Den gode beskyddaren: Krigsförberedelser & genusordning i Försvarsmakten

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to explore the discursive construction of the ‘protector’ and the ‘protected’ which contributes to legitimise militarism in Sweden today. This thesis draws upon Iris Marion Young’s theory about masculinist protection, where a hierarchical relationship between the ‘protector’ and the ‘prote cted’ is a c ornerstone in constructing the military as relevant and necessary. The empirical material includes one information and one recruitment campaign from The Swedish Armed Force, released in 2017. This essays Foucauldian discourse analysis focuses on how the textual and visual elements within the campaigns generate meaning. The study found that the campaigns are highly dependent on gender norms in the form of superior and subordinate characteristics when constructing the positions of the ‘protector’ and the ‘protected’. However, the existing conception of Sweden as an equal and ‘gender exceptional’ nation challenges the link between traditionally masculine coded characteristics and masculine coded bodies, consequently, leaving the patriarchal relationship harder to detect. By constructing those ‘protected’ as a part of the private sphere, and also pleased with their everyday lives, the material contributes to passivate and unpoliticise the ‘protected’. The found discourses should be understood in a greater societal context where they contribute to legitimise militarism, while enabling the feminisation and dismissing of opponents as naive or irrelevant - in a bid to exist unopposed.