A Denaturalized Woman: Gender, Sexualities and Nation Building in Nicaraguan Abortion Discourses

In 2006, Nicaragua installed a complete ban on abortion, which spurred much debate in Nicaraguan civil society and had a strongly negative effect on women’s rights and lives. Previous research has dealt with the abortion discourses and found that much of it makes out a conflict between protecting the life of the fetus or that of the woman. However, there have also been found arguments relating to gender, sexualities and the nation. This area has although not been thoroughly investigated. This bachelor thesis discusses how notions of gender and sexualities are constructed in relation to Nicaraguan abortion discourses, and how this can be seen as part of a nation-building project. By applying discourse analysis on seventeen semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of civil society organizations that are engaged in the abortion debate, for and against abortion rights. The theoretical framework is based on gender and nation building, femininity/masculinity and naturalized motherhood. The conclusions drawn suggest that the anti-abortion discourse highly emphasizes the role of the Mother as the primary responsibility for women, both for the national collective and for how they should live out their gender and sexualities; i.e. within the borders of reproduction. A contrasting gender role is also presented, that is a feminist, unfeminine woman with a promiscuous and libertine sexuality. Abortion is seen as being un-Nicaraguan and connected to international influence, homosexuality and illicit sexual behaviors that are outside of national culture and values and abortion is thereby a threat to the nation. The pro-choice discourse attempts to deconstruct deterministic presentations of women and their sexualities and frame abortion as an important women’s right, and claim that abortion rights could allow for also breaking with traditional gender roles and notions of women’s sexualities.In 2006, Nicaragua installed a complete ban on abortion, which spurred much debate in Nicaraguan civil society and had a strongly negative effect on women’s rights and lives. Previous research has dealt with the abortion discourses and found that much of it makes out a conflict between protecting the life of the fetus or that of the woman. However, there have also been found arguments relating to gender, sexualities and the nation. This area has although not been thoroughly investigated. This bachelor thesis discusses how notions of gender and sexualities are constructed in relation to Nicaraguan abortion discourses, and how this can be seen as part of a nation-building project. By applying discourse analysis on seventeen semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of civil society organizations that are engaged in the abortion debate, for and against abortion rights. The theoretical framework is based on gender and nation building, femininity/masculinity and naturalized motherhood. The conclusions drawn suggest that the anti-abortion discourse highly emphasizes the role of the Mother as the primary responsibility for women, both for the national collective and for how they should live out their gender and sexualities; i.e. within the borders of reproduction. A contrasting gender role is also presented, that is a feminist, unfeminine woman with a promiscuous and libertine sexuality. Abortion is seen as being un-Nicaraguan and connected to international influence, homosexuality and illicit sexual behaviors that are outside of national culture and values and abortion is thereby a threat to the nation. The pro-choice discourse attempts to deconstruct deterministic presentations of women and their sexualities and frame abortion as an important women’s right, and claim that abortion rights could allow for also breaking with traditional gender roles and notions of women’s sexualities

Bortom vänster- och högerdikotomin: Politiska attityder och värderingar hos svenska väljare

Denna enkätstudie undersökte nyanserna bakom vänster-höger dikotomin. Detta gjordes genom en empirisk studie som tittade på såväl skillnaderna mellan de politiska blocken som inom dessa. Sex skalor som avsåg mäta attityder och värderingar kopplade till förändring respektive jämlikhet jämfördes med val av parti i det svenska riksdagsvalet 2010. Deltagarna var indelade i två grupper, med 314 deltagare i den ena och 286 i den andra. Studiens hypoteser var att skillnader avseende attityder och värderingar kopplade till jämlikhet och förändring skulle finnas såväl inom som mellan vänster- och högerblocket, främst rörande vänsterblockets inställning till social förändring. Den empiriska undersökningen gav stöd till hypoteserna. Resultatet visade att förändringsdimensionen, till skillnad från jämlikhetsdimensionen inte är kopplad till vänster-höger skalan i Sverige. Vi visade på att skillnader i attityder och värderingar fanns både mellan och inom blocken. Den tydligaste skillnaden rör förändringsdimensionen där Socialdemokraternas väljare är betydligt mindre för förändring än Miljöpartiet och Vänsterpartiets väljare. Överlag har Socialdemokraternas väljare mer gemensamt med Folkpartiets och Centerpartiets väljare än övriga vänsterväljare. Dessa fynds konsekvenser för den svenska blockpolitiken diskuteras.This survey study explored the nuance behind the left-right ideological dichotomy. This was done by empirically studying the differences both between and inside the political left and right. Six scales were used to measure the political attitudes and basic personal values connected to change and equality. These were compared with voting in the Swedish national elections in 2010. The participants were divided into two groups with 314 participants in one and 286 in the other. Differences in attitudes and values both between and inside the political left and right was hypothesized, differences mainly inside the political left regarding attitudes and values toward social change. The empirical study gave support for the hypothesis. The results showed that the change dimension were not associated to the left-right dimension in Sweden, the equality dimension, however, was. Differences regarding both attitudes and values were found both between and inside the political blocks. The main differences was found within the change dimension were the Social democrat voters where significantly less positive towards social change than were the Environment party voters and the Left party voters. The Social democrats had more attitudes and values in common with the voters of the Folk party and Center party than the Environment party and the Left party. The consequences of these results on the Swedish block policies are further discussed

Physical activity changes the deposited fractions of particles in the respiratory tract of adults and children

Exposure to ambient air pollution can cause a numberof health problems and may be particularly dangerous to susceptible population groups such as children. Health effects caused by air pollution are criticallydependent on both the deposited fraction (DF) of the inhaled particles and in what region of the respiratory tract the deposition takes place. With increasing physical activity, the breathing pattern is altered and the airflow in the respiratory tract increase, this affects the DF and deposition site. In this study we investigated changes in DF at increasing physical activity for three population groups: ~5 and 10 year-old children, and adults.Our results indicate that the variation in total DF with physical activity is minor, but that the DF for the UFPs increase in the AI region at higher activity levels. This is important since the removal of particles in the AI region is not effective and UFPs are believed to pose a specific health risk. Therefore, activity patterns and DF of different population groups need to be considered when estimating particle dose and evaluating health risks

Exposure and Emission Measurements During Production, Purification, and Functionalization of Arc-Discharge-Produced Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes.

Background: The production and use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is rapidly growing. With increased production, there is potential that the number of occupational exposed workers will rapidly increase. Toxicological studies on rats have shown effects in the lungs, e.g. inflammation, granuloma formation, and fibrosis after repeated inhalation exposure to some forms of multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs). Still, when it comes to health effects, it is unknown which dose metric is most relevant. Limited exposure data for CNTs exist today and no legally enforced occupational exposure limits are yet established. The aim of this work was to quantify the occupational exposures and emissions during arc discharge production, purification, and functionalization of MWCNTs. The CNT material handled typically had a mean length <5 μm. Since most of the collected airborne CNTs did not fulfil the World Health Organization fibre dimensions (79% of the counted CNT-containing particles) and since no microscopy-based method for counting of CNTs exists, we decided to count all particle that contained CNTs. To investigate correlations between the used exposure metrics, Pearson correlation coefficient was used