This study intends to gain understanding of how mothers in the two first years postpartum feel about and relate themselves to the ideal of thinness. The empirical material is based on new mothers’ perceptions and experiences. The data is collected through a qualitative method based on interviews.   The study is interpreted by a social constructive perspective and the theoretical framework has been objectification theory and Connell’s theory of gender. Some of the theoretical concepts we have used to understand the mothers’ experiences are “norms”, “normative femininity” and “social stigma”. We also have used the thematic concept “the social body”, which is an understanding of the body as a carrier of social meaning   The results of the study show that new mothers have a problematic relation to their own bodies. This problematic approach to the body arises from the constant presence of the ideal of thinness and comments from the surroundings, as the norms of interpersonal relationships are modified during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The bodies of the new mothers become objectified by the comments from the surroundings and their bodies are therefore under social control.   The ideal of thinness has a big impact on the new mothers’ body perception. We have therefore identified four strategies that the mothers use to manage the ideal: 1. With the help of clothes the new mothers precede the social pressure that the ideal of thinness generates by concealing their bodies that they experience does not comply with the ideal; 2. The new mothers adapt their bodies to the ideal by physical exercise; 3. The new mothers adapt their bodies to the ideal by diet; 4. The new mothers use cognitive strategies to feel more at ease with their postpartum bodies, by thinking kind thoughts about themselves and their own bodies.

Fictions written between 1939 and 2005 by indigenous and white (post)colonial women writers who emerge from an African/European cultural experience form the focus of this study. Their voyages into the European diasporic space in Africa within the context of their texts are important since they speak of how African women's literature develops from, and is situated in relation to colonialism. African literature constitutes one facet of the new literatures in English from formerly colonised countries. However, the accomplishments of indigenous writer Grace Ogot are eclipsed by the critical acclaim received by her male counterparts, whilst Elspeth Huxley, Barbara Kimenye and Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, who emanate from Western culture but adopt an African perspective, are not accommodated by the `expatriate literature' genre. Hence, indigenous and white (post)colonial women's narratives by authors issuing from an African/European cultural experience are brought together to foreground European influence as an apparent phenomenon common to both categorieso f writers, with consequencesfo r the representation of gender, identity, culture and the `Other'. The selected texts are set in Kenya and Uganda, and a main concern is with the extent to which the works are impacted upon by setting and intercultural influences. However, this thesis argues that the `African' woman's creation of textuality is at once the formulation and expression of female individualities and a transgression of boundaries. Furthermore, Kimenye and Macgoye's children's literature illustrates the representation and configuration of a voice and identity for the female `Other' and writer, which enables a re-negotiation of identity and subsequently a crossing of borders. No critical study combines indigenous and white settler women's fiction written from an African perspective and therefore this study extends current scholarly knowledge. Whilst the combination of texts together with the disparate (post)colonial backgrounds is unique, the study of Kimenye and Macgoye's African children's narratives in particular breaks new ground since there is currently no critical comparative study pertaining to indigenous and white postcolonial women's children's literature with an African perspective

Traditionally, much criminological research has focused on male complexities of confinement, sidelining the experiences of federally and especially provincially incarcerated women in Canada. This thesis seeks to capture some of the experiences and challenges faced by incarcerated women as they attempt to negotiate agency and maintain choice and control over their health and bodies while inside correctional institutions. In order to do so, this study draws from Foucaultian-inspired concepts of discipline, governance, regulation, power, and resistance as a means to theoretically analyze the daily, often strategic, actions of women prisoners. This research is qualitative, and emerges from the data secured through in depth interviews with twelve previously incarcerated women, who were asked to speak of their experiences inside Canadian prisons with respect to issues of choice and control over hygiene, diet, exercise, and access to over-the-counter medication. The data were coded and organized into three substantial themes: opportunity for choice or learned dependence, the ‘layering’ of punishment, and creating space for agency. The analysis revealed that incarcerated women attempt to manage and maintain control over their health but meet ongoing punitive carceral responses when making decisions about their bodies that conflict with institutional mandates, discourses, or goals. Without the opportunity to perform culturally accepted norms of health and femininity, women in prison fail to achieve a positive or ‘good’ womanly status, which comes to impact their self-worth, self-esteem, and identity. These findings create direct implications for Corrections, as they inevitably produce docile and institutionally dependent women rather than responsible and productive citizens, the stated rehabilitational goal of correctional services.

The purpose of this study is that through a discourse theoretical perspective, analyze young girls 'statements about living with self-injuring by sexual behavior. The aim is to locate the discourses that surround them, visualize how discursive constructions affect these young girls' identity as victims and/or actors in relation to self-injury, the sexual violence and in meetings with the professionals within the health authorities. In addition discourse theory as an analyze method, the authors also use Nils Christie's (2001) theory of the ideal victim and Ingrid Landers (2003) theoretical perspectives on normative femininity. The authors of the study show a diversity of discourses that surround the young girls. All discourses contain normative actor- and victim’s positions that young girls constantly are obliged to relate to, which partially conflict with social constructions of the idea of victim and femininity. These positions are assigned, claimed or opposition to, and characterizes not only the young girls self-image, but also how professionals within the health authorities look at them and what support and assistance that’s offered or deprived. Finally, the authors argue for a broader approach to young girls who self-injuring by sexual behavior, they can be both victims and actors and advocates a questioning of oppressive norms to detect and identify the young girls who self-injure by sexual behavior, when it is a prerequisite to widen their options and discretion.

Traditionally, much criminological research has focused on male complexities of confinement, sidelining the experiences of federally and especially provincially incarcerated women in Canada. This thesis seeks to capture some of the experiences and challenges faced by incarcerated women as they attempt to negotiate agency and maintain choice and control over their health and bodies while inside correctional institutions. In order to do so, this study draws from Foucaultian-inspired concepts of discipline, governance, regulation, power, and resistance as a means to theoretically analyze the daily, often strategic, actions of women prisoners. This research is qualitative, and emerges from the data secured through in depth interviews with twelve previously incarcerated women, who were asked to speak of their experiences inside Canadian prisons with respect to issues of choice and control over hygiene, diet, exercise, and access to over-the-counter medication. The data were coded and organized into three substantial themes: opportunity for choice or learned dependence, the ‘layering’ of punishment, and creating space for agency. The analysis revealed that incarcerated women attempt to manage and maintain control over their health but meet ongoing punitive carceral responses when making decisions about their bodies that conflict with institutional mandates, discourses, or goals. Without the opportunity to perform culturally accepted norms of health and femininity, women in prison fail to achieve a positive or ‘good’ womanly status, which comes to impact their self-worth, self-esteem, and identity. These findings create direct implications for Corrections, as they inevitably produce docile and institutionally dependent women rather than responsible and productive citizens, the stated rehabilitational goal of correctional services.

<p>Denna uppsats har som syfte att, genom kvalitativa intervjuer, belysa fem kvinnors intresse för spel (dator- och tv-spel) och hur dessa kvinnor i sin tur talar om spel som en del av sin identitet. Frågorna som ställs till empirin handlar om vilka erfarenheter informanterna har av spel som intresse och vilka slutsatser om deras spelande man kan dra av detta. Vidare får vi en inblick i hur det normala ser ut inom spelvärlden, utifrån informanternas berättelser. Sist men inte minst så ställs frågan vad föreställningarna om det normala inom spelvärlden får för konsekvenser för informanternas identitet, och därmed vad detta leder till gällande de möjligheter och begränsningar som dessa kvinnor ställs inför, i relation till sitt intresse och den värld som omger det. Uppsatsen visar på att det inte bara finns en norm för hur en kvinna ska vara som Gamer utan det finns också en normativ femininitet som man bör förhålla sig till. Studien visar också på att informanterna ständigt tolkas som avvikande (på ett positivt eller negativt sätt) och att detta i sin tur får konsekvenser för informanternas identitetsprocesser och de strategier som de använder sig av för att behålla spel som intresse.</p> / <p>The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the interests of five women regarding their relation to video and computer games, as well as how they intend to talk about games as reflecting a part of their own identity. The questions asked to empirics concerns the informants´ intrinsic experiences of games as an interest, and which conclusions that can be drawn according to these results. Further on, through the stories retold by the informants, an insight of what is normative within this specific sphere is provided. In addition, the important question of how the current normative conceptions in the field will affect the identity of the women is raised, and thereby possibilities and restrictions revealed, in relation to the interests of the informants and presuppositions of the surrounding society. The paper displays that there is not only one single norm for a female Gamer but also a normative femininity one should apply as a woman in the field. The survey also suggests that the informants often are referred to as deviant, both in a positive or a negative manner. This, moreover, seem to affect the internal identity processes of the informants as well as their strategies used to retain this specific interest.</p>

Denna uppsats har som syfte att, genom kvalitativa intervjuer, belysa fem kvinnors intresse för spel (dator- och tv-spel) och hur dessa kvinnor i sin tur talar om spel som en del av sin identitet. Frågorna som ställs till empirin handlar om vilka erfarenheter informanterna har av spel som intresse och vilka slutsatser om deras spelande man kan dra av detta. Vidare får vi en inblick i hur det normala ser ut inom spelvärlden, utifrån informanternas berättelser. Sist men inte minst så ställs frågan vad föreställningarna om det normala inom spelvärlden får för konsekvenser för informanternas identitet, och därmed vad detta leder till gällande de möjligheter och begränsningar som dessa kvinnor ställs inför, i relation till sitt intresse och den värld som omger det. Uppsatsen visar på att det inte bara finns en norm för hur en kvinna ska vara som Gamer utan det finns också en normativ femininitet som man bör förhålla sig till. Studien visar också på att informanterna ständigt tolkas som avvikande (på ett positivt eller negativt sätt) och att detta i sin tur får konsekvenser för informanternas identitetsprocesser och de strategier som de använder sig av för att behålla spel som intresse. / The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the interests of five women regarding their relation to video and computer games, as well as how they intend to talk about games as reflecting a part of their own identity. The questions asked to empirics concerns the informants´ intrinsic experiences of games as an interest, and which conclusions that can be drawn according to these results. Further on, through the stories retold by the informants, an insight of what is normative within this specific sphere is provided. In addition, the important question of how the current normative conceptions in the field will affect the identity of the women is raised, and thereby possibilities and restrictions revealed, in relation to the interests of the informants and presuppositions of the surrounding society. The paper displays that there is not only one single norm for a female Gamer but also a normative femininity one should apply as a woman in the field. The survey also suggests that the informants often are referred to as deviant, both in a positive or a negative manner. This, moreover, seem to affect the internal identity processes of the informants as well as their strategies used to retain this specific interest.

Syftet med studien är att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur manliga- och kvinnliga mördare porträtteras i nyhetsmedia samt de eventuella skillnader som finns i porträtteringen. Fokus ligger på att se om det finns ett tydligt mönster för hur dessa fyra mördare porträtteras i media samt skillnader mellan en manlig mördare och en kvinnlig mördare som har begått snarlika brott. Tidigare forskning har visat på att det finns skillnader i porträtteringen när det kommer till manliga förövare och kvinnliga förövare. Man har kunnat se att kvinnliga förövare smutskastas mer av media än manliga förövare. För att undersöka porträtteringen av mördare i media utgår denna studie utifrån en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Materialet i studien består av 40 svenska nyhetsartiklar varav 10 artiklar på vardera mördaren från olika svenska tidningar. Detta material har sedan analyserats med hjälp en innehållsanalys. Resultatet från analysen visar att kvinnliga mördare porträtteras i media utefter det brott de har begått samt deras normbrytande beteende. När det kommer till de manliga mördarna så porträtteras dessa endast utefter det brott som de har begått. Slutsatsen som kan dras av studien är att det finns ett mönster hur man porträtterar manliga mördare mot hur man porträtterar kvinnliga mördare. Kvinnliga mördares beteenden och karaktär anses vara mer avvikande vid denna typ av brott än manliga mördares. Vilket gör att man kan dra likheter från tidigare forskning och därav se ett mönster i porträtteringen i media. Svenska nyhetstidningar har en tendens att beskriva kvinnliga mördare på ett komplext sätt genom att porträttera deras brott samt normbrytande beteende vilket leder till ett större fokus och mer skriverier kring kvinnliga mördare i nyhetsmedia än manliga mördare. / The aim of this study is to create a deeper understanding about how male- and female murderers are depicted in the news and to see if there is any difference in the depiction. The focus is to see if there is a pattern between four murderers, two female and two males, and how they are depicted in the media. We also want to see if there is a difference between male and female murderers who committed similar crimes. Previous research shows that there is a difference in how the depiction of male and female murderers. Female offenders are more often befouled then their male counterpart. To examine how the media depict the murderers this study originates from a qualitative content analysis. The material that we base our study on is 40 Swedish articles from different media, ten articles on each murderer from different newspapers. The results we found were that the female murderers are portrayed by media by their crime and norm-breaking behavior. The male murderers are portrayed only after their crime. The conclusion is that we can see a pattern in how media depict male and female murderers and that there is a differs in-between male and female murderers. Swedish newspapers tend to describe female murderers in a more complex way by depicting their crimes and norm braking behavior which leads to a bigger focus and more articles revolving female murderers in the news then male murderers.