Frigjord oskuld - Doria

Summary
Empowered Innocence
Heterosexual Developmental Imperative
in Swedish Young Adult Fiction
The aim of this study is to explore the varying possibilities for girl characters
to act out and negotiate (hetero)sexuality in Swedish young adult
fiction (YAF) from the 1960s to the 2000s. Analyzing depictions of girls’
sexuality, in relation to boys’ sexuality, this dissertation takes a closer look
at marginalized and queer girl characters in order to show that heterosexuality
is a flexible phenomenon which is better understood in terms
of a number of heterosexualities.
In my study I argue that heterosexuality is the norm recreated in the
novels examined, meaning that the norm is never openly interrogated.
Unless it is clearly stated, the girl characters in the books explored are
heterosexual and they remain so unless they are forced to account for
their sexual preferences. This pattern, which has emerged from the books
under study, is also applicable to other novels during the time period investigated.
The depiction of sexuality in Swedish YAF is divided into three categories:
broken romance, violent norm and heteronormative failure. These
categories constitute the chapter headings of the study and they originate
in the feminist framework of interpretation applied. Approaching
depictions of girlhood from a feminist point of view presupposes, firstly,
that the gendered categories woman and girl are recognized in their own
right. Secondly, girlhood is related to issues such as victimization and
subordination, as well as the question of equality between the sexes.
Thirdly, a feminist perspective reveals how heteronormativity places
sexualities in order of preference. Within all three categories, intelligible
heteronormativity stipulates the possible courses of action for the adolescent
girl protagonists under study. Moreover, sexuality is not interpreted
as a separate entity, but as affected by gender, class and age. The three
categories around which the dissertation is structured thus accentuate
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