"Heja Uffe!" Så legitimeras mäns överordning

Abstract

'"Go, Uffe, Go!'- Legitimizing male superiority", by Maria Jansson, PhD in political science, Stockholm University and Maria Wendt, PhD in political science, Stockholm University In this article we analyze the messages inherent in, and the public receptions of, four campaigns in Stockholm during the 1990:s and 2000:s concerning male violence against women. The campaigns are produced by "Operation Kvinnofrid" ("Operation Women's inviolability") - a cooperation of authorities in Stockholm headed by the Maier. Our purpose is to discuss in what ways it is possible to formulate and describe men's violence against women in the public arena. How is the problem of men's violence against women represented in the campaigns? What are the reactions to the campaigns and how are they to be understood? We argue that the sometimes very aggressive reactions are provoked when the campaigns put into question relations that are important to men as well as to the support and maintenance of the gender power order. Here we focus men's relations to other men, men's relations to politics and the political system, men's relations to children and, finally, men's relations to the "Nation". How are these relations challenged and/or legitimized, and how do they intertwine with gender power? Our findings suggest that when the position of men, as benevolent and protective actors that form a positive male genealogy, is challenged by the campaign, aggressive reactions are stirred up and the legitimacy of the authorities are questioned. These reactions are paired with an upsurge of "male cheering" - supportive stories about men and, especially, Swedish men and fathers. A tentative interpretation of this is that male cheering is an important way of maintaining the gender power order, especially when this order occasionally is questioned.