“Det finns två sidor; antingen så undrar de vad jag gör där, eller så blir jag hyllad” - En socialantropologisk studie om mötet mellan unga kvinnor och Försvarsmakten

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines the encounter between young women and the Swedish Armed Forces, with emphasis on three marketing campaigns whose aim is to attract young women to the male dominated authority. Primarily, this thesis focuses on how young women negotiate their willingness to take part in the Swedish Armed Forces. This is done by investigating what stereotypes young women have about the authority, how and why the authority tries to change these stereotypes, and how young women perceive the campaigns targeted towards them. To examine these issues, ethnographic methods including interviews, participant observation, and visual media analysis are utilized. The material is interpreted within a theoretical framework of Butler’s gender performativity theory and Bourdieu’s theory on symbolic capital, along with previous research on the topic. The study shows that young women perceive the Swedish Armed Forces as primarily masculine, something that the authority aims to change as part of becoming gender equal. The young women in this study perceive the authority’s communication of this aim in conflicting ways. Furthermore, the women have different ways of negotiating their willingness to take part in the Swedish Armed Forces, where the stereotypical perception of what is viewed as “feminine” plays into their negotiation.