Att växa upp i dagens samhälle som tjej kan vara mycket förvirrande och alla normer kring hur tjejer bör vara gör det inte lätt. Idag har ungefär från 2 % till 5 % av Sveriges flickor och kvinnor diagnosen ADHD. Tidigare forskning kring ADHD har varit i relation till killars ADHD och diagnosen har setts som en ”kill-diagnos”. Denna studie studerar hur tjejer upplever sin ADHD och hur de rådande diskurserna formar deras syn på diagnosen. I uppsatsen används en diskursanalys för att belysa vilken roll diskurser kan ha för just tjejer med ADHD. Unga tjejer med ADHD missas ofta på grund av att man stoppar dem i kategorier såsom ”hormonella tonårstjejer” och detta kan leda till stora svårigheter med ångest i framtiden. Uppsatsen visar att tjejerna i studien begränsas av normer gällande ”vanliga” tjejer där de har svårt att leva upp till dessa förväntningar. Detta kan leda till att tjejer antingen känner sig missanpassade och avvikande, vilket i sin tur leda till en snedvriden självbild. Tjejerna i studien ser samhället som en motkraft för deras välbefinnande och sin personliga utveckling. Motståndet och frustrationen som tjejerna uttrycker mot samhällets snäva normer kring tjejer visar på att det krävs nya olikheter inom diskurser eller eventuellt nya diskurser. Studien visar på att det krävs mer variation för att inkludera fler olika slags förväntningar på tjejer och hur tjejer är. Studien belyser hur tjejer med ADHD skriver och upplever sin ADHD, och hur de upplevde diagnosen i yngre år. Studien bidrar till forskning om tjejer och till forskning om diskurser kring genus och diagnoser och bidrar även till ett nytt perspektiv på psykisk ohälsa i samband med diskurser gällande ADHD och andra liknande diagnoser.

For a long time, few historical studies have focused on the life of girls, especially rural, working class girls’ experiences. Within the field of Swedish educational history, scholars have tended to delve into the lives of the daughters of the bourgeoisie rather than the girls in the public elementary schools (folkskolan). Because of this, the dominant image that comes to mind when thinking of a turn of the century schoolgirl is someone from the upper class attending an all girls’ school. This master’s thesis aims to widen both the field of girlhood studies and that of educational history by looking at the “process of girling” taking place in the Swedish public elementary school between 1900 and 1930. A starting point is the notion explored by Judith Butler and Fanny Ambjörnsson: that gender is a result of repeated actions, such as running in a certain way, playing with your friends, or wearing specific clothes – or the absence of these actions. This thesis explores these actions, in addition to the reaction of the worlds around them. Utilizing data collected from nine school related questionnaires sent out between the 1950s and 1990s by The Institute for Language and Folklore, it compares the experience of an average schoolgirl with the dominant bourgeoisie ideal and the ideal taken from a dominant periodical for public elementary school teachers. Actions of resistance, queer or “skeva” acts and how they play a part in the process of girling, will also be explored. The primary conclusion drawn from the analysis of this material is that the situation for working class girls differs somewhat from that of more privileged peers, as well as the ideal constructed in the periodical. While girls from the bourgeoisie were also expected to fulfill the role of wife and mother, the conditions differed. One example is the kind of rural crafts or handicraft made by the working class girls from an early age. This activity was an important contribution the economy of the family and definitely not a past time as it was in the upper class. Even though a ban on child labor had been passed, it seemed as though children working was a very normalized part of life in rural areas as more often than not, it was children that were responsible for bringing water into the classroom and tending the iron stove. The possibilities for working class girls appears to have been limited continuing into the 1920s as the only secondary education available for a majority of the girls was in domestic skills for the purpose of managing a private household. Although young women from the upper class were shut out from many professions, they still had greater access to higher education. On the contrary, most working class women did not even attend secondary school as evidenced by the source material report showing women staying on the home farm, or starting work somewhere else. Firmness and austerity of mind can be identified among the girls at a time where the everyday work at home and in school needed to be done and sulking simply was not an option. The many reports of actions of resistance to the social norm show that the limits of girlhood were constantly being challenged by the schoolgirls in the study.

I flickforskningen har en mängd flickgestalter undersökts. I denna uppsats studeras flickans konstruktion i relation till traditionella genuskonstruktioner och heteronormativitet. Mer specifikt utreds hur kropp och utseende, agerande samt sexualitet porträtteras och förhåller sig till flickskapet. Detta genom att jämföra två samtida ungdomsromaner: Mina smala axlars längtan (2017) av Maria Frensborg och Ingen normal står i regnet och sjunger (2016) av Sara Ohlsson. Metoden består utav en hermeneutisk och komparativ tolkning av romanerna. I analysen framkommer att flickskapen hos de båda karaktärerna ser olika ut, exempelvis hur de förhåller sig till femininitet och feminism, och att detta kan ses som en effekt av bland annat klass.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka den barnkulturella arenan tjejtidningen Frida och vilka villkor som skapas på insändarsidorna för de unga flickorna som läser tidningen. Syftet är även att undersöka vilket maktförhållande som skapas mellan flickorna och de vuxna som svarar på deras frågor. Detta görs genom att undersöka vilka diskurser som skapas för barn och flickor på tidskriftens Fridas insändarsidor samt hur dessa förändras över tid. Då fokus ligger på vilka diskurser som skapas och hur de påverkar maktfördelningen så används diskursanalys á la Foucault som både teori och metod för att göra en textanalys. Undersökningen kommer fram till flera olika sätt på vilka diskurser för både barn och flickor skapas, till exempel genom att skifta fokus från barnets fråga till den vuxnas egna agenda, eller genom att med sitt språk bekräfta eller korrigera barnets fundering. Diskurserna skapas med hjälp av de vuxnas tolkningsföreträde både i hur och vad de skriver i sina svar till barnen. Dessa diskurser förändras över tiden mer och mer till den syn vi har idag på flickor och barn. Slutsatser som kan dras är att flickorna som skriver in till tidningen trots det vuxna tolkningsföreträdet förhandlar om sitt flickskap och utmanar diskurserna när de får möjlighet.

Analyzing character portrayals in picture books is a well-researched area in the humanities, not least in literature and gender studies. It fulfills an important function as these depictions can be seen as confirming or challenging hegemonic notions of gender and age. Specifically, this study concerns the picture book character Mamma Mu. She has been a subject of interest for academic studies before this one. However, there are no studies centered around her age and how this affects whether her actions can be considered intelligible or not. Placed in the intersection of gender, literature and girlhood studies, and from a skew theory perspective as presented mainly by Maria Margareta Österholm (2012), the aim of this thesis is to study how Mamma Mu as an adult feminine subject exhibits different age-related expressions of femininity, and how she relates to notions of accepted behavior in relation to adulthood. Based on the extremes of expected as well as adult and skewed as well as childish femininity, this thesis thus argues that Mamma Mu exhibits an oscillating movement between these extremes.

The aim of this study is to analyze the girl in literature in the children´s book Heinähattu, Vilttitossu ja Rubensin veljekset. The data of this study consist of the illustrations and the text of the picture book. By using new feminist conceptions that were framed through a Nordic girl research collaboration, the description of the girl is examined in the girl book Heinähattu, Vilttitossu ja Rubensin veljekset (Heinähattu, Vilttitossu and the Ruben brothers) written by Tiina and Sinikka Nopola. The study shows that both the traditional good girl Heinähattu and  the badly behaving Vilttitossu are included, but also an interesting description of how both girls brake the stereotypical rules of gender.

This master’s thesis examines the Swedish gymnastics troupe, the Sofia Girls 1942-1964 from the perspective of gender and girlhood. The aim is to analyse the construction of the Sofia girl by their leader Maja Carlquist, the audience and the girls themselves, focusing on their characteristics, abilities and experiences. By applying Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the Gender contract on another subject than the housewife, the girl, it is possible to discover a more nuanced history on gender. The results show that through her leadership of the Sofia Girls, Carlquist created the idea of a particular kind of girl to present to the world. This girl was strong, yet feminine, natural, and resolved to the ideals of womanhood while also challenging them. The girls who adapted to this construction, therefore agreeing to this particular kind of gender contract, were given opportunities to travel and were situated in positions of responsibility. This gave them self-esteem as they continued their lives. Thus, by conforming to the ideals, opportunities were created for the girls rather than holding them back. In this sense, the Sofia Girls displayed signs of progress during a period where it was rare at best.

No description available.