deliver a politically-correct speech. Notwithstanding, it was clear that the heterosexuals have introjected the masculine hegemonic paradigm, which was been built historically through social practices and, discriminatory attitudes and comments are disguised by the Brazilian sense of humour and informality. On the other hand, the research that was guided by the investigative question on health at the workplace revealed that, as the were not being confronted directly, the heterosexuals felt more at ease to express themselves, using homophobic expressions and referring to discriminatory practices. Yet, the homo and bisexuals attained to the question of health itself and, rarely, did they refer or mention discriminatory practices in the workplace. At the bottom line this study confirmed that the sexual orientation per se is only a component of an individual’s personality and, although it may be the ground for prejudice and discrimination, these practices are also caused due other factors such as gender, race, and social status. / Este estudo tem por objetivo apreender como a diversidade de orientação sexual se manifesta e é percebida nas organizações brasileiras. Ontologicamente, o mesmo se valeu da pós-modernidade crítica, especificamente da Queer Theory, a qual traz no seu bojo a desconstrução de todas as categorias convencionais de sexualidade e gênero. A pesquisa de campo se dividiu em 4 visitas a treze grandes empresas, no Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo, entre julho de 2005 e novembro de 2007, e a entrevistas com 95 indivíduos hétero, homo e bissexuais, divididos em quatro grupos. O primeiro foi composto por heterossexuais e o segundo por homo e bissexuais, que foram informados sobre o real objeto da pesquisa. Como foram observadas discrepâncias entre o que os heterossexuais declararam na entrevista e seus comportamentos no ambiente de trabalho, bem como comentários em grupo, foram trabalhados dois grupos de controle. O primeiro, composto por heterossexuais e o segundo, por homo e bissexuais, aos quais foram informados que o objetivo da pesquisa era a questão da saúde no ambiente de trabalho. As anotações de campo e as entrevistas foram transcritas e submetidas à análise do discurso e análise conversacional. As revelações da pesquisa de campo foram apresentadas em 5 partes: a dimensão individual, na qual se analisou o que significa não ser heterossexual; a dimensão social; o ambiente de trabalho em si; a estratégia de não assumir publicamente a orientação sexual e, finalmente, os resultados da pesquisa-controle feita tendo a saúde organizacional como pergunta investigativa. Este estudo revelou que, quando perguntados sobre práticas discriminatórias em função da orientação sexual, os homo e bissexuais masculinos e femininos, em sua maioria, confirmaram a existência das mesmas na sociedade e no ambiente de trabalho,bem como afirmaram já terem sido vítimas. Já os heterossexuais apresentaram um discurso politicamente correto e minimizaram a existência das mesmas. No entanto, ficou evidente que este último grupo, reproduzindo a lógica da hegemonia masculina, introjetou os estereótipos dos homossexuais, os quais foram construídos socialmente. Não raramente, esta discriminação é mascarada pelo senso de humor. Por outro lado, na pesquisa que teve como questão investigativa a saúde no ambiente de trabalho, os heterossexuais não hesitaram em externar mais sua visào heterocêntrica; os homo e bissexuais, por sua vez, não focaram as suas falas em práticas discriminatórias. No limite, em comum, ficou patente que a orientação sexual de um indivíduo, por si só, é apenas um dado categórico, que não necessariamente é fator isolado de discriminação, já que esta também abrange questões como gênero, etnia, classe social e senso estético.

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