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This project examines the relationship between femininity and empowerment in George R. R. Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. It combines medieval historical context, psychological and sociological research, and feminist theory to construct a framework through which to discuss how power functions in Martin's fictional world of Westeros. With six key characters, I argue that femininity operates as a kind of natural resource anyone can use to access empowerment, regardless of how one personally identifies; further, I illustrate how these routes to power are ultimately more successful than others. Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Daenerys Targaryen are the most prominent figures I discuss at length, but Lord Varys, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, and Tyrion Lannister also serve as successful examples who additionally demonstrate the feminine as separated from sex and gender. Overall, I aim to illuminate how power is not exclusively accessed or utilized through masculinity or the rejection of the feminine, specifically by analyzing these six characters' empowerment. / Master of Arts / The heroes and heroines of fantasy fiction often access power by adopting masculine traits and rejecting femininity. But in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, characters who exhibit feminine traits and behaviors are more successful in accessing and maintaining power than those who do not. This project examines the characters of Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister, and Daenerys Targaryen—and also Lord Varys, Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, and Tyrion Lannister—through the lens of medieval history and feminist theory to show how those characters succeed by using femininity as a means of empowerment.

From the socially conservative 1950s to the permissive 1970s, this project explores the ways in which insanity in women has been linked to their femininity and the expression or repression of their sexuality. An analysis of films from Hollywood's post-classical period (The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Lizzie (1957), Lilith (1964), Repulsion (1965), Images (1972) and 3 Women (1977)) demonstrates the societal tendency to label a woman's behavior as mad when it does not fit within the patriarchal mold of how a woman should behave. In addition to discussing the social changes and diagnostic trends in the mental health profession that define “appropriate” female behavior, each chapter also traces how the decline of the studio system and rise of the individual filmmaker impacted the films' ideologies with regard to mental illness and femininity.

This paper analyses the characters Mina and Lucy in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, showing how they are juxtaposed in terms of femininity. By using feminist criticism and the concepts of the angel in the house, monstrous femininity, and the virgin/whore dichotomy, this paper explores how Mina represents the self-sacrificing, supportive, and wifely angel in the house, while Lucy represents the sexual, disobedient, and powerful monstrous female. This is analyzed through Mina’s interactions with the men, as well as through her view on femininity, and through Lucy’s interactions with the men and with Mina. This paper then explores how these differing gender roles lead to different outcomes for the two women. Mina is excluded but is able to be purified from vampirism while still alive. In contrast, Lucy, being a threat to British Victorian femininity, has to be killed and mutilated before her memory can be purified. How well the women fit into the male community’s view of the Victorian female ideal, with Mina fitting it the best, is found to be the reason for why Lucy suffers a worse fate than Mina.

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the everyday work of school counsellors in the City of Stockholm with a gender perspective by studying the school counsellors ́ talk about masculinity and femininity. The aim was to reach an understanding of how parts of the counsellors everyday work are influenced by gender through the perspective of the school counsellor. The study was conducted using qualitative methods. Six school counsellors, five woman and one man, were interviewed. An interview method called thematically open interview was used to identify themes regarding aspects of gender in the school counsellors ́ everyday work. The theoretical perspectives that were applied during analysis were Judith Butlers ́ theory on gender performativity and Mimi Shippers ́ theory on gender hegemony. A qualitative data analysis was conducted using hermeneutic principles for interpretation. The results show that the school counsellors gave femininity and masculinity three different meanings, that gender influenced varying aspects of the counsellors work including the interaction with teachers, pupils, parents and principal and that indications of gender hegemony could be found in the stories told by four of the school counsellors. Further some school counsellors experienced gender as an obstacle to a larger extent than others. / Syftet med denna studie var att belysa skolkuratorer i Stockholm stads vardagliga arbete ur ett genusperspektiv genom att studera hur skolkuratorer talar om maskulinitet och femininitet. Målet var att nå kunskap om hur delar av skolkuratorernas vardagliga arbete influeras av genus ur skolkuratorns perspektiv. För att genomföra studien användes kvalitativa metoder. Sex kuratorer intervjuades, fem kvinnor och en man. En Intervjumetod kallad tematiskt öppen intervju användes för att identifiera teman beträffande olika aspekter av genus i skolkuratorernas vardagliga arbete. Under analysen tillämpades Judith Butlers ́ teori om genusperformativitet och Mimi Schippers ́ teori om könshegemoni. En kvalitativ dataanalys genomfördes med hjälp av hermeneutiska tolkningsprinciper. Studiens resultat visar att skolkuratorerna gav femininitet och maskulinitet tre skilda betydelser, att genus influerade olika aspekter av skolkuratorernas arbete inklusive deras interaktion med elever, lärare, föräldrar och rektorer och att det är går att se tecken som tyder på förekomsten av könshegemoni i fyra kuratorers berättelser. Vidare upplevde vissa kuratorer i högre grad än andra kuratorer att genus utgjorde ett hinder i det vardagliga arbetet.

Women's magazines are popular cultural forms which offer readers representations intended to advise women on how to work towards and achieve idealised femininities. They perform such a function within the wider socio-historical context of gender relations. In a country such as South Africa, where patriarchal gender relations have historically been structured to favour men over women and masculinity over femininity, the representation of femininity in contemporary women's magazines may serve to reinforce or challenge these existent unequal gender relations. Informed by a feminist poststructuralist understanding of the gendered positioning of subjects through discourse, this study is a textual analysis that investigates the subject positions or possible identities offered to readers of Destiny, a South African business and lifestyle women's magazine. Black women, who make up the majority of Destiny's readership, have historically been excluded from the formal economy. In light of such a background, Destiny offers black women readers, through its representations of well-known business women, possible identities to take up within the white male dominated field of business practice. The magazine also offers 'lifestyle content', which suggests to readers possible ways of being in other areas of social life. Through a method of critical discourse analysis, this study critically analyses the subject positions offered to readers of Destiny, in order to determine to what extent the magazine's representations of business women endorse or confront unequal gender relations. The findings of this study are that Destiny offers women complex subject positions which simultaneously challenge and reassert patriarchy. While offering readers positions from which to challenge race based gender discrimination – a legacy of the apartheid past – the texts analysed tend to neglect non-racially motivated gender prejudice. It is concluded that although not comprehensively challenging unequal gender relations, the magazine whittles away some tenets of patriarchy.

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People around the globe rely on their mobile devices for instant access to entertainment and social media. Children comprise a large majority of individuals who use smartphone applications, particularly for gaming and learning opportunities. Understandably, these apps become part of the identity development process, including the formation of one's gender identity. App developers include gendered content to capture and maintain children's attention, but much of the existing research examines children in late childhood and early adolescence, leaving the ages of six to eight relatively undiscussed. The researcher utilized a thematic analysis to review 20 children's mobile applications for instances of gender stereotypes. Social cognitive theory offers a guiding principle for understanding the process of developing one's gender identity, as well as the role that external stimuli, such as digital media examples and parent models, play. This study aimed to determine whether mobile applications targeting the identified age group use gender stereotypes, as well as how they employ these stereotypes within the application. The researcher randomly selected 20 top children's applications on the Apple App Store and examined them for gendered instances, such as occupations and interests as well as character depictions. The results reflect that instances of gender stereotypes do occur in the children's mobile applications. Many of the applications portrayed feminine stereotypes surrounding nurturing and caregiving tasks ("Mommy in Training"), making it one of the most frequently exploited feminine stereotypes in the sample. The "Boys will be Boys" stereotype comprised the most frequently displayed masculine stereotypes across the studied applications. These findings represent the idea that society places higher value on these stereotypes than others, such as social relationships ("The Power of Motivational Friendship") or recklessness ("The Risk Taker"). Implications include modeling of traditionally masculine and feminine stereotypes for young users by utilizing popular characters recognizable by most children in the target age range. / Master of Arts / Handheld electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets, encompass some of the most widely used electronic devices in today's society. Most families in America have at least one mobile device with internet capability. Apple, the manufacturer of perhaps the most popular brand of electronic devices, pre-install their App Store on all devices they sell, giving users instant access to hundreds of thousands of different mobile applications that offer functions to make every aspect of life simpler. Young children spend a significant amount of their time playing games on these devices, although the American Academy of Pediatrics (2017) recommends that parents limit their children's daily screen time to no more than 2 hours, depending on the age of the child. The games that children download and play impose a number of different messages and stereotypes on their users, including gender stereotypes. Due to the substantial time children dedicate to these apps, the messages communicated regarding gender play crucial roles in the development of their gender identity. Social cognitive theory offers valuable insight and guidance into the gender identity development process. Therefore, the present study examines the gender stereotypes conveyed within 20 of the top children's mobile applications available on the Apple App Store in April 2018. The researcher randomly selected 20 children's applications, 10 each from the Top Free and Top Paid categories and examined them for gendered instances, such as occupations and interests as well as character depictions. The results reflect that instances of gender stereotypes do occur in the children's mobile applications. These represent the idea that society places higher value on certain stereotypes, like being caring and nurturing ("Mommy in Training") or engaging in messy, adventurous play ("Boys will be Boys"), than others, such as social relationships ("The Power of Motivational Friendship") or recklessness ("The Risk Taker"). Implications include modeling of traditionally masculine and feminine stereotypes for young users by utilizing popular characters recognizable by most children in the target age range.

Most people in Sweden have come into contact with the narratives from the Bible, through a children’s bible book. There exists several different kinds of these books for children. Two of the most popular is Barnens bibel and Bibel för barn, which are the explored subjects of this essay. The narratives conveys different norms and values, and it is therefore legitimate to investigate what they convey about women and femininity. Five female characters; Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Naomi and Ruth are the focus of the study. The stories underwent a narratological analysis to clarify the narrative structure. Furthermore, sex- and gender theory were applied on the narratives and showed that they in general express a dominant male norm, and dichotomy between the sexes. Keywords: children’s bible, femininity, narratology, sex- and gender theory

Bakgrund: Bröstcancer är en av de vanligaste cancerdiagnoserna bland kvinnor och varje år drabbas cirka 8000 kvinnor. När kvinnorna drabbas av bröstcancer kommer cancerbeskedet ofta oväntat och kan medföra ett stort lidande. Efter olika behandlingar sker en förändring av kvinnans kropp och kvinnorna upplever att deras kvinnlighet och identitet går förlorad. Kvinnorna måste lära sig att leva med och acceptera förändringen, detta är en daglig utmaning för många av kvinnorna. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser av att leva med bröstcancer. Metod: En kvalitativ datainsamling användes och åtta självbiografiska böcker skrivna av kvinnor som upplevt hur det är att leva med bröstcancer lästes. Biografierna analyserades med hjälp av en narrativ analys. Resultat: I analysen framkom tre kategorier; en förändrad livssituation, att inte vara ensam och en förlorad kvinnlighet. Diskussion: När kvinnorna drabbas av bröstcancer förändras deras livsvärld och ett lidande uppstår. Att övervinna cancern och öka välbefinnandet är det stora målet. För att klara av att leva krävs bra information och ett bra stöd. Möjligheten till en bättre hälsa kan då upplevas. Slutsats: Kvinnornas livsvärld förändras och behovet av stöd är viktigt. När sjuksköterskan har kunskap om kvinnornas upplevelser ökar förutsättningarna för personcentrerad vård.