The aim of this study was to investigate how mothers in families with strong patriarchal traditions see their role as a mother and as a woman. The study is built upon two main questions: What are the expectations of your family and your immediate environment on you as a mother and as a woman? And what does “honour” mean for you as a mother and as a woman? In our paper we had as a starting point a gender perspective that was further on applied in defining our research question. We are also giving an account of the phenomenological perspective that we also had as a basis of our work. We interviewed six mothers living in families with strong patriarchal traditions. There were half-structured interviews according to an interview guide, with half open questions. We followed the qualitative method. The results show that “honour” is a basic norm for the mothers, that they have difficulties to even imagine living a life without honour. For all of our informants, honour means not to have sexual relationships with several men, and to keep a woman’s virginity until she gets married. Avoiding bad rumours that may lead to shame is an important part of the mothers’ lives. As women, the mothers are forced to take into consideration their husbands’ and older family members’ opinions. It is the mothers’ duty to educate their children to behave in “the right” way. According to our informants, a mother should be caring and in charge of the household work.

The purpose of this essay is to use a systematic literature review to examine what previous research highlights about honor-related violence and oppression. With a focus on women's vulnerability, but also to study what definition the term “honour” has in previous research, as well how different forms of violence are used in the maintenance of honour. The method that was used to be able to compile previous research is a systematic literature review that drew inspiration from hermeneutics. The essay is based on previous research consisting of 20 scientific articles, which have been systemically analyzed in order to be able to answer the purpose of the study and questions that consist of themes,; Definition of “Honour” – honour as sexual purity, the male versus female honour, ÿeref and namus,; The influence of power structures – factors that work together to maintain honour, roles within the family and the ideal victim, patriarchal values, laws that limit women’s rights, honour within culture, religion and ethnicity,; What forms of violence are used/expressed – violence triggering factors, isolation methods and different forms of violence. The results show that honour related violence and oppression is a difficult to define problem with complex roots and deadly consequences. Where the order of power and gender, female sexuality, sexual purity, and reputation are decisive factors that make the woman a subordinate individual and she is marked by the culture of honour within the patriarchy as the bearer of the honour of the family and the community. A man’s honour is his alone, while a woman’s rests on the whole family. Violence that women are exposed to is of various forms ranging from latent violence, psychological and physical violence, socioeconomic and socially structured violence, as well as various isolations in everyday life. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att med hjälp av systematisk litteraturöversikt undersöka vad tidigare forskning framhåller om hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck, med fokus på kvinnors utsatthet, men även studera vilken definition begreppet “heder” har i tidigare forskning, samt hur olika maktstrukturer påverkar kvinnors utsatthet och vilka olika våldsformer används det i upprätthållandet av hedern. Metoden som användes för att kunna sammanställa tidigare forskning är en systematisk litteraturöversikt som hämtat inspiration från hermeneutiken. Uppsatsen utgår från tidigare forskning som består av 20 vetenskapliga artiklar, som systematiskt analyserats för att kunna besvara syftet och frågeställningarna. I resultatet presenteras olika teman som är kopplad till studiens syfte och frågeställningar som består av teman; Definition på “heder” – heder som sexuella renhet, den manliga kontra kvinnliga hedern, ÿeref och namus,; Maktstrukturers påverkan- faktorer som samverkar för upprätthålla heder, roller inom familjen och det ideala offret, patriarkala värderingar, lag som begränsar kvinnans rätt, heder inom kultur, religion och etnicitet.; Vilka våldsformer används/uttrycks – våldsutlösande faktorer, isolerings metoder och olika våldsformer. Resultatet visar att hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck är en svårt definierad problematik med komplexa rötter och dödliga konsekvenser. Där maktordning och könstillhörighet, den kvinnliga sexualiteten, sexuell renhet och rykten är avgörande faktorer som gör kvinnan till en underordnad individ och hon är märkt av hederskulturen inom patriarkatet som bärare av familjens och gemenskapens heder. En mans heder är bara hans, samtidigt vilar kvinnans heder över hela familjen. Våld som kvinnor utsätts för är av olika former allt ifrån latent våld, psykisk- och fysiskt våld, socioekonomisk och socialt strukturerad våld, samt olika isoleringar i vardagslivet.

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This paper is an interview study with 12 women between the ages of 17-88 from Bohuslän, Sweden and their thoughts about female virginity and the hymen. Today it has been proven that there exists no hymen that breaks at a woman’s first sexual intercourse. Nonetheless, the study shows that the myth of the hymen is still alive even though it is fading in the younger generations. All the women in the study have at some point in their lives believed there was a hymen but many have via education or media been informed that that’s not the case. Despite education, the hymen was still related to blood, pain, difficulties using feminine care products, or thoughts that something might rupture due to sport activities, like horse riding. Based on the women’s reports, this paper interprets why female virginity has become something that is in need of surveillance and control. As understood from Lévi-Strauss’s theories on the kinship system, the woman becomes a gift unit through the ritual of marriage. The alleged presence of the intact hymen is the valorizing factor in said structure.      The semi-structured interviews were analyzed through a content analysis and interpreted by using the post-modernistic theoretical frameworks, with focus on the ideas of Michel Foucault. Further post-structuralist theories are applied to interpret how language and action create norms and truths. The results indicate that the belief in the existence of the hymen as an anatomical structure took hold in medical science and popular culture in line with the hypothesis that power creates knowledge. The results also show that knowledge is not constant: from being an established truth among the older participants in the study, to the youngest generation expressing that the hymen is something “old”. Simultaneously, all women expressed that the hymen and female virginity are connected to discipline and power asymmetries. The results show that the hymen, in this specific context can be seen as a social construction with the aim of maintaining unity and discipline.

This essay uses frame analysis to study changes in the descriptions of the hymen in Swedish printed press from 1989-2015. The study shows that the traditional story about the hymen has significant power in the dominant culture and affects the idea of what the hymen is and what is believed to be its functions. The study also showcases how our ideas about the hymen are socially constructed since the descriptions can shift widely but still be considered as the truth. The concept of the hymen has gone through a change over time, from a story of a hymen that breaks during first intercourse, to the hymen being a myth that doesn’t exist at all, to then emerge into the idea of the vaginal corona – another version of a hymen that is different from the traditional image. The study also shows that the traditional frame for describing the hymen does live on, and that the vaginal corona has not replaced the idea of the traditional hymen.