Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels
During the 2010s, popular romance has emerged as a popular genre in Sweden. Popular romance is often criticized on account of its perceived gender conservatism. In Sweden – a country that prides itself on being at the forefront of progressive gender politics – the genre has however become promoted a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR)
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Popular Romance Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.jprstudies.org/2021/06/superwomen-latte-dads-and-feminist-alphas-negotiations-on-feminism-in-contemporary-swedish-popular-romance-novels/ |
| _version_ | 1797752116301791232 |
|---|---|
| author | Elin Abrahamsson |
| author_facet | Elin Abrahamsson |
| author_sort | Elin Abrahamsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the 2010s, popular romance has emerged as a popular genre in Sweden. Popular romance is often criticized on account of its perceived gender conservatism. In Sweden – a country that prides itself on being at the forefront of progressive gender politics – the genre has however become promoted as feminist, and Sweden is represented as an especially beneficial context for the emergence of a (more) feminist popular romance. For this article I analyze a selection of Swedish contemporary romance novels, released between 2014-2019. Taking the feminist critique into account, I analyze how these novels negotiate genre conventions in an effort to produce (more) feminist love stories, and how these local variants of a global genre relate to the feminism of the Swedish context and the Swedish self-image. The novels, I argue, are permeated by a Swedish gender equality discourse; one that focuses on heterosexual couples who fulfill themselves equally in relation to both family and work life. The novels both challenge and uphold gendered inequalities and criticized romance tropes. They further produce different representations of Sweden, sometimes representing Sweden as only superficially equal and other times as a country where equality is already almost in place. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:58:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-45662814040b479599e45d56e44477da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2159-4473 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:58:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Popular Romance Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-45662814040b479599e45d56e44477da2023-08-07T18:17:44ZengInternational Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR)Journal of Popular Romance Studies2159-44732021-06-01101120Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance NovelsElin AbrahamssonDuring the 2010s, popular romance has emerged as a popular genre in Sweden. Popular romance is often criticized on account of its perceived gender conservatism. In Sweden – a country that prides itself on being at the forefront of progressive gender politics – the genre has however become promoted as feminist, and Sweden is represented as an especially beneficial context for the emergence of a (more) feminist popular romance. For this article I analyze a selection of Swedish contemporary romance novels, released between 2014-2019. Taking the feminist critique into account, I analyze how these novels negotiate genre conventions in an effort to produce (more) feminist love stories, and how these local variants of a global genre relate to the feminism of the Swedish context and the Swedish self-image. The novels, I argue, are permeated by a Swedish gender equality discourse; one that focuses on heterosexual couples who fulfill themselves equally in relation to both family and work life. The novels both challenge and uphold gendered inequalities and criticized romance tropes. They further produce different representations of Sweden, sometimes representing Sweden as only superficially equal and other times as a country where equality is already almost in place.https://www.jprstudies.org/2021/06/superwomen-latte-dads-and-feminist-alphas-negotiations-on-feminism-in-contemporary-swedish-popular-romance-novels/gender equalitypopular romancesimona ahrnstedtswedish exceptionalismswedish romance |
| spellingShingle | Elin Abrahamsson Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels Journal of Popular Romance Studies gender equality popular romance simona ahrnstedt swedish exceptionalism swedish romance |
| title | Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels |
| title_full | Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels |
| title_fullStr | Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels |
| title_full_unstemmed | Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels |
| title_short | Superwomen, Latte Dads and Feminist Alphas: Negotiations on Feminism in Contemporary Swedish Popular Romance Novels |
| title_sort | superwomen latte dads and feminist alphas negotiations on feminism in contemporary swedish popular romance novels |
| topic | gender equality popular romance simona ahrnstedt swedish exceptionalism swedish romance |
| url | https://www.jprstudies.org/2021/06/superwomen-latte-dads-and-feminist-alphas-negotiations-on-feminism-in-contemporary-swedish-popular-romance-novels/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elinabrahamsson superwomenlattedadsandfeministalphasnegotiationsonfeminismincontemporaryswedishpopularromancenovels |