Suchergebnisse

"Foreword" -- "Acknowledgements" -- "Contents" -- "Editors and Contributors" -- "Chapter 1 Introduction: Nordic Girlhoods—New Perspectives and Outlooks " -- "Why a Nordic Perspective?" -- "Key Themes and Discussions" -- "Power and Subjectification" -- "Nordic Model and Gender Equality" -- "Intersectionality" -- "Theorizing Femininities" -- "Adaptations and Translations: The Challenge with Languages" -- "Outline: Dialogues and an Experiment in Form" -- "References" -- "Chapter 2 Negotiating Emancipation and Nationalism: Finnish Girls' Literature from 1889–1901 " -- "Introduction" -- "Targeted Readership: Fiction for Girls" -- "Nationalism: Singing "Our Land"" -- "Emancipation: Primarily Human Beings" -- "In Between: Negotiating Emancipation and Nationalism" -- "References" -- "Chapter 3 Explosive Self-Confident Femininity: Experienced and Remembered Girl Energy " -- "Introduction" -- "From Abroad to Finland: Girl Power as a Phenomenon and Concept" -- "Sharing Memories: Data and Methods" -- "Femininity as Part of Girl Energy" -- "Energetic Friendship Got Girls to Act" -- "Girl Energy and Gender Equality" -- "Conclusion: Understanding the Phenomenon" -- "Data" -- "References" -- "Chapter 4 Outlook: What Do Finnish Fiction and Girl Energy Have to Do with Feminism and Gay Liberation in South Africa? " -- "Possible Parallels with the Beginnings of Gay Liberation in South Africa" -- "Possible Parallels with Post-Apartheid South Africa" -- "Can a Book Change One's Life?" -- "Concluding Remarks" -- "References" -- "Chapter 5 Grin and Bear It! Downplaying Sexual Harassment as Part of Nordic Girlhood " -- "Sexual Harassment as a Phenomenon and Research Topic" -- "Tolerating as a Form of Agency" -- "Contextual Boundaries of Harassment" -- "Girls as Objects of Various Kinds of Attention

This article analyzes young Swedish women's experiences of living stressful femininity from an existentialist gender theoretical perspective. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 25 women, aged 17–25, who had registered for a stress management course at a youth health centre. Our analysis suggests that their experiences of stress can be related to the renegotiation of gender constructions that have occurred within the Swedish society. The young female subject can be viewed as living through a historic break between a historical position as a subordinated 'Other' while simultaneously having to navigate within contemporary discourses of successful femininity. The doing of normative femininity resulted in an exhausting and draining self-evaluating circle. The experiences of having a painful and collapsing body led to a sense of loss of access to and confidence in their bodies. This should be understood as a loss both of subjectivity and connectedness with the corporeality of existence.