Research shows that physical touch is essential to human well-being. At the same time there is a fear in society about the subject. The preschool curriculum, Lpfö 18, emphasizes that children's integrity must be taken into consideration in parallel with the fact that children should be treated based on their individual needs. Our study is based on examining how educators navigate based on this. The purpose of our research is to investigate how educators talk about physical touch. How do educators reason about which children it is offered to and for what purpose physical touch is given? The study consists of qualitative interviews with five educators. The empirical analysis is analyzed from a care-ethical perspective as well as an intersectional perspective in order to document similarities and differences from the educators' stories. The result shows that the concept of physical touch creates a fear among educators of violating the child's integrity, which can result in a taboo perspective. Despite this, educators use physical touch as a tool to increase the child's well-being. They find the benefits to be greater than their fear. The educators state that the purpose of physical touch is to treat the child well, give love and to guide the child. It is mainly children who give clear signals of being in need of physical touch who are given access to the educator's closeness. Based on the results and from an intersectional perspective, our conclusion is that younger girls are the category that get the most physical touch. Although physical touch is seen as a natural element in the profession, the meaning of physical touch is rarely discussed among educators.

Research tools to identify sensitive topics and thus new opportunities to design for have grown in popularity in the last twenty years within HCI, with many projects and areas to note. However, the research tools used are still underdeveloped (Crabtree, 2003), and many universal designs of the 20th century have failed to develop for more sensitive areas, bar the conventional young, non-disabled, white, cis-male (Clarkson, 2003). The topics discussed in the thesis are reviews and arguments for the use of an adapted cultural probe’s place to research sensitive topics, identify perhaps previously hidden “sensitive-HCI” (Waycott et al. 2015) design spaces. The focus is on the tools to gather data, and discover design opportunities, rather than the particular and actual findings from the study.

The topic of menstruation has gained traction in the last couple of decades amongst critical menstruation scholars and feminist theorists, but it was not until 2015 (“The Year of the Period”) that the topic of menstruation entered mainstream conversations, and policymakers across the globe started taking tangible steps towards menstrual equity. Yet, there is little sociological work done on menstruation, an experience that is still shrouded in stigma and taboo in many cultures. To address this gap, this study aims to explore the experiences of menstruation among young women in the Swedish context.  This study uses a phenomenological approach and is based on 10 interviews with 18 young women in a Stockholm high school. From the interview data, four major themes arose: maturity, solidarity, fear & panic, and personal vs. political. These findings shed light on the complexity and situatedness of the menstrual taboo and highlight how strong social bonds and feelings of solidarity help the young women find embodied worth and develop prevention strategies. Overall, this research contributes to our understanding of the social and cultural significance of menstruation in the Swedish context amongst young Gen Z women.

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In Sweden today it is problematic to talk about the woman's sex. Many women are embarrassed over their sex, nor do they have particularly strong knowledge of their sex or its functions. Language difficulties also contribute to problems for Swedish women when they come in contact with a professional who works with the female sex. In our study we have researched which denomination is most commonly used for the female sex and also how the public sees the word “fitta”. We have researched if the female body is a linguistic taboo and how this is shown in the meeting between women with problems and professionals. Our results have revealed that “underliv”, “slida” and “vagina” is the most common names, and this may be because these terms are primarily used in the medical discourses. The word “fitta” is problematic because the negative contexts it occurs in hampers the use of the word in its proper sense. Our conclusion is that the female sex is probably not a linguistic taboo, but it is very charged and difficult to talk about which is confirmed by our informants and respondents. This makes it complicated for both the professionals as well as for those patients seeking help. We think that the linguistic problems around the woman's gender shouldn't exist and instead should be allowed to be something nice and beautiful that no one should be ashamed of. We see it as a right to be able to talk about the woman's sex unabashedly.

In July 2020 France returned 24 human remains to Algeria, designating it as a ‘loan’ renewable every five years. These human remains, identified as skulls, by some considered as “war trophies”, were believed to belong to Algerian soldiers and tribal chiefs who fought against the French army’s invasion in the early 19th century. They are today buried in the Carré des Martyrs in Algiers, alongside other prominent figures from Algerian independence and politics. However, a New York Times investigation revealed in October 2022, that only 6 out of the 24 skulls had been clearly identified as belonging to resistance soldiers, while the rest were either of uncertain provenance or imprisoned thieves, and three were of soldiers of Algerian origin who had fought in the ranks of the French Army.  This thesis explores the intricate details, perspectives and interpretations that led to this contentious restitution. It argues that, while few people theoretically opposed the restitution, numerous complicated factors made the restitution multilayered and complex, and culminated in the oxymoronic notion of a permanent ‘loan’. The thesis analyses the various reasons behind the conclusions presented by The New York Times article. Three major groups significantly influenced the outcome of restitution: civil society, museums, and governments. The central argument revolves around the general taboo that has long existed regarding the crimes committed in the former French colonies, the reluctance of museums and the Ministry of Culture to accept restitutions, and the political exploitation of restitutions of cultural property and human remains for diplomatic, nationalistic and economic purposes.

Technology tends to evolve over time, leading over things to evolve with it. One example may be the evolution of weapons with technological advancement. When these weapons change, it changes how war is conducted. This paper seeks to delve into the specifics of this phenomena. With technological advancement, the world has seen new threats such as lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) and cyber weapons. New weapons have been, at times, too threatening. They have created so much stigma around themselves the international community ultimately decided against their use. These weapons may then receive a weapon taboo, discouraging their use. This paper seeks to analyze whether the aforementioned emerging technology weapons – LAWs and cyber weapons – may deserve a taboo. The paper will utilize case studies by examining weapons which were previously given a taboo. By determining why other weapons - specifically chemical and biological weapons (CBWs) and nuclear weapons - received a taboo, this paper will determine whether LAWs and cyber weapons also meet the criteria.

Taboo and noa in communication. Realization of linguistic taboos in the print media. This thesis deals with issues of the taboo and noa in language and communication. The core of this thesis is to identify the essential tabooed themes in contemporary society and ways of their linguistic realization in the print media. In the theoretical part of this thesis is the first explained substance of the terms such as taboo, noa, communication and linguistic taboos with regard to the interrelations between these terms. In the empirical part are then defined tabooed themes occurring in the concrete texts of the diary Mladá fronta DNES and Blesk and of the periodical Rytmus života and ways of their linguistic grasping. The thesis focuses above all on the manifestations of speech restrictions in the lexical plan of the language.

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The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the role of Swedish literature for adolescents in the French literary scene in the early 2000s. The sociology of literature constitutes the main theoretical framework of this thesis. Drawing from examples that broach the sensitive topic of "unprovoked violence" as it is treated in two Swedish novels for teenagers, Spelar död [Play Death] by Stefan Casta and När tågen går förbi (Train Wreck) by Malin Lindroth, this thesis shows how these novels are innovative in Even-Zohar’s sense of the term, as addressed in his Polysystem Theory (1990). By introducing "unprovoked violence" and violent teenagers via a realistic genre, such works filled a vacuum in the French system and injected a new dynamic into it. This dynamic makes it possible for new literary models to be introduced in the system and to change the standards of that system. The analyses of the French and Swedish receptions of the two novels mentioned above show that they gave rise to a moral panic in France, which is not an unusual thing to happen in periods of ongoing change. This also clarifies the differences in norms between the two systems. The French system tends to reject dark topics, while the Swedish wishes to discuss them. The investigations of the translations of unprovoked violence show that adherence to Swedish norms determine the translation’s adequacy (Toury), which may be part of the reason for the stormy reception the two works received in France, and their undergoing censure. The position of translators and publishers in the literary system also plays a major role for a translated text not being censured during the transfer from one system to another. Even if the Swedish titles translated into French are few, this thesis shows that the impact of Swedish literature on adolescents in France is certain. By introducing new and sensitive topics, such novels could be early markers of an evolution of the French field of literature for adolescents.