<p>By reading three 21st century books am I trying to see how the female friendship is described in literature of our days. The books are Rebell med frusna fötter by Johanna Nilsson, Lutherska badet by Unni Drougge and I närheten av solen by Hanna Wallsten. They are all written by Swedish authors and taking place in Stockholm in the early years of 2000. I am doing a critical reading against the roles of “heteronormativitet” as the word is described by Tiina Rosenberg and Fanny Ambjörnsson trying to see how the characters are following or breaking these roles. The books are also read comparative to each other. I am doing what I call a “väninneläsning” where the female friends are being the narrative engine in the story, helping the main character to construct a new and stronger subjective self. My conclusions by this reading are that the friendship is opening up for a change of the roles of relation(ships) between women and man. It creates a possibility of a life were the women can choose to live in a “vänskapsfamilj”, a friendship family. The power of choice gives her a new strength in demanding equal rights compared to the man.</p>

By reading three 21st century books am I trying to see how the female friendship is described in literature of our days. The books are Rebell med frusna fötter by Johanna Nilsson, Lutherska badet by Unni Drougge and I närheten av solen by Hanna Wallsten. They are all written by Swedish authors and taking place in Stockholm in the early years of 2000. I am doing a critical reading against the roles of “heteronormativitet” as the word is described by Tiina Rosenberg and Fanny Ambjörnsson trying to see how the characters are following or breaking these roles. The books are also read comparative to each other. I am doing what I call a “väninneläsning” where the female friends are being the narrative engine in the story, helping the main character to construct a new and stronger subjective self. My conclusions by this reading are that the friendship is opening up for a change of the roles of relation(ships) between women and man. It creates a possibility of a life were the women can choose to live in a “vänskapsfamilj”, a friendship family. The power of choice gives her a new strength in demanding equal rights compared to the man.

<p>The aim of this study is to analyse the sexual power relations in contemporary urban novels of Swedish female writers.</p><p>I have identified a discourse in these novels as a heteronormative matrix which power is ruled by norms and assumptions about normality in both the heterosexual and lesbian stories. For this purpose I have related to Ivar B. Neumanns theory that individuals always find a way to confront the discourse by three different strategies. These strategies are used in my study as tools to organise these novels, because it is possible to see that the protagonists find at least one of these strategy’s to her protest.</p><p>The first strategy I studied was the docile. Here I argument that the heroines in Alla vilda, Jag minns alla mina älskare och hur de brukade ta på mig, Inte enklare än så, Lögner and Att älska henne do not reject the discourse about sexual power relationships. The second strategy, named the oppositionist, implies the protagonists refusing to be left as victims. In one way or another, either by change the rolls of the sexes (Ta vad man vill ha) or by problematising the order of them (Ego girl) or find lesbianism as a way to reject the discourse (both the novels by Mian Lodalen: Smulklubbens skamlösa systrar and Trekant). The reluctant is the last strat-egy who is the creative one, which rejects some things and adapt to other. Here I place the heroines from Stjärnor utan svindel, Andra sidan Alex and Storlek 37.</p><p>The result of this study is that despite quite different strategies to oppose against the hetero-sexual power discourse and the normative femininity everyone relates to it and thereby con-firms it.</p>

The aim of this study is to analyse the sexual power relations in contemporary urban novels of Swedish female writers. I have identified a discourse in these novels as a heteronormative matrix which power is ruled by norms and assumptions about normality in both the heterosexual and lesbian stories. For this purpose I have related to Ivar B. Neumanns theory that individuals always find a way to confront the discourse by three different strategies. These strategies are used in my study as tools to organise these novels, because it is possible to see that the protagonists find at least one of these strategy’s to her protest. The first strategy I studied was the docile. Here I argument that the heroines in Alla vilda, Jag minns alla mina älskare och hur de brukade ta på mig, Inte enklare än så, Lögner and Att älska henne do not reject the discourse about sexual power relationships. The second strategy, named the oppositionist, implies the protagonists refusing to be left as victims. In one way or another, either by change the rolls of the sexes (Ta vad man vill ha) or by problematising the order of them (Ego girl) or find lesbianism as a way to reject the discourse (both the novels by Mian Lodalen: Smulklubbens skamlösa systrar and Trekant). The reluctant is the last strat-egy who is the creative one, which rejects some things and adapt to other. Here I place the heroines from Stjärnor utan svindel, Andra sidan Alex and Storlek 37. The result of this study is that despite quite different strategies to oppose against the hetero-sexual power discourse and the normative femininity everyone relates to it and thereby con-firms it.