Men as victims and invisible women : The link between destructive male norms and violence. A discourse analysis of Machofabriken 2.0

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine Machofabriken 2.0 through discourse analysis.Examine how concepts are filled with meaning and what alternative meanings that are excluded. Ialso scrutinized what pedagogic tools and strategies put forward to achieve change and discuss ifit is possible to approach ordinary men as violent. Furthermore, I have analyzed underpinningassumptions of gender and violence and how masculinities, femininities, violence, andresponsibility are discursively produced. I have paid extra attention to three short movies; RealLife (Sexual harassment and bystander), Ice Cream (Consent and Free will) and Step-up(Pornography) with inspiration from feministfrequency.se to explore visual media and to payattention to the Male Gaze, objectification and sexualization of women, constructed differencesbetween men and women. Feminist Frequency provided me with the concept of Tropes in theexamination of representations of boys and girls in the short movies.The examination has uncovered gender biases in Machofabriken, which privilege the male overthe female and runs the categories fixed and reveals how the masculine discourse has constructedwomen as the Other. This thesis argues, it has dismantled the destructive masculine discourse andhow subjects of both genders are positioned and constituted within that discourse. This alsomeans the construction of gender is already there, before the text, before the short movies.