<p>My study focuses on how heterosexuality became, and still is, the norm for sexuality in Namibia. My aim is to through interviewing young academics from University of Namibia and by using discourse analysis, queer- and postcolonial theory, try to find out how these young academics perceive sexuality. My findings are that my respondents perceive heterosexuality to be natural, normal and given by god, and that they perceive homosexuality to be ”a big no-no”. There are certain institutions in the Namibian society that regulates how the Namibian people thinks about sexuality, and my findings are that these are Christianity, culture, family, government, and the traditional picture of a good man and a good woman. The heteronormativity is present in many spheres of the Namibian society, and this study shows how.</p>

My intention with this essay has been to examine how men’s tears are portrayed in three chosen films and what their crying does to their masculinity. In my analysis I have used the concept of hegemonic masculinity. I have worked from the assumption that in our culture men’s crying is problematic in some sense. By using both a semiotic and a discursive method of analysis I have investigated why and how these men are crying, and I have mapped out the similarities and differences between the three films. My conclusion is that the effect on the crying man’s masculinity is largely dependant on the degree of his previous fulfillment of hegemonic masculinity.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the ways in which the constructions of heterosexuality and gender in three Disney movies about princesses affect the power relations between men and women in the movies, and how discourses on gender and heterosexuality have changed over time. Research questions were: How do characters in the movies talk about gender and heterosexuality? How does the interplay between gender and heterosexuality affect the power relations between men and women in the movies? What are the likenesses and differences between movies from different time periods? Discourses were mapped out using a model based on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s political theories. These discourses were then analyzed with a theoretical framework consisting of Yvonne Hirdman’s concept of gender system and gender contracts, Judith Butler’s view on the heterosexual matrix and an understanding of power relations based on Michel Foucault. Results showed that the construction of gender and heterosexuality are intimately connected, as the main character’s desire or lack of desire for the prince was central to the plot in all three movies. Results also indicate that the most recent film was the most subversive in terms of constructions of gender and heterosexuality. Power relations between men and women remained relatively stable through all three movies, since most expressions of opposition did not really challenge patriarchal norms.  My conclusion is that the development of gender portrayal in popular culture is going in the right direction, since women and girls now have access to a wider spectrum of gender expressions as exemplified in this study. But the lack of men venturing into areas and displaying behaviour traditionally associated with women suggests a reinforcement of a patriarchal structure where masculinity is viewed as preferable to femininity. This view is limiting men’s possibilities of expressing themselves, as well as downgrading women who express femininity.

This qualitative study aims to study how sexuality is constructed in web articles on the movie Fifty Shades of Grey. The study is based on a social constructivist perspective where language is seen as constitutive of reality. The study is based on a Foucauldian discourse analysis which is used in order to see what is excluded and included in the articles’ construction of normal sexuality. The result shows that there are similarities in how the web articles produce normal sexuality. Firstly, sexuality is constructed as partner violence, where men are depicted as superior to women and heterosexual sexuality depicted as normal, resulting in homosexual sexuality being constructed as abnormal. Secondly, sexual subject positions are used to enhance sexuality and to construct the woman as subordinate. Thirdly, media tends to produce an inaccurate picture of BDSM practitioners, resulting in a depiction of these practioners as being abnormal. The conclusion of the study emphasizes the importance of examining how sexuality is produced by media, since sexual norms constructed in media discourses affect us humans and the prevailing norms existing in society.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2006. / S. 285-296: Bibliografi.

I den här internetstudien analyseras inlägg från män som talar om att köpa ”sex” i Flashback-tråden Kvinnorna i Thailand. Tråden kan betraktas som ett homosocialt brödraskap där män finner gemenskap genom skapande och upprätthållande av maskulinitet samt heterosexualitet. I prostitutionsdebatten är det framför allt kvinnorna som säljer ”sex” som stått i fokus, medan torskarna, de som stått för efterfrågan, har varit osynliga. Den här studien bidrar med att synliggöra hur män som talar om att köpa ”sex” ser på sig själva och sin roll i prostitution. Med hjälp av de teoretiska utgångspunkterna ”hegemonisk maskulinitet” och ”obligatorisk heterosexualitet för män” undersöker jag hur normer och värderingar konstrueras och förhandlas männen emellan. Studien visar att trots att männen själva berättar att de betalar för ”sexuellt umgänge” är det få som identifierar sig själva som torskar. Istället tar de avstånd från den stereotypa bilden som finns av ”sexköpare” och framhåller sig själva som attraktiva och tilldragande på den ”vanliga” sexuella marknaden. Det faktum att män disciplineras till heterosexualitet är något som genomsyrar hela tråden. Trots detta visar det sig att det finns ett visst mått av förhandlingsutrymme kring den manliga sexualiteten, åtminstone när man rest så långt som till Thailand.

Sweden counts as being one of the countries in the western world to have a positive perspective on sexual minorities. The swedish public service media SVT; Sveriges Television AB states that their aim is to spread objective news, but in fact SVT doesn’t portray homosexuality as something usual in everyday life. Instead the heteronormative ideal saturate the representation of homosexuals in SVT. To study how SVT portray homosexuality, heterosexuality and heteronormativity, this study is based on discourse analysis and image analysis. During this essay 25 TV news segments including articles on SVT:s website were viewed and examined. This essay is also based on discourse analysis to fully examine the hidden attitude against homosexuality and heterosexuality, and to examine how SVT portrays heteronormativity. The results of the analysis demonstrates that the heteronormative ideal takes part in the way that both sexualitys are represented. Heterosexuals are for instance often portrayed in combination with happiness and monogamy, while homosexuals are portrayed in connection with discrimination. In the TV segments homosexuality rarely were portrayed in everyday life. Instead the everyday life of heterosexuals dominated the content. The fact that SVT doesn’t portray homosexuality in relation to everyday life reinforces the perception of homosexuality as something normbreaking. The result of the study are further explained by Stuart Halls (1997) theory about representation and stereotypes, as well as previous research about sexuality and gender.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur det kvinnliga könsorganet porträtteras i biologiböcker för högstadieelever och vilka diskurser om kön och sexualitet som går att skönja genom dessa. Studien är baserad på text och illustrationer ur fem olika biologiböcker som används av högstadieelever idag. För att analysera materialet har Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys använts och teorier kring hur kön konstrueras genom sociala diskurser har applicerats. Författarnas beskrivningar av klitoris är bristfälliga vilket bidrar till aktivt reproducerande av okunskap. I samtliga böcker jämförs klitoris med penis vilket visar på en diskurs om mannen som norm och kvinnan som avvikande. En del av materialet framställer slidan som passivt kärl för penis, en heteronormativ diskurs som återkommer i vilka sexuella praktiker som porträtteras som ”riktigt” sex. Tvåkönsmodellen som hegemonisk diskurs cementeras genom böckernas binära könsuppdelning och genom de skilda egenskaper som appliceras på respektive kön vid sexuell upphetsning. Studien genomsyras av synen på människan som reproduktiv varelse snarare än social.

For many gay men, media is a crucial component in the process of creating an identity and finding support and guidance. Studies show that gay men are the group in society most strongly effected by the representation in media of societal ideals, and more specifically print media. In the past, gay men have been subjected to heteronormative representations through media of what being a gay man entails, in which he was portrayed as feminine; a process which has lead some gay men to attempt to adhere to a stereotypically masculine identity in order to find a sense of belonging and connection to society. The heterosexual man became a guidepost in this process. Through hegemonic masculinity, the process became problematic as homosexuality was considered less masculine by default, and the gay men were stuck in an identity crisis based in gender-identification and a need to distance themselves from feminine ideals. The purpose of this study was to analyze the construction of masculinity through the representation of heterosexual males in a print media aimed at gay men. Through the work of Erving Goffman and Sut Jhally, a semiotic analysis of 94 images of heterosexual males in 11 issues from 2013 of Attitude Magazine were analyzed for signs of masculinity. The results showed that the heterosexual males portrayed in the magazine were represented as stereotypically masculine, where signs of femininity were subdued by the enforcement of a masculine code. The findings suggest that heterosexual masculinity has a place in gay media and can be problematic, but that the representations also allow for a certain degree of deviation from strict hegemonic masculinity.

This thesis explores the experience of reorientation from being in relationships with men to be in relationships with women. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with 8 women between the ages of 28-67 years old. The purpose of the study is to analyze the women’s narratives on this experience in relation to sexuality, relationships, embodiment and various norms associated with heteronormativity. The theoretical framework for the study is queer phenomenology and the interpretational work has been conducted with close reading combined with narrative analysis. The study shows that the women perceive themselves as freer within the lesbian relationship, because they experience that the lesbian relationship does not have to confirm heteronormative expectations to the same extent as a heterosexual relationship. Further this is also one of the main themes throughout the material and thus the thesis: the women sense, for example, that their bodies do not have to conform heterosexual norms for how they do, move or embody themselves. Within the study I argue that this perceived freedom could be understood in relation to the former heterosexual life as well as an overall insight to how power structures specifically between men and women works to subordinate women.