The purpose of this study is to examine how women’s reading of the Harry Potter books can be understood on the basis of gender theory and reader-response criticism. The empirical data is gathered through qualitative interviews with six female Harry Potter readers between the age of 21 and 35, and is analyzed through several theories regarding gender and reading. The results show that the readers are critical towards many aspects of the books, especially when it comes to the stereotyped depiction of women and men. The books are said to reproduce the gender dichotomy, the gender hierarchy and the heteronormativity in society. At the same time, the readers deeply appreciate many aspects of the books. Not only are these positive opinions more than the negative ones, they also deal with the same things to a great extent. For example, the books are said to also challenge gender dichotomy, gender hierarchy and heteronormativity in many respects. The results further show that the readers oppose the books’ negative aspects, including the gender stereotypes, by their interpretations, ideas of heroes and identification during the reading. Finally, the study shows that the books serve several important functions for the readers, for example resistance to and compensation for the gender order. The study’s conclusions are that women’s reading of the Harry Potter books can be seen as an active transaction between reader, text and society, where the negative aspects are compensated by the positive parts of the reading experience. This means that the gender order affects, but does not determine, the women’s reading of these books.

Den här C-uppsatsen är en kvalitativ studie om användandet av feelgood tidningar i vardagen. Studien strävar efter att ta del av och förstå hur läsarna använder feelgood tidningarna i sin vardag. Studien syftar också att undersöka det psykologiska perspektivet bakom valet att läsa tidningarna. Mina frågeställningar är: Hur använder kvinnorna feelgood tidningen i sin vardag?Hur rumsrent tycker kvinnorna att det är att läsa de här tidningarna? Vad är det som gör feelgood tidningar underhållande?Hur kan man tolka kvinnornas användning av tidningarna ur ett psykologisk perspektiv? Materialet inhämtas via en fokusgrupp med fyra kvinnor i åldrarna 40- 65 år. Den teoretiska bakgrunden har hämtats ur Radway A Janice bok, Reading the romance- women, patriarchy and popular litteratur, Lisbeth Larssons En annan historia och ur boken Oro, av Skårderud Finn. Analysen är ett samspel mellan fokusgruppens utsaga och den teoretiska delen. I resultatet och analysen får läsaren ta del av intervjun med fokusgruppen och en analys som korrelerar med där frågeställningarna och teorin. Islutsatsen diskuteras sammanhangen mellan att kvinnorna i fokusgruppen både njuter och blir stressade av feelgood tidningarna. Det diskuteras även hur det kommer sig att en Engelsk studie som gjordes för 20 år sedan stämmer så väl överens med en studie gjord i dag. Slutligen diskuteras ett bifynd i uppsamlande av materialet, att män saknar en feelgood tidning anpassad för deras målgrupp.

The aim of this essay is to examine how men and women approach literature, and how it differs from each other. Earlier studies focus on children’s reading habits, and this study will compare this to how men and women read as adults. From this it discusses how this information could be used to increase men’s reading. With gender studies made by Raewyn Connell and Rebecca Pearse, and dr Elaine Millard as a background, ten interviews with five men and five women were conducted. The interviewees were asked questions regarding their reading habits, approach to reading and their opinion on audiobooks and physical books. The answers collected in many ways mirrored earlier research done on the subject, showing similar patterns in reading habits both for physical books, e-books and audiobooks. This showed that women in general read more books than men, but the difference were much smaller when looking at the use of audiobooks. The examination of the sources and the interviews show the possibility of increasing men’s reading with the use of audiobooks.