Women account for over half of the global population, however, continue to be subject to systematic and systemic disadvantage, particularly in terms of access to health and education. At every intersection, where systemic inequality accounts for greater loss of life or limitations on full and healthy living, women are more greatly impacted by those inequalities. The design of technologies is no different, the very definition of technology is historically cast in terms of male activities, and advancements in the field are critical to improve women's quality of life. This article views HCI, a relatively new field, as well positioned to act critically in the ways that technology serve, refigure, and redefine women's bodies. Indeed, the female body remains a contested topic, a restriction to the development of women's health. On one hand, the field of women's health has attended to the medicalization of the body and therefore is to be understood through medical language and knowledge. On the other hand, the framing of issues associated with women's health and people's experiences of and within such system(s) remain problematic for many. This is visible today in, e.g., socio-cultural practices in disparate geographies or medical devices within a clinic or the home. Moreover, the biological body is part of a great unmentionable, i.e., the perils of essentialism. We contend that it is necessary, pragmatically and ethically, for HCI to turn its attention toward a woman-centered design approach. While previous research has argued for the dangers of gender-demarcated design work, we advance that designing for and with women should not be regarded as ghettoizing, but instead as critical to improving women's experiences in bodily transactions, choices, rights, and access to and in health and care. In this article, we consider how and why designing with and for woman matters. We use our design-led research as a way to speak to and illustrate alternatives to designing for and with women within HCI.

Stemming from a recent surge in articles related to Korean masculinities, and based in afeminist and queer Marxist theoretical framework, this paper asks how gender, with a specificfocus on what is referred to as soft masculinity, is constructed through K-pop performances, aswell as what power structures are in play. By reading studies on pan-Asian masculinities andgender performativity - taking into account such factors as talnori and kkonminam, andinvestigating conceptual terms flower boy, aegyo, and girl crush - it forms a baseline for aqualitative research project. By conducting qualitative interviews with Swedish K-pop fans andperforming semiotic analysis of K-pop music videos, the thesis finds that although K-popmasculinities are perceived as feminine to a foreign audience, they are still heavily rooted in aheteronormative framework. Furthermore, in investigating the production of genderperformativity in K-pop, it finds that neoliberal commercialism holds an assertive grip overthese productions and are thus able to dictate ‘conceptualizations’ of gender and projectidentities that are specifically tailored to attract certain audiences. Lastly, the study shows thatthese practices are sold under an umbrella of ‘loyalty’ in which fans are incentivized toconsume in order to show support for their idols – in which the concept of desire plays asignificant role.

As new technology develops, society develops with it; we find new ways to interact with our business associates, our friends, and our family. This study looks specifically at the ways individuals in our contemporary community express sexuality and how dating and forming new relationships is being affected. We begin with a brief history on the study of sex and sexuality, and continue with a section exploring theories and more contemporary research on the subject. Focusing on current social phenomenon such as gender objectification and the anonymity pertaining to online interactions, we investigate social media and phone/computer applications focused on dating. We look for answers to questions regarding how the evolution of sexuality influences power structures within a community, through empirical interviews and hidden online observations, and from a feminist perspective. The intricacies of text communication and the interpretation of such interactions is a cornerstone of modern dating, which this thesis analyses closely by looking at how the participants initiate contact with potential partners. 

The gender portrayals study aims to understanding how the roles of men and women are portrayed in magazine advertisements. This has been an issue investigated over the past decades as companies try to achieve a higher level of sales of their products and services and the gender issue influences in how this companies plan one advertising program or another. However, there is a debate among authors: some of them believe that advertising reflects what is already on society and others express that advertisers use the most convenient reality to sell their products. Thus, it makes us wonder what is the actual truth behind this debate. This thesis tries to answer the question of how men and women are portrayed in advertising campaigns. There are several studies on gender portrayals across countries but none that compares France, Spain and Sweden. This thesis tries to fill this gap.

The study is conducted following Hofstede framework that classifies countries whether masculine or feminine, and is completed by analyzing the data gathered from four magazines of these three countries. We classified this data following Courtney and Lockeretz classification scheme and analyzed the data obtained with theories of some other authors.

The results of this thesis show that males were dominant among working roles while females were in non-working roles. The findings might not add a huge contribution to this field of study but may be used as guiding tool for further research.

The beauty industry has been booming in the last few years, generating immense profits as it now translates into an Internet global beauty culture in its own right that finally made room for women of color. As research barely mentions African women and their diasporas, this study aims to critically analyze the dynamic of this North American-dominated Internet beauty culture celebrating non-white women, looking at how it impacts African women and their diasporas and participates in affirming a global woman of color through commodity capitalism. 

Based on discourse analysis of multiple actors in the industry using popular culture sources, I then conducted a critical feminist autoethnography of my beauty journey, put in perspective with the results of decolonial interviews with African and African diaspora women recruited online. I asked about their relationship with the beauty industry and their opinions on some arguments I made. Self and collective analysis demonstrated the emergence of an African diasporic hybrid beauty culture, empowering women to feel like actors of change. 

Syftet med min uppsats var att undersöka och jämföra den bild av muslimska kvinnor som har förmedlats och förmedlas av svenska läromedel i religionskunskap för gymnasiet de två senaste årtiondena. Jag ville ta reda på om, och i sådant fall hur bilden av muslimska kvinnor som förmedlas av böckerna har ändrats sedan terrorattentaten mot New York 11/9 2001. Målet med min uppsats var att försöka få fram data som synliggör om det eventuellt var så att den ökande islamofobin i samhället även har letat sig in i skolans läroböcker.

Efter att ha undersökt texterna i böckerna så skulle jag bestämt vilja hävda att den ökande islamofobin i samhället efter 11/9 inte motsvaras av det som står i böckerna. Jag har inte kunnat hitta något som tyder på att läroböckerna har tagit en mer fördomsfull riktning efter 11/9. Istället så tyder min analys på att böckerna efter 11/9 är betydligt mer nyanserade och har en mer neutral och objektiv hållning till materialet än vad de tidigare böckerna har. Visserligen så märks det tydligt att böckerna som är skrivna efter 11/9 har påverkats av det pågående samhällsklimatet. Men det är en positiv påverkan skulle jag vilja hävda då de belyser och slår hål på de fördomar som finns. Materialet som jag har använt har varit 4 stycken läroböcker för gymnasieskolan i ämnet religionskunskap. Två av böckerna är skrivna innan 11/9 och de andra två efter. Metoden som jag har använt är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys.

Research questions How is the 'problem' of gender equity described, perceived and experienced by female and male board members in Swedish sport today? What key dilemmas can be identified in the realisation of a gender equitable sport management? Research methods The article builds on research conducted on three Swedish ball sport federations during 2020-2021 and is based on a total number of 27 (12 males, 15 females) structured interviews with top leaders. The methodology employs Fraser's concept of gender justice and the need to pay attention to cultural and economic dimensions in transformative interventions. Results and Findings Three dilemmas relating to the realisation of gender equity are analysed: between quotas and stigmatisation, overcoming gender equity as a side-project and how the democratic infrastructure of Swedish sport enables men's continued dominance. The findings indicate that one-dimensional (affirmative) interventions dominate, which in turn explain why achieving gender equity in Swedish sport is difficult, i.e. cultural interventions only limit the chances of achieving gender equity. Implications To implement transformative interventions, cultural and economic resources need to be equally recognised and redistributed so that the organisations' gender order is deconstructed and participation on equally recognised terms secured.

Sport is often described as a field containing competitive and hierarchy shaping activities. However, in Sweden and elsewhere, this field is also permeated by democratic principles where, for example, everybody has the right to participate in children’s and youth sports regardless of gender, ethnicity or physical ability. In Sweden, there are distinct objectives for gender equality, where women/girls and men/boys should ideally be treated and recognised equally. The aim of this paper is twofold: to examine how gender is enacted in the textbooks used in Swedish sports coaching and educational programmes and to identify whether any of the enactments reflect a hegemonic masculinity. The textbooks used in two of the most extensive courses arranged by the Swedish Sports Confederation, ‘The Platform’ [Plattformen] and ‘Basic Coach Education’ [Grundtränarutbildning] are in focus. The theoretical framework and methodological approach are inspired by research on sport, gender and the hegemonic masculinity thesis. In the process of analysis, the hegemonic perspective is central. During the analysis, four themes are identified as expressions of a hegemonic masculinity and, thus, as obstacles to gender equality. Firstly, the binary sex norm poses a real challenge for the implementation of gender equality because it helps to shape a hierarchy that privileges men and masculinities. Secondly and thirdly, the themes ‘puberty’ and ‘the coach’ appear to be important, in that they support and contest a gendered hierarchy. Finally, there are examples of men, like sport coaches, appearing as genderless, which is interpreted as a hegemonic acceptance of the category of men (as universal and genderless subjects). By critically illuminating these themes, the paper adds to the wider research field of sport, coaching and education programmes and the complexity of gender mainstreaming in sport.

Introduktion: Trots att svensk idrott länge har haft ett övergripande jämställdhetsmål där kvinnor och män, pojkar och flickor ska ha samma villkor (RF, 1989, 2005, 2011) så går förändringsarbetet trögt. Detta förklaras ofta av att många idrottsgrenar bär en tradition där män dominerat med följden att normer och handlingar som förknippas med ”kvinnliga” egenskaper värderas lägre (se t ex Fundberg, 2003; Messner, 1992). Ett viktigt incitament för förändring är utbildning och inom idrottens (SISU:s) ledar-skapsutbildningar finns två ”grundutbildningar”: Plattformen och grundtränarutbildningen. Men möjliggör eller förhindrar innehållet i dessa utbildningar förändringar mot en mer jämställd idrott?

Syfte & teoretisk ram: I detta paper studeras hur kön/genus represente-ras i litteraturen i dessa utbildningar med fokus på att synliggöra komplexiteter/motsägelsefullheter. Syftet är att utreda om och i så fall hur litteraturens innehåll utmanar eller bekräftar en traditionell, ste-reotypisk föreställning om mäns och manligheters dominans över kvinnor och kvinnligheter och om innehållet således bidrar till eller hindrar möjligheterna för en mer jämställd idrott. Teoretiskt bildar forskning om hegemoniska maskuliniteter (Connell 1983, 1996) och mäns hegemonier (Hearn, 2004) ramverk för analysen.

Metod: Genom textanalys och ett diskursivt perspektiv studeras fyra böcker inom de ovan nämnda natio-nella utbildningarna. Dessutom används i viss utsträckning även kursernas powerpoint-presentatio-ner som underlag för analysen.

Resultat: De preliminära resultaten visar att män skildras både stereotypiskt och som normbrytare genom att till exempel trösta och hålla om barn. Samtidigt reproducerar texterna ett binärt könssystem som tenderar att underordna kvinnor och kvinnlighet. Kvinnans kropp beskrivs som mindre kapabel och sämre utrustad för fysisk ansträngning. Detta gör också att attityden till kvinnor som kunskapsbärande och kunskapsproducerande subjekt påverkas.

Diskussion: Diskussionen fokuserar på hur innehållet i denna litteratur tenderar att både reproducera och i viss mån utmana mäns och manligheters dominans inom idrotten. Samtidigt finns det något motsägelsefullt i att män bryter mot en traditionellt manlig norm eftersom detta snarare tenderar att omskapa en ny form av hegemoni (Connell 1983, 1996). Detta kan förklara trögföränderligheten hos hegemoniska mas-kuliniteter och ger således ny kunskap om jämställdhetsarbetets utmaningar.

In this article, the focus is on a theoretical discussion about how to analyse masculinities and power in historical research based on imagery and visual sources from a material-discursive point of departure. The argument is that analysing photographs in sport and the material-discursive representation of men/masculinities could contribute to a broader understanding of men’s hegemony. The article adds to the field of visual literacy and connects research on visual materials, sports history and critical gender studies. The past of Swedish ice hockey constitutes the case, while the understanding of men/masculinities departs from research by Jeff Hearn, Raewyn Connell and other scholars within the critical studies on men and masculinities field. Using four specific photographs from the Swedish magazine Hockey, the analysis exemplifies how their materiality and discursivity relate to a broader cultural context of the hegemony of men and masculinities. For example, cultural dominance strategies, visual techniques that ‘activate’ a photographed (or objectified) male subject and entitlement are discussed, and how these include discursive and material meanings of masculinity, status, and domination and how such embodiments interconnect with a contextual configuration of the dominant hegemony of men.

Generally, men have dominated the field of modern sports. Consequently, many sports carry associations where traditional ‘male’ characteristics and qualities are valued and traditional ‘female’ characteristics and qualities are devalued (see eg Messner, 1992). More precisely, many sports ‘create’ men and ideals of masculinities. In this paper combat sports (MMA, boxing, karate, Japanese jujitsu etcetera) are studied as examples of sports that shape gender and body ideals. Combat sports express at least two typical ideals of masculinity: muscle strength and (sanctioned) control of violence (Brace-Govan , 2004; Gill, 2007). Women who have exercised these sports have thus been challenging men’s ‘monopoly’ of being strong, big, violent and powerful and other traditionally ‘male’ norms. The aim of this paper is to study, from a gender perspective, how Swedish combat sports have changed since the 1990s. The main question is: How is the increased number of women in combat sports to be understood? Is it a sign of a (feminist) emancipation or has the inclusion of women been on exclusive terms - that is, do men’s domination find new ways to exercise its powers? In the end, this paper also raises questions of the changing contents of violence and muscularity. In so far, the material consists of focus group interviews and individual interviews with combat sports women, from the elite to the recreational level. Magazines will be analysed during 2016-2017. Theoretically, the paper draws on theories of hegemony and gender (Connell, 1983, 2005, Hearn, 2015). The preliminary results show that women, on one hand, portray active subjects that challenge male (sporting) traditions and male norms. Combat sports, some women tell, are increasing ones self-esteem and self-confidence. On the other hand, the female versions of combat sports are not taken as seriously as the male version, which becomes obvious by lower compensation and less media attention. Women are also expected to act as feminine subjects and are thereby ‘forced’ to relate their bodies, clothes etcetera to social and more general understandings of feminine ideals (cf. Clasen, 2001).

In this chapter we expand the analysis of sports, organizations, and masculinity to include behaviour often hidden in private communications by broadening the definition of the ‘locker room’ to include social media and other online spaces. Drawing upon high-profile events, research on male-dominated sports, and arguments on sports and hegemonic masculinities, we illustrate how strongmen create locker room spaces to embody narratives of hegemonic masculinities that disparage and mock certain groups. Demonstrating their values and ideas on whiteness, masculinity, and domination, the strongmen’s misogynist, homophobic, and racist language constructs women, LGBTQ + individuals, and ethnic minorities as inferior. In particular, the weaponization of misogyny and homophobia serves as a warning not only to women and gay men, but also to ‘non-feminized’ heterosexual men whose behaviour or ideas fall outside dominant ‘normative’ constructions of masculinity. By focussing on hidden (or not intended to be public) communication between men in sports organizations, our analysis illustrates that demeaning behaviour is, on the part of some white men, a response to their fear of social change – prompting an examination of the fragility of hegemonic masculinity.

The purpose of this article is to investigate women’s participation in mixed martial arts in the Nordic countries. The study is based on a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach consisting of individual interviews and focus group interviews with Swedish female mixed martial arts fighters and data from a Norwegian survey of participants in Norwegian mixed martial arts clubs. A total of 12 female fighters were interviewed, while 484 respondents participated in the survey. The results show that women exercising mixed martial arts contain a potential to act as feminist role models through their counter-hegemonic renegotiation of norms and views on femininity and, more specifically, the perception of femininity as something fragile and passive. Despite this progressive potential, the informants unanimously affirm that combat sports in general and in different ways are dominated by males. The data indicates that women still represent a small and marginalised group among mixed martial arts participants in the Nordic countries. Furthermore, women participating in mixed martial arts compete less and are less motivated by performance enhancement (developing as fighters, winning fights/tournaments/titles) compared to the male participants. However, both male and female participants value health and fun as the most important reasons for their participation in mixed martial arts training groups.

Gender equality has been an important policy goal for more than four decades in Sweden and is commonly seen as an integral part of the Swedish welfare state. However, the gender division of work is still reproduced both in and out of paid work. In this chapter, we analyse interviews with 40 Swedish women and men (20 couples) to explore how norms regarding what is in the child’s best interest enter into decisions concerning parental care, childcare and paid work, and links to social construction of motherhood and fatherhood. A key notion in the interviews was shared parenting. It was seen as highly important that the child gets close, strong ties to both its mother and father. A second, and related, notion was that it is in the interest of the child to have an engaged and caring father, implying a new kind of fatherhood. The ideas on shared parenting and the engaged father were sometimes linked to ideas on gender equality, but sometimes they went hand in hand with more traditional notions of motherhood and fatherhood. Motherhood was, on the one hand, constructed as distinct from fatherhood and closely related to female biology. On the other hand, motherhood was constructed to fit with women’s identities as independent and work-oriented. The interviews seem to reflect a recent political and cultural development where major changes have occurred regarding fatherhood norms but where less has happened regarding motherhood norms. Gender equality was, however, one central factor that the couples took into account in their plans for the future. About half of the interviewed couples planned to share parental leave equally or wanted to share equally but were open to being flexible, for instance in regard to possible changes in their employment or financial situation. Licensed childcare was the obvious childcare arrangement after the parental leave period was over and was perceived as beneficial to the child’s development. Unlike parents in many other countries, parents in Sweden can rely on a system of social policies that are developed and adjusted to facilitate the lives of dual-earner/dual-carer families.

Ungefär 7 av 10 som överlever barncancer drabbas av sena komplikationer och bestående funktionsnedsättningar. Exempelvis är förvärvade hjärnskador, kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar, nedsatt immunförsvar och psykisk ohälsa vanligt. Men kunskapen om barncanceröverlevarnas liv som samhällsmedborgare är begränsad. Nu vill Barncancerfonden se mer forskning på området och politiska åtgärder för att förbättra livskvaliteten för barncanceröverlevare.

I en forskningsöversikt framtagen av forskarna Niklas Altermark och Mikael Mery Karlsson på uppdrag av Barncancerfonden står det klart att barncanceröverlevare kan stöta på stora problem, både på arbetsmarknaden och vid behov av stöd från socialförsäkringarna. Dessutom är det tydligt att kunskapsluckorna om barncanceröverlevarnas liv som samhällsmedborgare är stora. 

South African non-white people have suffered extreme injustice and racial oppression. Colonialism and apartheid have contributed enormously to the normalization of violence, especially against women, whose prevalence is one of the highest in the world. The aim of this thesis is to explore the link between the intergenerational trauma generated by apartheid and its effects on the perception and occurrence of intimate partner violence among the youth in present-day South Africa, from a post-colonial, intersectional perspective. The findings support the importance of understanding the intersectional factors and context that favors the exertion of violence against young non-white women and the urgency to create more tailored solutions to stop this scourge at a critical age.

This study aims to analyse how joyful militancy, characterized by care, joy and affection in the struggle, is embedded in the discourse created by Territorio Doméstico, a feminist movement formed by domestic workers in Spain. Through discourse analysis of songs and images of Territorio Doméstico, this study shows how meanings constructed through discourses build collective identities and challenge hegemonic discourses on domestic and care work and on migrants.

This article explores individual resistance related to a military organization’s gender equality work as expressed in online contexts. Resistance is explained as expressions of wider social conflicts, grounded in experiences of threats towards military masculinities, challenged by societal and political transformation processes perceived as feminine. The data consists of defence-related blogs and comments. A thematic analysis finds that individual resistance can be understood as blaming and shaming strategies. Five sub-themes are identified: blaming the “feminised” organization, blaming and shaming women’s abilities to serve, individualisation of structural problems, verbal violence and violations, and objectification of men working with and supporting gender equality initiatives. The analysis exemplifies how social conflict is transferred to organizations through individual resistance. As gender equality policies are questioned, organizations need to confront resistance also within the online context.

Recruitment is one of the Swedish Armed Forces’ (SAF) main challenges today. Recruiting more women into the organization is one of the organization’s aims, as well as providing them with more opportunities for career development. The purpose of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of how female military officers perceive barriers and advantages on their way to higher leadership positions. A total of 10 women from a variety of backgrounds and positions in the armed forces were interviewed. Their ranks ranged from Captain to Colonel and they represented army, naval units and air force. The interviews were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. The qualitative analysis resulted in two main themes: Supporting visibility of women as leaders and differentiation of women as leaders. The former concerns positive strategies on an individual and organizational level that support an increase in the number of female leaders in the SAF, and is a way of responding to political incitements and the SAF’s fundamental values. The second concerns ways how women are portrayed as different and divergent from the male standard. The suggested model may be valuable in recruitment, educational settings and leader development of high-level military officers from a gender perspective.

Recruitment is one of the Swedish Armed Forces' (SAF) main challenges today. Recruiting more women into the organization is one of the organization's aims, as well as providing them with more opportunities for career development. The purpose of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of how female military officers perceive barriers and advantages on their way to higher leadership positions. A total of 10 women from a variety of backgrounds and positions in the armed forces were interviewed. Their ranks ranged from Captain to Colonel and they represented army, naval units and air force. The interviews were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. The qualitative analysis resulted in two main themes: Supporting visibility of women as leaders and differentiation of women as leaders. The former concerns positive strategies on an individual and organizational level that support an increase in the number of female leaders in the SAF, and is a way of responding to political incitements and the SAF's fundamental values. The second concerns ways how women are portrayed as different and divergent from the male standard. The suggested model may be valuable in recruitment, educational settings and leader development of high-level military officers from a gender perspective.

The armed forces in virtually all countries are traditionally male-dominated organisations. Military rangers constitute an elite unit whose chief skills and capabilities centre on unconventional warfare and intelligence gathering in enemy territory, as well as conducting low-intensity warfare. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the process of becoming a military ranger and what it means to be one in this context from a masculinity perspective. The study was carried out with informants from three military ranger units in Sweden: the Army’s ranger battalion, parachuting rangers from an airborne battalion and intelligence battalion, and coastal rangers. In total, 28 informants participated in the study. All of them were men. A qualitative analysis resulted in a model where the core variable was labelled on becoming a ranger through reproducing masculinity as a form of emotional regime. This core variable is built up by three different strategies, each of which contains a number of actions: building social identity by means of coolness strategies, observing symbols and rituals to build a sense of pride and building cohesion to maintain group intimacy, and emotionally exclude the external environment

Samhällsvetenskaplig forskning har på senare år börjat uppmärksamma unga kvinnor, som tidigare fört en undanskymd tillvaro i skuggan av de unga männen. Syftet med denna avhandling är att, delvis i linje med denna forskning, undersöka hur tjejer i en svensk gymnasieskola skapar genus. Fokus ligger på hur genusskapande alltid sker i samverkan med andra strukturerande principer, såsom klass, sexualitet och etnicitet. Den empiriska utgångspunkten är ett trettiotal tjejer mellan 16 och 18 år på två skilda gymnasieprogram, Samhällsveteskapsprogrammet och Barn- och Fritidsprogrammet. Genom att undersöka hur dessa tjejer förhåller sig till föreställningar om hur man ska vara som tjej, illustreras hur den normativa femininiteten – såväl som deras sätt att hantera denna - måste förstås mot bakgrund av tjejernas skilda klasstillhörigheter. Likaså visar empirin hur det feminina idealet är otvetydigt heterosexuellt. Som en röd tråd genom avhandlingen löper därför en problematisering av de idéer, påbud och sanktioner som säger att det är heterosexuell man ska vara som tjej, inget annat. Genom att kartlägga olika beståndsdelar i den heteronormativa genusordningen, synliggörs hur heteronormativiteten premierar vissa relationer framför andra; hur man som tjej förväntas vara både heterosexuell och homosocial enligt vissa specifika mönster. Omvänt kommer homosociala och heterosexuella relationsmönster att generera två genusmässiga motpoler, killar och tjejer. I avhandlingen undersöks även hur den enskilda kroppen fungerar både som symbol och redskap i skapandet av det heterosexuella kvinnoidealet; hur imperativet att göra kroppen ”naturligt kvinnlig” tycks centralt för tjejernas uppfattning om sig själva och varandra som normala. Föreställningar om normalitet och den normala tjejen är också det raster genom vilket processerna av genusskapande iscensätts. Denna normalitet formuleras till stora delar genom olika utpekade motpoler, det tänkt onormala och stereotypa. Genom att bestämma vissa positioner som mer stereotypa än andra, kommer tjejerna att presentera sig själva som fria och självständiga individer. Med utgångspunkt i tre av de positioner som återkommande skapas som just avvikande och icke-önskvärda – horan, den lesbiska och invandraren – åskådliggörs hur den normativa femininitet tjejerna förhåller sig till, iscensätter och i vissa fall utmanar är en heterosexuell, vit och medelklassbaserad sådan. Vidare diskuteras hur imperativet att vara en fri och obegränsad individ - något som genomsyrar såväl skolvärlden som det övriga samhället – enklast tycks uppnås genom ett förkroppsligande av normen. Därigenom synliggörs hur den förment neutrala uppmaningen att ”vara sig själv” blir mer möjlig för vissa än för andra.

Yvonne Hirdman introducerade genusbegreppet i svensk feministisk forskning och blev Sveriges första professor i genushistoria. I självbiografin Medan jag var ung skriver hon om hur vägen fram till raketkarriären inom akademin varit allt annat än rak. Hirdmans så kallade ”egohistoria” är fascinerande och underhållande läsning om hur 70-talets kvinnorörelse intog universitetsvärlden, men beskrivningarna av dagens feministiska forskning är lättvindig och raljant.

Hur berättar man om någon som saknar röst?

När lillasyster Nadja föddes blev inget som någon hade tänkt sig. Hon kunde inte andas själv och uppvisade tecken på allvarliga hjärnskador. Det visade sig att Nadja skulle behöva assistans 24 timmar om dygnet under hela sitt liv.

Den här boken är ett försök att närma sig Nadjas liv, speglat genom alla som funnits runt henne: En storasyster som plötsligt måste bli vuxen. Åldrande föräldrar vars dotter aldrig kommer att klara sig själv. Assistenter som vet mer om Nadja än vad hennes familj gör.

Vad säger Nadjas historia om oss och om vår tid? Om vad det innebär att vara människa i ett samhälle där utveckling, självständighet och framgång ses som högsta dygd?

Cleaning is a practice with low status. Most people single out cleaning as the least attractive of household chores and the people who clean as a profession are usually badly payed. This article is an attempt to discuss why these practices have such a bad reputation - in everyday life, in work, in popular culture and, not the least, in the feminist movement. Through ethnographic data primarily based on interviews, I investigate the historically imbedded meanings tied to practices of tidying up. Drawing on theories of queer temporality, I highlight what I want to call the temporality of cleaning - the repetitiveness and direction backwards and sideways instead of forward - as a possible answer. The circular practice of taking care of our physical remains remind us of our approaching death, rather than of progress, and thus generates feelings of anger and despair. But instead of ignoring or avoiding this reminder of another time, I argue for a feminist appraisal of the temporality of cleaning. In line with scholars within resistance studies who urge for a sensibility for the temporal aspects of everyday resistance, I propose that a feminist politics that puts cleaning at the center rather than in the margins would acknowledge our mutual dependency and co-living with the material world around us.