"Men blir det för mycket för henne hjälper han givetvis till" - en diskursanalys av två föräldratidningar

Sammanfattning: Since the 1970’s the image of parenting has changed. Mothers began to focus on their careers and fathers were accredited a softer and more involved role in parenting. The subject has also been covered in Sweden by parenting magazines since 1968, when ’Vi föräldrar’ was launched. Over the last ten years, a number of new parenting magazines have surfaced in the Swedish market. The magazine ‘Mama’, which was launched in 2003 and ‘Pappa Magazine’, launched in 2011, are two examples and are the empirical sources of this paper. The purpose of this study is to shine a light on how parenting is conveyed in parenting magazines aimed at mothers and fathers respectively to gain an understanding for the embedded societal processes that guides the portrayal. This study takes it’s departure in the social-constructivist view on societal phenomenas and is a critical discourse analysis on how parenting is portrayed in ‘Mama’ and ‘Pappa Magazine’. The discourses are analyzed through language and embedded social structures within the texts. Theories on media’s influence and intersectionality are important parts of the study and the results. The results are mainly that the magazines portray parents through etnically homogenous, heterosexual, well-known and high income individuals which secures the traditional gender roles and confirms several of the categories in the intersectionality theory. Ultimately, they contribute to a power structure in society. The notion that these medias have influence on parents are highlighted by one of Sweden’s most influential media researchers which means that the magazines portrayal indeed can have an impact on parents in Sweden today.