The diploma thesis deals with representations of femininity and masculinity in Sluníčko magazine. These representations are examined through analysis of men, women, boys, girls and animal characters. The theoretical part defines gender order of contemporary society and its main characteristic. Then usual gender stereotypes in physical appearance, gender roles, interests and characteristics are defined. The diploma thesis then focuses attention to the gender socialization and concept of representations, which are defined as an instrument of power that helps to maintain androcentric order of society. Also the media are considered as significant and important tool of normalization and socialization. Another dimension of the thesis is mapping the "progress" of representations or comparing the two editions - edition n. 8 (published in 174/75) and edition n. 48 (published in 2015). In research the qualitative media analysis is used. It is focused on texts and picture illustrations of femininity and masculinity, therefore on characters. These characters are analysed through four categories - Physical appearance, Gender roles, Activities and interests, Characteristics, while the central categories are "Vacant" femininity and Counterfactuality, which are present throughout the content of both editions. Key...

This thesis focuses on the presentation of the so-called migration and refugee crisis of 2015- 2016 in the news coverage published by the main Czech daily newspapers. The thesis is a gender analysis of media messages during that period. In the framework of this thesis, I have analysed through qualitative content analysis written media reports as well as photographs of newly arrived migrants and other visual materials published in the media in order to illustrate migrants in Czech daily newspapers Blesk, Lidove noviny, Mlada fronta Dnes, and Pravo during the month of January 2016. The thesis focuses on how masculinity/femininity is constructed in media messages. Furthermore, the thesis looks into the construction and representation of otherness through media messages dedicated to so-called migration crisis. The aim of the thesis is to critically assess how newly arrived migrants are depicted by the main four Czech dailies, and to analyse and explain the mechanisms through which certain characteristics associated with newly arrived migrants are emphasised or suppressed. Key words: Media - gender - masculinity - femininity - migration - migration crisis - refugee crisis - religion - ethnicity - otherness

This thesis examines the novels Die Entdeckung der Currywurst, written by the German author Uwe Timm in 1993 and Der Vorleser, written by the German author Bernhard Schlink in 1995. In each story the main protagonist is a woman. Incorporating the ideas of the feminist movement, the thesis focuses on the notion that the literary role of women does not coincide with realistic representations of women rather it derives from traditionally stereotypical images of a femme fatale or a femme fragile. The goal is to analyse the depiction of women as literary protagonists in both novels. Do they truly comply with the traditional images of feminism or are there certain traits that deviate?

The aim of this study was to discover if there has been any changes regarding the male ideal in YA literature over time based on the gender related changes that recently have taken place in the Swedish society. The investigation is completed through a comparative analysis of the male characters in Katarina von Bredow’s Syskonkärlek (1991) and Klättra Uppåt (2020) from the female protagonists’ perspective. This is done against the context based of the historic inequality rooted in gender norms together with patterns in romance literature. The female protagonists’ choice of man together with the use of moral characters are the main sources in validating who the ideal male is in each novel. Concepts such as R.W. Connells ‘hegemonic masculinity’ and Thomas Johansson’s theory about demasculinity detects hierarchies among the male characters which are later included in the conclusion. Through the analysis the discovery of some changes are made which states that the fear of femininity has reduced over time and that the use of dominance through anger and violence has become less desirable in men. This change in values could be an effect of the changes in the Swedish society regarding the fact that YA literature often has been put in the position of holding a moral responsibility and therefore is known for depicting contemporary norms and values.

La littérature analytique tend à situer l'enjeu du désir de la femme comme celui d'être désirée, c'est-à-dire à réduire l'expression de son désir à celui d'un consentement au désir de l'Autre. Mais que se trame-t-il du désir chez la femme, au-delà du consentement à « se faire objet » ? Il n'est là nullement question de dégager un désir féminin pur, mais bien de repérer les spécificités de la mise en jeu du désir chez la femme dans la relation sexuelle, c'est-à-dire d'explorer les enjeux et les angoisses spécifiques à l'expression de son désir, au regard de son inscription particulière dans la castration et de la place que lui assigne la relation sexuelle. La dimension du désir féminin ne semble pas pouvoir être abordée indépendamment de la façon dont chaque femme se confronte à la possible mise en énigme de la féminité, telle que celle-ci émerge, ou non, à travers le ravage de la relation à la mère. Le déploiement d'une réflexion sur les avatars de la construction de la féminité – dont l'étude du ravage se prolonge par l'exploration des vicissitudes du rapport de la femme à l'image et au corps – constitue donc le préalable nécessaire à l'abord de la problématique du désir. S'ouvrirait ainsi le repérage de trois logiques soutenant le mode particulier avec lequel la femme « se fait objet » : la logique du tout ou rien, relative à un traitement de l'énigme de la féminité saturée par un idéal et un appel au savoir ; la logique du court-circuit, révélant la non-advenue de la féminité comme énigme, féminité de l'ordre du trou noir ; la logique du pas-tout, signant l'acceptation de cette énigme et la latitude que génère cette négociation quant à l'angoisse. / The psychoanalytic literature tends to locate women's desire stake as to be desired, that is reducing her desire's expression to a consent of the Other's desire. But what weaves beyond the consent of « making oneself an object » ? There's not about distinguish a pure feminine desire, but to identify the specificities of a women desire playing in sexual relationship ; that is, to explore the specific stakes and angst of desire's expression, regarding her special registration in castration and the place that the sexual relatioshipn assigns her. The feminine desire's dimension can not be tackled regardless of the way each women confront herself to the mystery of femininity – as it emerges or not through the ravage of the mother's relation. The deployment of a thought based on the transformations of feminine construction forms the condition necessary to approach the problematic focusing on desire – the study on ravage explores the tribulations of women's relation to image en body. It is then possible to distinguish three logics by which women « make themselves an object » : the everything or nothing logic, the mystery of femininity is here saturated by an ideal and a call of knowledge ; the short-circuit logic , femininity is here approached on the bases of a black hole ; the not-all logic, based on the acceptation of this mystery and the latitude that this negotiation generates.

Solicitud de envío manuscrito de artículo científico. / El tema desarrollado en esta investigación se centra en la relevancia que ha tenido hablar de empoderamiento de la mujer en productos de higiene femenina y su relevancia en la percepción del tabú menstrual dentro de un público de mujeres adolescentes entre los 15 a 20 años de Lima que empiezan a descubrir e interactuar por primera vez con este ciclo natural. El caso que se tomó para esta investigación es de la campaña “El Rojo No Me Sonroja” de la marca de toallas higiénicas Nosotras en Perú. La importancia que tiene la presente tesis se da en los distintos aportes que ofrece al mercado publicitario, al sector académico y al contexto actual caracterizado por el empoderamiento femenino. En primer lugar, dentro del mercado de la publicidad permite tener nuevos enfoques en relación a la responsabilidad social que es a lo que apuntan las marcas de hoy en día al tener a un consumidor más preocupado por su contexto social. En segundo lugar, dentro del sector académico, su relevancia se enfoca en debatir más este tema y enriquecer el punto de vista existente por parte de otras investigaciones que tienen una postura de crítica con respecto a cómo ciertas marcas comunican el empoderamiento de la mujer en relación a productos de higiene femenina. En tercer lugar, tiene importancia para el contexto actual el cual se caracteriza por una ideología feminista que bus ca empoderar a la mujer en los diferentes ámbitos de su vida. El objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar la percepción de tabúes menstruales de las mujeres frente a discursos de empoderamiento. Nuestro hallazgo principal es que existe una incongruencia entre lo que las marcas tratan de comunicar como empoderamiento al hablar de la menstruación con las consecuencias que genera. En este caso, las marcas de toallas higiénicas dicen a sus consumidoras que se sentirán empoderadas siempre y cuando usen sus productos, creando prejuicios como que la sangre menstrual es sucia, poco higiénica y vuelve débil a la mujer. / The theme developed in this research focuses on the relevance of talking about the empowerment of women in feminine hygiene products and its relevance in the perception of the menstrual taboo within in an audience of adolescent women between the ages of 15 and 20 from Lima who they begin to discover and interact with this natural cycle for the first time. The case chose for this investigation is the campaign “El Rojo No Me Sonroja” of the sanitary pads brand Nosotras in Peru. The importance of this investigation is related to the different contributions it offers to the advertising market, the academic sector and the current context characterized by female empowerment. In the first place, within the advertising market it allows new approaches in relation to social responsibility, which is what today’s brands are aiming at by having a consumer more concerned about their social context. Second, within the academic sector, which relevance is focused on further debating this issue and enriching the existing point of view by other research that has a critical stance regarding how certain brands communicate the empowerment of women in relation to feminine hygiene products. Third, it is important for the current context, which is characterized by a feminist ideology that looks to empower women in the different areas of their lives. The objective of this research was determine the perception of menstrual taboos by women in the face of empowerment discourses. Our main finding is the incongruity between whats brands try to communicate as empowerment when talking about menstruation with the consequences it generates. In this case, the brands of sanitary pads tell their consumer that they’ll feel empowered as long as they use their products, creating prejudices such as that menstrual blood is dirty, unhygienic and makes women weak. / Trabajo de investigación

Taking selfies is a technique of self-monitoring, gaze and comparison, drawing from its regulatory force upon women. The photo-taking practice marks the surveillance of how individual gender performances fulfill the expectations of existing gender norms. The contemporary postfeminist hegemonic femininity presents woman as owning the right kind of dispositions, such as confidence or sexiness, in which case the area of the body plays a central role. In order to explore how performances of such femininity are constructed, this study uses content analysis to study the visual and textual content of Instagram posts. This master thesis analyses whether the Instagram users tagging posts #zanormalniholky (#fornormalgirls) are responsive through selfies to postfeminist femininity or rather use it as a form of resistance against the postfeminist discourse. Identity, including gender identity, is constituted through acts that purport to be its consequence. Selfies - as the results of this thesis show - have normative potential. Key words postfeminism, selfie, Instagram, social media, gender, self-portrait, self-presentation, feminism, #zanormalniholky, femininity, makeover paradigm

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.

Analyzing Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and linking trends of the Byronic hero that have merged into a variety of genres reveal that the hero is a mode of subversive gender expression, which has evolved within the Gothic through feminine desire. Delving into Bram Stoker’s Dracula will provide unique insight into the audience’s desires/expressions of gender. Finding the transition point from the monster vampire of Dracula to Stephanie Meyer’s desirous, sparkling boy-next-door in Twilight will track the trajectory of gender and sexual norms through time. From the foundational adaptation of the Byronic hero in Wuthering Heights to the repressed vampiric desire of Dracula, to queer desire/domestication within Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, ending with sparkling vampires of Twilight, we can invite the Byronic hero, which already supports rejection of societal expectations, into a genderless space, becoming a champion of desire absent from the constraints of gender and sexuality conformity.

This master thesis deals with feminist literary analysis of the works of writer Michal Viewegh, specifically his two prose novels Román pro ženy and Román pro muže using a method called resistant reading with a critical gender analysis and subsequent final comparison. This thesis consists of two parts, from the theoretical - methodological, which outlines the theoretical basis for the next analytical part. The key concepts are in the first part the researches of literary critics on Michal Viewegh, theories of Judith Fetterley, Elaine Showalter and Janice A. Radway. Furthermore, there are the theoretical basis of gender, and how gender stereotypes are constructed. This section is mainly based on the theorists Blanka Knotková - Čapková, Annis Pratt, Claire M. Renzetti and Daniel J. Curran and founder of analytical psychology Carl Gustav Jung. In describing femininity and masculinity are central lines theories of Naomi Wolf, Simone de Beauvoir and Pierre Bourdieu, Michael Kimmel and Robert Bly. The analytical part is the critical uncovering of gender stereotypes and power discourse. The conclusion is made by the final critical comparison of both novels. Key words: resistant reading, literary canon, gender stereotypes, masculinity, femininity, beauty myth, male domination, power