This Master's thesis explores representations of sexual agency in contemporary, Swedish novels for young adults. Using a representational theory approach the thesis analyzes 24 novels published in 2000 – 2013. Addressing the following research questions: how is sexual agency constructed and regulated relative to gender performativity in Swedish novels for young adults? How are situations of sexual abuse and sexual “grey zones” (situations that border on abuse) represented and being made intelligible in the texts? What are the consequences of representations of sexual agency? In the readings of the novels discourse analysis and theories on cultural representation and power have served as the critical points of entry, as well as the methodological basis for the study. Furthermore, social constructionist gender theory, feminist phenomenology, masculinity studies and feminist theory on sexuality and power are central to the textual analyses offered. The results show that teenage girls in youth novels typically fall in to two categories. The girl protagonists either tend to be represented as having little or no knowledge about their own body, sexuality, or sexual discourse generally, which prevents them from inhabiting sexual agency. Or the teenage girl protagonists tend to, on the contrary, have plenty of sexual knowledge as well as sexual experience, actively claim sexual agency and initiate sexual practices. However, these girls sexual behavior is sanctioned by means of social stigmatization and harassment. Moreover the material shows that compared to the girls teenage boys often are represented as having a desire based and relatively uncomplicated relation to their sexuality and body as well as more sexual knowledge. Nevertheless, as with the girls, the boys sexual agency is also severely circumscribed by norms of masculinity that require boys to prove themselves as heterosexuals and demonstrate a persistent desire to have sex at all times. The fact that representations of sexual abuse and sexual “grey zones” are very frequent in novels for young adults is a striking finding; ways that these representations are often left unproblematized in the novels is discussed as a result of destructive and stereotypical gender constructions.

This study examined gray areas within professional ethics of a public library organization and investigated the relationship between the library as an organization and the librarian as an employee when it comes to support and opportunities to make exceptions to rules and regulations. This relationship is then related to workplace issues.Data were gathered via interviews with six librarians who were placed into two focus groups. Library organization documents that contain rules and regulations (guidelines) were examined. The presumption was that conformity between librarians’ experiences and actions and the organization’s guidelines will tell us something about workplace conditions. The theoretical framework is derived from the work of Richard M. Hare, a moral philosopher who separates ethics into two levels: intuitive and critical. These levels are used to analyze the data.The main findings are that ethical awareness among the librarians is weak, and there is a tendency to call ethical issues approaches, rather than ethics. There is extensive support from the library organization for making exceptions, especially to ordinary library rules such as lending without a library card. But when it comes to what librarians understand as the most important and difficult task, i.e., ways in which visitors are approached, organizational support is inadequate. For the library organization, there is more to do to make the workplace more satisfying for librarians so that ethical gray areas can be minimized. / Program: Bibliotekarie