In this interview, Manuela Boatcă discusses the challenges posed by and the ambiguities involved in the terms “postsocialist” and “postcolonial”, their relationship to different feminisms and unequal Europes, and their connection to multiple processes and forms of racialization in the modern/colonial world-system. Through the category of “uneasy postcolonialisms”, Manuela Boatcă addresses how the coloniality of knowledge relegates certain experiences to certain spaces and assigns them a category. She argues that dismantling the categories thus constructed – from the First, Second, and Third Worlds to “Eastern” Europe, “Latin America”, and whiteness, is indispensable for the emergence of transversal coalitions.

In recent years, the field of queer asylum studies has slowly been expanding in different contexts across the world, with numerous methodologies and various topics of focus. In Sweden, the academic work in this area has mainly focused on legal perspectives. Providing a different perspective, this thesis examines the situation and experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden through a community-based collage project. It examines how collages can be used as a method for research and a tool for community building within this context, and explores the experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden, using individual and group collages.

Using the concept of bricolage, the thesis ties together various artworks with short narratives and analytical interpretations. Together, they form a fragmented, in itself collage-like insight into this community. Through these fragments, the thesis reflects on the themes of migration, belonging, survival, and identity. Additionally, it explores questions of home, family, refugeeness, mess, homonormativity and representation. I argue that commonly used narratives of migration often do not fit this group, as they face highly complex forms of oppression based on their intersecting identities.

Furthermore, the thesis examines the use of collage as a method by looking into the ways collage can negotiate methodological issues like accessibility and researcher accountability, how it can function as a tool for community building, and how it can be used to allow a community researcher to negotiate their positionality in an easier way. I argue that the use of collage has many benefits and that the use of the collage method in this thesis has enriched the research.

Work in general is under-theorised as a site of oppression in queer and intersectional studies, despite the power imbalances it manifests and its far-reaching effects on everyday lives. Anti-work theory is a useful conceptual tool for examining work critically. The purpose of this study is therefore to form a bridge between queer and anti-work politics and theory. Using a broad conception of work drawing on the Marxist and feminist concepts of social reproduction and emotional labour, this study explores anti-work politics situated in relation to the author (who is queer), in contrast to previous accounts which focus on a heteronormative division of labour. The text lays down a theoretical background bringing together elements of queer, anti-work and intersectional theory. With the lack of previous work on the topic, the study instead incorporates previous empirical research on queer work and delves into their problems, before returning to theoretical texts on the relation between queer and capitalism, and the politics of anti-work. This study is centred around the reports of nine queers in Berlin, Germany. It uses the ethnographic methods of semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to gain intersectional insights into the links people make between queerness and the drive to work, resisting work, and the future. 

Management and managing are characteristically gendered in many respects. Over the last 30 years there has been a major international growth of studies on gender relations in organizations in general and in management in particular. This applies in both empirical research and more general theoretical analyses. The area of gender, organizations and management is now recognized in at least some quarters outside of itself as a legitimate, even an important, area. This is to be seen in the current market in publications, in the activities of mainstream international publishers, in journals, in courses within degree programmes, and in research groups, networks, and conferences and conference streams. Nevertheless, the field of activity is still somewhat precarious, in some ways very precarious. The vast majority of mainstream work on organizations and management has no gender analysis whatsoever or if it has it is very simple and crude. In business schools and university departments the position of gender-explicit work is very far from established. Even critical management studies, which may be concerned with, for example, power, class, labour process, resistance, discourse, deconstruction, does not necessarily take gender into account.

This article selectively reviews gender and management research. A flavour of what it can be like to research in this area is offered alongside a more substantive account. The article maps the many strands of work potentially relevant to exploring gender and management. It covers aspects of the field such as its diversity, emerging development, potential marginality and increasing clarity of definition, and considers implications for researchers. The appropriate integration of gender awareness into mainstream theorizing, alongside its separate development, is advocated. Major themes and issues in gender and management research are summarized and briefly addressed. Dilemmas about seeking to promote change but needing to speak within current conventions of management and academia are noted

Which facets of human spatial navigation do sex and menstrual cycle influence? To answer this question, a cross-sectional online study of reproductive age women and men was conducted in which participants were asked to demonstrate and self-report their spatial navigation skills and strategies. Participants self-reported their sex and current menstrual phase [early follicular (EF), late follicular/periovulatory (PO), and mid/late luteal (ML)], and completed a series of questionnaires and tasks measuring self-reported navigation strategy use, topographical memory, cognitive map formation, face recognition, and path integration. We found that sex influenced self-reported use of cognitive map- and scene-based strategies, face recognition, and path integration. Menstrual phase moderated the influence of sex: compared to men, women had better face recognition and worse path integration, but only during the PO phase; PO women were also better at path integration in the presence of a landmark compared to EF+ML women and men. These findings provide evidence that human spatial navigation varies with the menstrual cycle and suggest that sensitivity of the entorhinal cortex and longitudinal axis of the hippocampus to differential hormonal effects may account for this variation.

Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO; removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes) prior to age 48 is associated with elevated risk for both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea. In early midlife, individuals with BSO show reduced hippocampal volume, function, and hippocampal-dependent verbal episodic memory performance associated with changes in sleep. It is unknown whether BSO affects fine-grained sleep measurements (sleep microarchitecture) and how these changes might relate to hippocampal-dependent memory. We recruited thirty-six early midlife participants with BSO. Seventeen of these participants were taking 17 beta-estradiol therapy (BSO+ET) and 19 had never taken ET (BSO). Twenty age-matched control participants with intact ovaries (AMC) were also included. Overnight at-home polysomnography recordings were collected, along with subjective sleep quality and hot flash frequency. Multivariate Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was used to assess how sleep varied between groups. Compared to AMC, BSO without ET was associated with significantly decreased time spent in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stage 2 sleep as well as increased NREM stage 2 and 3 beta power, NREM stage 2 delta power, and spindle power and maximum amplitude. Increased spindle maximum amplitude was negatively correlated with verbal episodic memory performance. Decreased sleep latency, increased sleep efficiency, and increased time spent in rapid eye movement sleep were observed for BSO+ET. Findings suggest there is an association between ovarian hormone loss and sleep microarchitecture, which may contribute to poorer cognitive outcomes and be ameliorated by ET.

Women with early bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO; removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes) have greater Alzheimers disease (AD) risk than women in spontaneous/natural menopause (SM), but early biomarkers of this risk are not well-characterized. Considering associative memory deficits may presage preclinical AD, we wondered if one of the earliest changes might be in associative memory and whether younger women with BSO had changes similar to those observed in SM. Women with BSO (with and without 17 & beta;-estradiol replacement therapy (ERT)), their age-matched premenopausal controls (AMC), and older women in SM completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging face-name associative memory task shown to predict early AD. Brain activation during encoding was compared between groups: AMC (n=25), BSO no ERT (BSO; n=15), BSO+ERT (n=16), and SM without hormone therapy (n=16). Region-of-interest analyses revealed AMC did not contribute to functional group differences. BSO+ERT had higher hippocampal activation than BSO and SM. This hippocampal activation correlated positively with urinary metabolite levels of 17 & beta;-estradiol. Multivariate partial least squares analyses showed BSO+ERT had a different network-level activation pattern than BSO and SM. Thus, despite being approximately 10 years younger, women with BSO without ERT had similar brain function to those with SM, suggesting early 17 & beta;-estradiol loss may lead to an altered functional brain phenotype which could influence late-life AD risk, making face-name encoding a potential biomarker for midlife women with increased AD risk. Despite similarities in activation, BSO and SM groups showed opposite within-hippocampus connectivity, suggesting menopause type is an important consideration when assessing brain function.

Sex and Gender Science seeks to better acknowledge that the body cannot be removed from the world it inhabits. We believe that to best answer any neuroscience question, the biological and the social need to be addressed through both objective means to learn, "how it is like" and subjective means to learn, "what it is like." We call bringing the biological and social together, "Situated Neuroscience" and the mixing of approaches to do so, Very Mixed Methods. Taken together, they constitute an approach to Sex and Gender Science. In this chapter, we describe neural phenomena for which considering sex and gender together produces a fuller knowledge base: sleep, pain, memory, and concussion. For these brain phenomena examples, studying only quantitative measures does not reveal the full impact of these lived experiences on the brain but studying only the qualitative would not reveal how the brain responds. We discuss how Sex and Gender Science allows us to begin to bring together biology and its social context and acknowledge where context can contribute to resolving ignorance to offer more expansive, complementary, and interrelating pictures of an intricate neuro-landscape.

BACKGROUND:

Abuse in health care organizations is a pressing issue for caregivers. Forum play, a participatory theater model, has been used among health care staff to learn about and work against abuse. This small-scale qualitative study aims to explore how forum play participants experience the potentials and limitations of forum play as an educational model for continued professional learning at a hospital clinic.

METHODS:

Fifteen of 41 members of staff of a Swedish nephrology clinic, primarily nurses, voluntarily participated in either one or two forum play workshops, where they shared experiences and together practiced working against abuse in everyday health care situations. Interviews were conducted after the workshops with 14 of the participants, where they were asked to reflect on their own and others' participation or nonparticipation, and changes in their individual and collective understanding of abuse in health care.

RESULTS:

Before the workshops, the informants were either hesitant or very enthusiastic toward the drama-oriented form of learning. Afterward, they all agreed that forum play was a very effective way of individual as well as collective learning about abuse in health care. However, they saw little effect on their work at the clinic, primarily understood as a consequence of the fact that many of their colleagues did not take part in the workshops.

DISCUSSION:

This study, based on the analysis of forum play efforts at a single hospital clinic, suggests that forum play can be an innovative educational model that creates a space for reflection and learning in health care practices. It might be especially fruitful when a sensitive topic, such as abuse in health care, is the target of change. However, for the effects to reach beyond individual insights and a shared understanding among a small group of participants, strategies to include all members of staff need to be explored.

In their everyday work, health professionals find themselves in situations that they perceive to be abusive to patients. Such situations can trigger feelings of shame and guilt, making efforts to address the problem among colleagues a challenge. This article analyzes how health professionals conceptualize abusive situations, and how they develop collective learning and explore preventive strategies. It is based on an interactive research collaboration with a hospice and palliative care clinic in Sweden during 2016–2017. The empirical material consists of group discussions and participant observations collected during interactive drama workshops for all clinic staff. Based on three types of challenges in the material, identified through thematic analysis, we establish the concept of navigation work to show how health professionals prevent or find ways out of challenging and potentially abusive situations. First, the navigation of care landscapes shows how staff navigate the different territories of the home and the ward, reflecting how spatial settings construct the scope of care and what professionals consider to be potentially abusive situations. Second, the negotiation of collective navigations addresses the professionals' shared efforts to protect patients through the use of physical and relational boundaries, or mediating disrupted relationships. Third, the navigation of tensions in care highlights professionals’ strategies in the confined action space between coercing and neglecting patients who oppose necessary care procedures. Theoretically, the concept of navigation work draws upon work on care in practice, and sheds light on the particular kind of work care professionals do, and reflect on doing, in order to navigate the challenges of potentially abusive situations. By providing a perspective and shared vocabulary, the concept may also elicit ways in which this work can be verbalized, shared, and developed in clinical practice.

This volume centers on theories and methodologies for postgraduate feminist researchers engaged in interdisciplinary research, in a context of increasing globalization, giving special attention to cutting-edge approaches at the borders between humanities and social sciences and specific discipline-transgressing fields such as feminist technoscience studies.

In honour of feminist philosopher Rosi Braidotti, the chapter celebrates Braidotti's forceful contributions to feminist philosophy of sexual difference, nomadism and posthumanism, as well as to the building of feminist studies in Europe.

In lieu of an abstract: This volume gathers Swedish and international Human Animal Studies scholars on the topic of human animal geographies.

This unique book examines the relationship between wounding and sexuality, bringing together issues around sexuality, gender, power, violence and representations. Drawing on a range of disciplines including cultural and media studies, sociology and psychology, it explores social practices such as S&M, cosmetic surgery and extreme sports.

The purpose of this study was to discover what impact, if any, personal social networks have on an individual’s snowboarding skill progression, and whether any differences emerge based on gender, class, race, or age. Interviews with 10 demographically diverse snowboarders in Washington State, USA, were conducted and analyzed. The study revealed that personal social networks are highly important to snowboarding skill progression, with nine progression benefits noted. It was also found that the type of relationship was important, with the roles of gatekeepers, “godfathers,” and crews as the most critical for progression. Lastly, respondents indicated a variety of methods to access social networks, including social media, events, organizations, industry employment and through existing social networks. To further analyze the findings, an intersectional feminist reading of Castells networking theory was applied, with investigations into gender, race, class, and age patterns. The analysis revealed two overlapping values systems, one based on snowboarding ability and commitment, and one based on alignment of demographics with those who are most valued in the snowboarding world--mainly young, white, middle class men. The research closes with potential solution ideas to improve equitability and inclusion, which can be applied from the grassroots level to large-scale implementation.

The Neuroschool, and in particular the Experiment contest with which the week culminated, was a transformative experience for the 2010 Alumni. The participants were determined to continue reflecting on the ways in which this experience had affected their perspectives on research and so, scattered across the globe, each Experiment team organised a Skype meeting to discuss a list of questions derived in collaboration with Dr Giovanni Frazzetto. Their aim was to produce group dialogues that would help participants clarify what they had learned about transdisciplinarity, and which would also communicate to others the experience of taking part in The Experiment. Further, the group production of this report was itself a way in which to continue addressing the challenges of transdisciplinary collaboration.

In recent years it has become more common to talk about gender equality in public organisations as part of the ambition to modernise the public sector in general. The purpose of the integration of a gender perspective is believed to create a better service for citizens. Also, in the Programme for Gender Mainstreaming, an outspoken ambition has been to "guarantee the quality of publicly financed activities" in order to ensure that the work "meets the conditions ofboth sexes and that high quality and good results are achieved for women, men, girls and boys" (application for fonds to support the gender mainstreaming oflocal authority activities, SALAR and government decision IJ2007/3277/JÄM).

Gender training is regarded as one of the more central features of gender mainstreaming Gender knowledge is considered necessary for investigating and analysing existing polices and processes and for the integration of a gender perspective. Training for staff and managers affected by the "new" gender mainstreaming policy has also been regarded as essential. Gender knowledge is required in order to understand what and why something should be done and which skills are necessary in order to put the proposed measures in place. Without this knowledge and these skills the process will be in danger of coming to a halt. Knowledge is also considered to minimise the risk of resistance to gender equality objectives. Major training efforts are therefore common in gender mainstreaming initiatives.

Offentliga organisationer har en skyldighet att arbeta för jämställdhet både i sin verksamhet och för att påverka samhället i stort. Men vad är fruktbara strategier för ett hållbart utvecklingsarbete - hur går man till väga?I centrum för denna bok står olika dilemman i jämställdhetsarbetet. Det gäller både hur ett jämställdhetsarbete kan organiseras och vad det kan innehålla, exempelvis vilken roll utbildningar kan spela för utvecklingen och olika sätt att hantera motstånd. Boken är baserad på ett omfattande arbete med jämställdhetsintegrering i offentlig sektor - inom bland annat skola, socialtjänst, räddningstjänst samt hälso- och sjukvård.Jämställdhet i verksamhetsutveckling kan användas som kurslitteratur inom högskoleutbildningar i t.ex. genusvetenskap, statsvetenskap, företagsekonomi och sociologi samt som fördjupningslitteratur i anslutning till ledarskaps- och personal-utbildningar. Den vänder sig också till praktiskt verksamma med intresse för förändringsprocesser i organisationer, verksamhetsutveckling, utvärdering och jämställdhet.Boken finns även översatt till engelska, Gender Mainstreaming in Public Sector Organisations

The overall aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge about the implementation of equality policies in public sector organisations. This is achieved through the development of a theoretical framework of feminist implementation studies. It involves the study of influential factors that impact upon the implementation process, with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the outcome of implementation processes within the equality policy field. The methodology used is based on qualitative case study research combined with a meta-analysis that allows for comparisons across cases. Four initiatives in the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategy were studied in different contexts, namely, two local municipalities and one government agency in Sweden. The main questions asked are: How was gender mainstreaming implemented? What were the main factors influencing the implementation process and why? What was the impact of change actors working to implement gender mainstreaming? The case studies were conducted using an interactive research approach where the different dilemmas encountered by the gender mainstreaming practitioners are used as a starting point for developing a joint learning process. The thesis comprises an introduction and five published papers. The main findings of the study include how the implementation process developed over time and the impact of the micropractices of the “gender mainstreamers” involved. The study provides insights into the factors influencing the implementation process, and how these factors change over time. Different types and levels of conflict, together and interlinked with different ambiguities, affect the practical work where dilemmas inherent in the concepts of “gender”, “equality” and “change” become central. Overall, the study shows how the specific preconditions for implementation of gender mainstreaming make the local arenas of implementation crucial for understanding the outcomes.

This chapter describes and discusses actions taken to integrate a gender perspective (gender mainstreaming) within the Swedish government agency of VINNOVA. Despite the popularity of gender mainstreaming, its rapid spread and adoption both in Sweden and internationally, it is a largely contested concept. Theorists on gender mainstreaming suggest that the strategy may lead to co-optation with the dominant discourse in an organisation and thus no transformation of the current agenda taking place. Others have argued that it provides a possibility to change by addressing root causes. Previous studies of the implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy have often been built on analyses on a theoretical or policy level. This chapter takes a different approach by examining the micro-practices developed by actors in public organisations when implementing gender mainstreaming strategies. This is done by examining the roles of both actors and agency. The chapter is based on the results of a case study of the work at VINNOVA; these results are initially described in the article based on the actors’ own accounts of their work. The intriguing “story” of developments in the organisation is followed by a discussion of the micro-practices and strategies in use, based on notions of tempered radicalism (Meyerson and Scully 1995, Meyerson, 2001ab) and small-wins strategies (Weick 1984). The questions of cooptation and subversiveness are problematised through an examination of different strategies of resistance and negotiation (Swan and Fox 2010) used in and around the work. In this context, notions of actors and agency are seen as interlinked, bringing together political intervention and professional and personal positioning (Parsons and Priola 2012) in the practical equality work.

Offentliga organisationer har en skyldighet att arbeta för jämställdhet både i sin verksamhet och för att påverka samhället i stort. Men vad är fruktbara strategier för ett hållbart utvecklingsarbete - hur går man till väga?I centrum för denna bok står olika dilemman i jämställdhetsarbetet. Det gäller både hur ett jämställdhetsarbete kan organiseras och vad det kan innehålla, exempelvis vilken roll utbildningar kan spela för utvecklingen och olika sätt att hantera motstånd. Boken är baserad på ett omfattande arbete med jämställdhetsintegrering i offentlig sektor - inom bland annat skola, socialtjänst, räddningstjänst samt hälso- och sjukvård.Jämställdhet i verksamhetsutveckling kan användas som kurslitteratur inom högskoleutbildningar i t.ex. genusvetenskap, statsvetenskap, företagsekonomi och sociologi samt som fördjupningslitteratur i anslutning till ledarskaps- och personal-utbildningar. Den vänder sig också till praktiskt verksamma med intresse för förändringsprocesser i organisationer, verksamhetsutveckling, utvärdering och jämställdhet.Boken finns även översatt till engelska, Gender Mainstreaming in Public Sector Organisat

This article discusses how the actors involved with integrating a gender perspective into mainstream organizational processes have to deal with many difficult-to-solve questions or dilemmas in their everyday work. The strategies used to implement gender mainstreaming rests on various and often contradictory understandings of gender, gender equality and change strategies. The article draws on two case studies in public organizations working with gender mainstreaming where qualitative interviews and reflection- and analysis- and reflection seminars have been conducted with actors involved in the project. The main aim of the article is to discuss an interactive research approach as a way to reflect on various understandings and underlying assumptions that different change strategies are based on. Theoretically the paper uses Michael Billig’s concept of ideological dilemmas as well as theories on gender equality, organizational change and interactive research. A central argument is that contradictions can be problematic if they are ignored but fruitful if used as a starting point for discussions about how future change strategies can be formed. Julia Nentwich’s notion of “playing around” is discussed as a way to reflect and develop strategies based on the specific dilemmas found in the cases studies. Different phases in the interactive approach is described and discussed; the problem orientation phase, the examination phase and the analysis- and reflection phase.

An important issue in recent years in the gender equality field deals with effects produced by gender equality initiatives. Reports of difficulties such as resistance, obstacles and a lack of resources are common and have occurred for as long as gender equality work has been carried out. Other difficulties which have been highlighted are how gender equality work runs the risk of being reduced to technocratic methods rather than dealing with the content of policies applied (Squires 2007, Walby 2009, Rönnblom 2011). Another related discussion, has dealt with the fact that gender equality initiatives are often runas short-term projects in which good results can be achieved, but where the work ceases when funds run out, thereby limiting the scope for long-term effects (Lindholm 2011). Research hasat the same time shown that gender equality from an historical perspective has brought great progress in many areas of society (Hearn 2012, Walby 2009). This appears to be something of a paradox. Does gender equality development take place parallel with - or in spite of gender equality work? Or is there something in gender equality initiatives that we are unable to capture? In this chapter, on the basis of studies of practical work with gender equality, we wish to present and analyse attempts to solve the complex social problem that gender inequality represents.

The aim of this chapter is to deepen the reasoning concerning the question of what results and effects we can see from gender equality initiatives, what we cannot see, and the reasons for this. We take as our starting point a study of the work on following up results and effects from gender mainstreaming in an initiative on gender mainstreaming in Swedish municipalities and county councils. Can there be results and effects from gender mainstreaming which are not known, or which co-workers do not understand the importance of the so-called surprising and unexpected effects? We also want to study whether undesired results and effects take place, and how these can be managed.

This article discusses how the actors involved with integrating a gender perspective into mainstream organizational processes have to deal with many difficult-to-solve questions or dilemmas in their everyday work. The strategies used to implement gender mainstreaming rests on various and often contradictory understandings of gender, gender equality and change strategies. The article draws on two case studies in public organizations working with gender mainstreaming where qualitative interviews and reflection- and analysis- and reflection seminars have been conducted with actors involved in the project. The main aim of the article is to discuss an interactive research approach as a way to reflect on various understandings and underlying assumptions that different change strategies are based on. Theoretically the paper uses Michael Billig’s concept of ideological dilemmas as well as theories on gender equality, organizational change and interactive research. A central argument is that contradictions can be problematic if they are ignored but fruitful if used as a starting point for discussions about how future change strategies can be formed. Julia Nentwich’s notion of “playing around” is discussed as a way to reflect and develop strategies based on the specific dilemmas found in the cases studies. Different phases in the interactive approach is described and discussed; the problem orientation phase, the examination phase and the analysis- and reflection phase.

More women have Alzheimer disease (AD) than men, but the reasons for this phenomenon are still unknown. Including women in clinical research and studying their biology is key to understand not just their increased risk but also their resilience against the disease. In this sense, women are more affected by AD than men, but their reserve or resilience mechanisms might delay symptom onset. The aim of this review was to explore what is known about mechanisms underlying womens risk and resilience in AD and identify emerging themes in this area that merit further research. We conducted a review of studies analyzing molecular mechanisms that may induce neuroplasticity in women, as well as cognitive and brain reserve. We also analyzed how the loss of steroid hormones in aging may be linked to AD. We included empirical studies with human and animal models, literature reviews as well as meta-analyses. Our search identified the importance of 17-b-estradiol (E2) as a mechanism driving cognitive and brain reserve in women. More broadly, our analysis revealed the following emerging perspectives: (1) the importance of steroid hormones and their effects on both neurons and glia for the study of risk and resilience in AD, (2) E2s crucial role in womens brain reserve, (3) womens verbal memory advantage as a cognitive reserve factor, and (4) E2s potential role in linguistic experiences such as multilingualism and hearing loss. Future directions for research include analyzing the reserve mechanisms of steroid hormones on neuronal and glial plasticity, as well as identifying the links between steroid hormone loss in aging and risk for AD.

Den här uppsatsen och undersökningen är en observationsstudie på en fritidsgård i Östergötland som handlar om hur fritidseldarna på fritidsgården möter och bemöter ungdomarna på gården ur ett intersektionellt perspektiv och teoretisk grund med fokus på genus, sexualitet, etnicitet, klass och ålder. Syftet med undersökningen är att granska verksamheten och fritidsledarnas arbete under kvällstid och på vilka sätt de skapar positiva samt negativa möten med ungdomarna men undersökningen besvarar även vilka föreställningar som fritidseldarna har kring genus, sexualitet, etnicitet, klass och ålder samt hur de här föreställningarna påverkar de möten som uppstår.

Tourism is an important employer for women in many countries. However, despite this seeming women friendliness, women are still underrepresented at the top of tourism businesses. Previous research on women managers careers in tourism has neglected the analysis of their careers in the light of new career concepts, such as the boundaryless career. Hence, in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with twenty-four female senior managers in Portuguese hotels and travel businesses, including entrepreneurs across a wide range of business sizes. The aim was to analyse these womens perspectives on how they have reached the top. It is concluded that women regard their careers as an outcome of their inherent characteristics, agency and a desire to seize challenges that lead to intrinsic satisfaction. They downplay the role of both structural enablers and structural barriers. This article analyses these issues from a boundaryless career model perspective and with a gender lens.

This article considers how Ackers (1990, 2012) framework of gendering processes can be a tool for the analysis of women managers careers in tourism organisations. Twenty-four women toplevel managers in hotels and travel businesses were interviewed. The analysis of gendering processes in the organisations where these women work revealed that hidden discrimination is more pervasive than overt discrimination. Three main gender subtexts underlie these gendering processes: the notion of the ideal unencumbered worker and assumptions of womens greater family-orientation; the expectation that women are less competent than men; and male homosocial ties and exclusionary practices. It is concluded that Ackers framework can be a good tool for de-legitimising subtle and normalised forms of discrimination in tourism organisations.

The purpose of this article is to analyse female top managers suggestions of what could be done towards gender equality at three different levels (state, organisational and individual), so that more women reach the top of tourism organisations. Looking at the state and organisational measures proposed by the interviewees, it seems that they regard lack of time and lack of childcare solutions as the main problem behind womens representation at the top. Interviewees place the problem of the provision of childcare in the states hands, and the problem of lack of flexibility in the organisations hands. However, when analysing the individual strategies proposed by these women, these clearly target a completely different issue, namely the prejudice against women in organisations. Interviewees emphasise individual strategies the most, since they believe that the solution to achieve equality lies in the hands of women, while other participants believe that equality will be achieved naturally The individual strategies proposed by women can be grouped under the following main themes: hard work, competence and meritocracy; showing skills and availability; confrontation strategies and assertiveness; protection of family and personal lives from excessive work demands; strategies for fitting in; doing what one likes; investment in education; and family planning. Their answers can be interpreted in light of how challenging they are in terms of disturbing the gender order. While some of these strategies align with the status quo and leave gendered structures unchallenged, others confront gendered structures and the prevailing gender order.

This paper addresses the intersection of problems of labour, capitalism and the body, and situates it in the context of contemporary academia. We will attempt to bring together the “old” (Marxist) and new traditions of materialism in order to re-think the material of the cognitive work. We pose the following questions: What happens to bodies in an increasingly neoliberal academia, which produces precarious, nomadic and, oftentimes, sick bodies (depressed, burned-out, anxious)? What are the ways in which control is being exercised over these bodies? Inspired by the idea of “situated knowledges” we claim that to produce academic discourses on how bodies and lives are kept under control, it is vital to recognize one’s own position (in this case it is a positionlocated within the context of the academia) as a space which is not free from the relations of control, power and violence. We argue that in this particular work environment (i.e. the university) the control over “cognitive labourers” is exercised throughdistribution of anxiety which forces subjects to be productive. We argue that dismantling the productive/unproductive dichotomy could lead to new forms of resistance, solidarity and/or collective action.

The starting point for this paper is Rosi Braidotti’squestion of “what a body can do and how much a body can take” (2006, p. 129). The paper addresses questions of affectivity, vulnerability, resilience and resistance of the diseased/sick/(dis)abled/depressed body and brings these questions to my/our own backyard: the context of today’s neoliberal, “knowmadic” academia. There seems to be a growing, albeit little-researched and rarely expressed officially, concern about mental health issues being on the rise among academics (see: e.g. Shaw and Ward 2014). I’dlike to pose the following question: what kind of cognitive production, what thought paradigms, knowledges and praxes do sick –depressed, anxious, burned-out –bodies create? Relying on David Harvey’s comment that under capitalism sickness is defined as inability to work (2001, p.106), I wish to search for alternative logics in which, perhaps, “feeling bad might, in fact, be the ground for transformation” (Cvetkovich 2012, p. 3.). That is not to idealize sickness but rather to point to the intertwined nature of the relation between the embodiment and theory, and the body of a researcher and their work (a body of work; institutionalbodies; the sick body...) and look into the productive unproductivity of the “not feeling well”.

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This qualitative case study examines technology-facilitated gender-based violence in relation to network hospitality platform Couchsurfing.com. Motivated by experiences of many women, including my own, and an identified research gap in the academia on the topic, the research seeks to understand how Couchsurfing.com facilitates gender-based violence, with a specific focus on women. The present research is based on a single, explanatory case study methodology, focused on the thematic of analysis of the podcast “Verified”, concerning the case of Italian Couchsurfer and policeman Dino Maglio, who systematically drugged and sexually assaulted his Couchsurfing guests. Key findings highlight how Couchsurfing enabled and perpetuated gender-based violence, by not preventing the creation of new profiles and possible retaliation against negative references, and most importantly, by never admitting to any responsibility. While this violence was facilitated by Couchsurfing.com, other hegemonic social structures and institutions were found in the study to be further perpetuating this violence, in particular the police and the judiciary system. While acknowledging the limitation of a single case study, this master’s thesis contributes to an ever-increasing body of literature on technology-facilitated gender-based violence by shedding light on the different dynamics at play in an online-to-offline Couchsurfing exchange.

This thesis proposes the relevance of epigenetic research to feminist studies and gender

studies, and vice versa, and asks how epigenetics speaks to the so-called sex-gender

distinction. It also discusses what epigenetics could potentially tell us about ourselves,

and our place in a world where we are all creatures of both nature and nurture. The

author proposes that with its promise of insight into the relationship of the body to

environment and experience over time, epigenetics could be an inextricable link

between nature and nurture. Combining a modified version of diffractive analysis, and

gender/sex as an analytical device, the author engages with epigenetic research and its

representation in popular science and in the public imaginary. After discussing the

striations of feminist discourse on permeable bodies, the author proposes epigenetics as

another layer in the strata, placing epigenetics within feminist and gender studies

literature and discourse. Noting that as research gains ground the way in which the

public imagines and describes epigenetics gives shape to its materialization and

development, this thesis asserts the urgent need for social sciences, and in particular

feminist and gender studies, to engage in critical discourse

This thesis proposes the relevance of epigenetic research to feminist studies and gender

studies, and vice versa, and asks how epigenetics speaks to the so-called sex-gender

distinction. It also discusses what epigenetics could potentially tell us about ourselves,

and our place in a world where we are all creatures of both nature and nurture. The

author proposes that with its promise of insight into the relationship of the body to

environment and experience over time, epigenetics could be an inextricable link

between nature and nurture. Combining a modified version of diffractive analysis, and

gender/sex as an analytical device, the author engages with epigenetic research and its

representation in popular science and in the public imaginary. After discussing the

striations of feminist discourse on permeable bodies, the author proposes epigenetics as

another layer in the strata, placing epigenetics within feminist and gender studies

literature and discourse. Noting that as research gains ground the way in which the

public imagines and describes epigenetics gives shape to its materialization and

development, this thesis asserts the urgent need for social sciences, and in particular

feminist and gender studies, to engage in critical discourse with epigenetic research as it

is carried out and as it is translated to the wider public.

The starting point of this study is the common assumption that the Italian society is based on a patriarchal ideological system in which racism is often normalized. The binary distinction between women and men in Italian society has evolved into discussions and awareness raising on genderbased violence or violence against women. As intersectionality has become a central point in Italian contemporary feminism, this study uses the analysis of topics related to the historical creation of the idea of Italian-ness, migration and the influence of right-wing politics in current gender related issues as the basis of a feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. With this in mind, using intersectional theory, postcolonial feminism, and studies of whiteness, the study aims at exploring as to which extent the discourses of three white Italian women, who identify as feminist activists, influence the presence of racialized Italian women in their work. This study should create academic data and contribute to a research that is extremely limited on these topics.

Using new materialist approaches to intersectional theories of gender/sex –particularly Karen Barad’s ethico-onto-epistemological framework, agential realism– this thesis examines how knowledge about class is produced, through feminist performance art practices. Through this lens I will examine how two pieces of performance art by U.K. based artists, Sophie Lisa Beresford and Catherine Hoffmann, can express novel ways in which class is not simply a system acting upon bodies, but inextricably entwined with, and produced through, bodily matter. Furthermore, this essay discusses the ways in which performance art is uniquely positioned to examine this intra-action between discourse and matter; providing a way to bridge the gaps in the current theoretical discourses and creative practices.

Keywords: Feminist performance art, agential realism, intersectionality, class, new materialism, class-drag, performativity, class-passing, intra-activity.

Greek society remains deeply patriarchal with heteronormative imaginaries imposed by its institutions. Both the main welfare agents, the state and the family, reproduce gendered power relations through their absence and support, respectively. The Greek welfare state was never active enough to cover the needs of its citizens; therefore, housing, care, and other kinds of support are provided by the family even and/or especially during crises and times of austerity. Today, after over a decade of austerity measures that retrenched the already weak welfare system in Greece, the reserves of families have also reached stagnation. At the same time, gender binaries, heteronormative attitudes, and conservatism in social life in Greece are being reinforced. This chapter argues that even though both the welfare state and family welfare are gendered and privilege men’s welfare, even men as beneficiaries of family welfare are ‘obliged’ to fulfil a heteronormative imaginary to receive support. Therefore, they are both benefited as men but also trapped by traditional ideologies carried by family members and the state.

Background: The needs of gay men after prostate cancer treatment are becoming visible. This patient group reports a more negative impact of treatment than heterosexual men. Yet, gay men’s experiences of post-treatment sexual changes are still little explored. This study aims to determine specific concerns of gay men’s post-treatment sexual practices.

Methods: A qualitative study design was deployed using semi-structured interviews as data. Participants were purposefully sampled through advertisements and the snowball method. Eleven self-identifying gay men aged 58–81 years and treated for prostate cancer participated in interviews during 2016–2017. The interviews were transcribed, coded and thematically analysed.

Results: The analysis highlights sexual changes in relation to the physical body, identity and relations. Problematic physical changes included loss of ejaculate and erectile dysfunction. Some respondents reported continued pleasure from anal stimulation and were uncertain about the role of the prostate. These physical changes prompted reflections on age and (dis)ability. Relationship status also impacted perception of physical changes, with temporary sexual contacts demanding more of the men in terms of erection and ejaculations.

Conclusions: Gay prostate cancer survivors’ narratives about sexual changes circle around similar bodily changes as heterosexual men’s, such as erectile problems and weaker orgasms. The loss of ejaculate was experienced as more debilitating for gay men. Men who had anal sex were concerned about penetration difficulties as well as sensations of anal stimulation. Additional studies are required to better understand the role of the prostate among a diversity of men, regardless of sexuality.