The purpose of this study was to examine which kind of expressions of the woman that were present in the selected advertising images and how they could affect how women are represented. A qualitative content analysis was conducted. The six most liked CAIA Cosmetics Instagram posts from their lipstick campaign in 2019 were chosen and analysed. The study used a denotative and connotative analysis of the pictures. In conclusion this study showed that the analysed pictures contained a sexualised, objectified, and stereotypic way of portraying women. We found expressions that showed that looks were more important than skills and that the woman’s place was at home being good-looking. We also found the expression of that the pictures sold the feeling of desire. The desire was built on a narcissistic notion of selfimprovement and an illusion of that acquiring a product will make you beautiful, sexy, successful, and thereby desirable.

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Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker porträtteringen av den normativa kvinnokroppen på plattformen Instagram till följd av trenden kroppspositivism. Syftet med vår studie är att genom en semiotisk bildanalys, undersöka huruvida två klädföretag följer trenden kroppspositivism i sina samarbeten med influencers på Instagram. Studien ämnar även till att undersöka huruvida de två företagen följer sina slagord om att bryta ny mark och vara tillgängliga för alla kvinnliga kroppsformer. Studiematerialet är hämtat från Instagram och influencerna som är valda för studiens analys är hämtade från Na-kd och Boohoos hemsidor. Analysen utförs med hjälp av semiotik, vilket både är en teori och metod där verktygen denotation och konnotation har använts. Med hjälp av en forskningsöversikt om olika kroppsideal och teoretiska ramverk som social jämförelse och The Male Gaze har analysen delats in i tre teman; kroppstyp, posering och digital redigering av kvinnokroppen. Studiens resultat påvisar ett smalhetsideal där de influencers som undersökts i analysen ingår i normen. Kvinnokropparna kunde till viss del skilja sig åt men kvinnorna gestaltade fortfarande ett smalhetsideal, vilket tyder på att varken företaget Na-kd eller Boohoo har anammat kroppspositivismen utifrån sina val av influencers på Instagram. Resultatet visade även att klädföretagen inte följde sina slagord om att vara normbrytande och tillgängliga för alla kvinnor. / This qualitative study examines the portrayal of the normative woman’s body on Instagram and how the trend of body positivism is followed on that platform. The purpose of our study is, through semiotic image analysis, to investigate whether two fashion companies’ follow the trend of body positivism in their collaborations with influencers on Instagram. The study also intends to investigate how the two companies follow their slogans of being norm-breaking and accessible for all female body types. The study material is collected from Instagram and the influencers selected for this study are selected from Na-kd and Boohoo’s websites. The analysis is performed using semiology, which is both a theory and a method where the tools denotation and connotation have been used. With the help of a research overview on different body ideals and theoretical frameworks such as social comparison and The Male Gaze, the analysis has been divided into three themes; body type, posing and digital editing of the female body.  The study’s results show a narrow ideal where the investigated influencers of the analysis are included in the norm. The women’s bodies could differ to some extent, but they all embodied a narrow-minded ideal, which indicates that neither Na-kd nor Boohoo has embraced body positivism based on their choice of influencers on Instagram. The results also showed that none of the fashion companies followed their slogans about being norm-breaking and accessible to all women.

Critical examination on the topic of gender representation, sexualisation, video gamecharacters and their designs is not untreated ground, and has been analysed using variousmethods; qualitatively, quantitatively (Tompkins & et. al., 2020), and textually. However,these analyses are often analysed from the assumption that the consumer of video game mediais male, cis, and heterosexual. This assumption is not unfounded, but ignores the experienceof the part of the population that does not fit this description. Therefore, the research question;“How is gender represented in Street Fighter V, when analysed from different gazes?” A textual corpus analysis on Street Fighter V: Champion Edition was performed using gazetheory as a theoretical framework. It was found that although the male gaze applied in almostevery point of the study, instances where the queer gaze applied could still be found. / Kritisk examination runt könsrepresentation, sexualisation, videospelkaraktärer och derasdesign är ej otrampad mark, och har blivit analyserad under mångfaldiga metoder; kvalitativt,kvantitativt, och textuellt. Dock så är dessa analyser ofta analyserade från antagandet attkonsumenten av videospelmedia är cis, heterosexuell, och manlig. Detta antagande är inteogrundad, men ignorerar upplevelsen av elen av populationen som ej passar dennabeskrivning. Därav utforskningsfrågan; “Hur är kön representerad i Street Fighter V, näranalyserad från olika blickar?” En textuell korpusanalys som använder sig blick-teori som teoretiskt ramverk av StreetFighter V: Champion Edition var genomförd. Det var funnet att trots att den manliga blickenkunde appliceras i varje punkt i studien, exempel där den queera blicken kunde appliceraskunde fortfarande hittas.

The Norwegian Tv-series Exit displays the lives of four rich financiers that has it all: money, careers, and families. However, they are bored and escape their family lives by the use of drugs, sex and violence. The Tv-series display badly treated women in various scenes, they are either prostitutes or housewives. Exit has been watched by 1,3 million people in Norway and been called “this year's most disgusting Tv-series” and “chock porn”. The attention and major reactions this Tv-series has been given led to this analysis of the power relations between men and women. This study examines how power is constructed in relation to gender, with a critical discourse analysis with semiotic elements. The theoretical framework includes theories concerning gender, power, master’s suppression techniques and The Male Gaze. The eight scenes that the empirical material was based upon demonstrates power relations and gender inequality: men are portrayed as powerful and women are portrayed as subordinated and/or as objects, rather than individuals. On the other hand, two of the men are portrayed as weak and passive in two of the scenes, this indicates that power is changeable. The male dominance is often exercised by the use of master suppression techniques like derision, objectification and imposition of guilt and shame. The male dominance exercised is legitimized by the gender system and by men’s financial advantage which gives them power over the women in the series. Aspects was also found which show the producers’ critique against the male characters' behavior. A risk, however, is that the critique does not reach the viewers and instead reproduces the critique that they want to communicate.

Though Sylvia Plath’s poems and novel undergo frequent scholarly research, her short fiction is often overlooked. Plath’s journals influenced her short fiction writing, and her stories reflected Plath’s lived experiences. Plath’s short fiction, like her other works, explore themes of identity and detachment. Each of her protagonists exist in a personal limbo, and they strive to find their identities and to fit the roles in which they occupy. This thesis focuses on “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom,” stories from Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, and additional research from scholarly journals and biographies, with comparisons to identity struggles shown in The Bell Jar and The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. I found the catalysts for their identity crises stem from observations surrounding femininity, societal roles, and psychological wellness. Furthermore, this research shows Plath’s subjective writing habits and highlights her protagonists’ commonalities throughout her writing career.

I denna uppsats tittar jag på utdrag av Victoria’s Secrets och Savage x Fentys bildflöden på Instagram, för att med hjälp av en semiotisk analys se hur de representerar kvinnlighet som en del av deras marknadsföring. Syftet är att undersöka skillnaden mellan märkenas visuella varumärkesbyggande, och hur det står i samband till konsumenters personliga identitetsbyggande. Resultatet analyseras utifrån litteraturstudier i form av vald teori kring representation, genus, distinktion, klass och märkeskultur. I min slutsats kommer jag fram till att de två märkena använder sig av liknande tecken som är olika kodade för att referera till kvinnlighet, och därför genererar olika budskap. På så sätt utvecklar de två flödena kulturella särdrag som konsumenter kan ta till sig som en del av sitt personliga varumärkesbyggande. / In this paper I examine excerpts from Victoria’s Secret’s and Savage x Fenty’s feeds on Instagram with the help of a semiotic analysis in order to see how they each represent women as a part of their marketing. The purpose is to investigate the difference between the two brand’s visual branding, and how it correlates to consumer’s personal branding. The result is then analysed with the help of selected theories regarding representation, gender, distinction, class and brand culture. In my conclusion I conclude that the two brands use similar signs that are coded differently to refer to femininity, and thus generates different messages. The two brands thus develop cultural characteristics that consumers can adopt as part of their personal branding.

This essay investigates the character Rhysand from Sarah J. Maas’ popular Young Adult series A Court of Thorns and Roses through a feminist perspective. Maas’ series has gained popularity since the release of the first novel in 2015, yet there has not been much academic analysis of it. Instead, most analyses of the series have taken place online, on social media websites such as TikTok and Twitter. This essay focuses on Rhysand and aims to investigate how his masculinity, as well as power, is constructed, and how these notions work together in the way he treats the main female character, Feyre. The essay demonstrates that Rhysand’s masculinity leans more towards a traditional kind; that there is a link between power, violence, and pleasure for him; and that he actively enjoys utilizing his traditional masculinity and patriarchal power through objectifying Feyre in multiple ways. Lastly, it emphasizes the effect of Feyre’s narration – how it is through her focalization that Rhysand is characterized, and his masculinity, power, and objectification are mediated.

This essay focuses on a comparative analysis of costume and makeup presented in the two drag queen road-movies To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar! (1995) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). These movies have similar settings with a group of three drag queens traveling across the country to participate in their big show. The primary main focus of this essay has been to analyze the costumes and makeup that are worn by the three main characters in their drag in each film and what it can say about gender and performativity presented in each film. A semiotic analysis was used as a method to analyze selected sequences and Bordwell and Thompsons (2017) segment about costume and makeup as a part of mise-en-scene was used. The results from each movie were later compared. Other theories that were applied were Judith Butler’s theory (2006) about gender performativity, Richard Dyer (1999) on stereotypes and Laura Mulvey's theory (1999) about the male gaze. The results show that Too Wong Foo focuses more on conforming existing women's gender roles with costumes that could be connected to luxury brands in the connotation, while Priscilla has a more exaggerated approach that was likened to shows on Broadway in the connotation.  The individual project was based on a folder from Samiskt informationscentrum (SIC) and resulted in two short animated movies about Sámi in Sweden and Sápmi.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate The Woman with the Puppets by Isobel Gloag from a feminist perspective, to find how it challenge the male gaze and patriarchy. I also seek to understand how other female artists past and present compare to Gloag’s painting. The method is Panofsky’s iconology with modifications through Aavitsland’s thoughts of the grammatical structure that the composition holds. To reach social bearings upon the ability to generate this type of historical genre painting Bourdieu’s toolbox of capital, habitus and strategies has been applied. The painting is a feminist expression of the feminist discussions regarding marriage, equality and law that took place at the time of the paintings creation. Through the use of established norm with an ambiguity, female nude and male marionette puppets, the male gaze and patriarchy is challenged. Gloag is the only female artist of her time that has generated a history genre painting in a feminist spirit that challenges multitude of issues in one composition.