Introduction

Larsen, Eirinn; Moss, Sigrun Marie; Skjelsbæk, Inger

doi:10.4324/9781003017134-101

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Sweden, like other Nordic countries, has been described as progressive in the area of gender equality ( Larsen et al, 2021 ), ranking first on the EU’s Gender Equality Index in 2020 ( European Institute for Gender Equality [EIGE], 2020 ). Previous research suggests that normative masculinity in Sweden is changing to include ideas of gender equality and being a caring and present father ( Johansson & Klinth, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Notions About Men and Masculinities Among Health Care Professionals Working With Men’s Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

et al. 2022

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Health care professionals’ (HCPs) notions about gender may influence the provision and quality of care. If care-seeking men are met by HCPs holding idealized and stereotypical notions of masculinity, this could reinforce barriers to adequate care. This study explored notions about men and masculinities among HCPs working with men’s sexual health in Sweden. Focus group interviews with 35 HCPs from primary health and sexual health clinics were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in three descriptive themes: (a) Contradictory masculinity—elusive but clear. Notions of masculinity as a phenomenon or concept were elusive, but masculine and un-masculine traits, behaviors, and qualities were clear. (b) Sexual health care is a social place where men and masculinities can be challenging. Male patients were associated with unwanted sexual tensions. Masculinity could challenge professionality. Seeking sexual health care was perceived as doing un-masculinity. (c) Regarding masculinity as irrelevant—a difficult ambition to achieve. Participants strived for gender-neutrality by regarding patients as humans, individuals, or patients rather than as men and masculine. The analysis also identified a theme of meaning: Notions of masculinity are situated relationally. HCPs situate masculinity in real and hypothetical relationships. Romantic and sexual preferences were used to define preferred masculinity. This study identified themes that showed how HCPs balanced professional and private notions of men and masculinity in their patient encounters. Increased gender awareness and training are needed to professionalize the management of gendered notions in encounters with men who seek care for sexual health problems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Notions About Men and Masculinities Among Health Care Professionals Working With Men’s Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

et al. 2022

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“…Such research provides much-needed nuance and complexity to a subject so often shrouded in myth and stereotyping. The mainstay of this scholarship questions the notion of Nordic exceptionalism by highlighting a wide array of contradictions (Simons and Manoilo, 2019), together with growing challenges to the comparative reputational advantage of the ‘Nordic brand’, inter alia , issues concerning gender equality (Larsen et al, 2021), and Nordic humanitarianism (de Bengy Puyvallée and Bjørkdahl, 2021). There are also emergent critiques of how the Nordic countries have responded to recent ‘crises’ such as the refugee crisis (Gammeltoft-Hansen, 2021) and the Covid-19 pandemic (Milne, 2020), which some argue, have diminished the notion of so-called ‘Nordic exceptionalism’.…”

Section: Nordic Branding With a Particular Focus On Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Branding ‘progressive’ security: The case of Sweden

Coetzee¹,

Larsson²,

Berndtsson³

2023

Cooperation and Conflict

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Contemporary research on so-called Nordic branding has provided crucial insights into the social power of states and how various actors use and circulate ‘progressive’ nation brand tropes for political and commercial goals. Hitherto, the literature on Nordic branding has focused on a wide range of substantive issues, among other things, human rights, gender equality, social welfare and foreign aid, but considerably less attention has been paid to the topic of security. The present article adds to a small but established literature on how the security sphere is increasingly entangled with nation branding. In the Nordic region, we argue, the latter is particularly evident in the case of Sweden – one of the world’s largest per-capita arms exporters in the post-Cold War era but also a country known and often revered for its peaceful and progressive image. Focusing on the case of Sweden, the article contributes to knowledge of how defence industry-related actors (both public and private) draw on and frame nation branding tropes to sell and legitimise their products and services to both insiders (domestic constituents) and outsiders (the global security market).

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“…In this article, I offer the first empirical account of motivation for egg freezing in a Nordic country, where the combination of paid work and having and caring for children is no longer framed as problematic, rather it has become close to a taken-for-granted norm (Borchorst and Siim, 2008; Ellingsæter and Pedersen, 2013). Relative economic independence for mothers – preferably through paid work – has been promoted and facilitated by welfare state policies since the 1970s (Hernes, 1987) and such a gender equal welfare state has become an essential aspect of national self-understanding (Larsen et al, 2021). In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, difficulty in combining children and work has been documented as a crucial motive for egg freezing (Waldby, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freezing for ‘unlove’: Declining fertility, heterosexual partnering and conflicting subjectivities among women pursuing social egg freezing in their 30s in Norway

Førde

2024

European Journal of Women's Studies

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This article discusses so-called social egg freezing among women in Norway. The women, single and in their thirties, link the desire to freeze their eggs to challenges with heterosexual partnering and the lingering threat of becoming ‘desperate’ due to presumed declining fertility. I show that ‘desperation’ stands for impulses, desires, priorities and strategies, which are in conflict with an ideal feminine subjectivity – the ‘strong independent woman’ – who is gender equal, autonomous, rational and self-regulating. At the same time, normative coupledom based on ‘true love’ remains at the heart of the women’s idea of an optimal way of life. Drawing on feminist sociologist Eva Ilouz’ theorisation of the effects of late capitalism on heterosexual dynamics and relationships, I show how egg freezing is pursued in order to retain and improve one’s ability for what Illouz calls ‘unlove’: to avoid and escape substandard relationships and prioritise autonomy and self-empowerment over a desire for attachment. I contend that, although in some cases (and/or for some time) experienced as empowering and an enhancement of gender equality, egg freezing remains an individualised, and largely ineffective, response to conflicts and dilemmas stemming from gendered paradoxes of late capitalist intimate normativity, where norms of ‘true love’ coupledom come into conflict with an ideal subjectivity of radical autonomy. ‘Freezing for unlove’, thus, also highlights the ambiguous effects of an individualist neoliberal feminism, which fails to adequately address material gender differences, and to problematise adjustment to a male norm as a strategy for gender equality.

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Introduction

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Notions About Men and Masculinities Among Health Care Professionals Working With Men’s Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

Notions About Men and Masculinities Among Health Care Professionals Working With Men’s Sexual Health: A Focus Group Study

Branding ‘progressive’ security: The case of Sweden

Freezing for ‘unlove’: Declining fertility, heterosexual partnering and conflicting subjectivities among women pursuing social egg freezing in their 30s in Norway

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