“Nature is full of rapists” : the representation of animal’s gender behavior in popular science

Abstract: This master’s thesis in rural development investigates the representations of animals and their social- and gender behavior in a Swedish popular science magazine. How is gender produced and reproduced, and how is language used to establish and maintain existing power relations? These are the questions that this thesis aim to answer. The analysis has been made on selected texts from the magazine Illustrerad Vetenskap year 2015 with focus on, and inspired from, a critical conception of ideology. The result shows that the division of human sexes is made legitimate in Illustrerad Vetenskap by presenting animals as carriers of the “natural” sex roles at the same time as presenting the animals as similar to humans. Further, the female animals are presented as less willing to participate in sexual activities, less active and less rational then the males, and with the main responsibility for nursing offspring.