Negotiations of Socialist Feminism: Gender and sexual orientation in conflicting perceptions of socialism, feminism and power in the Danish socialist party, Enhedslisten

Abstract: This thesis is a study of conflicting perceptions provoked by Enhedslisten’s, Danish political party, attempt to practice socialist feminism organizationally. I locate three sites of conflicts; socialism(s) and organization of power, feminism(s), and queer culture and approach them from a theoretical framework of primarily Foucault, Panebianco, Halley, Young, Fraser, and Butler. I conduct four ethnographic observations and nine in-depth interviews located within a feminist framework of standpoint methodologies drawing on Haraway and Harding, poststructuralism drawing on Gannon and Davis, and analyze with a thematic content analysis drawing on Hsieh & Shannon. I argue that the main conflicts are grounded in inequalities Enhedslisten produce within its own structure. The flat structure is experienced as impenetrable and opaque, and the absence of formalized power creates informal power centers. I argue that polarization of feminism is displayed as divisions in intersectional feminism and radical feminism, but those divisions stem from competing stances on what constitutes oppression and social justice. Lastly, I argue that the queer culture is a political goal that manifests itself in the party culture, hence, goals of claiming sexual agency transcend from party to body and become a queer normativity that contains expectations to embody the political goals.