Drev, syndabockar och megäror Skildringen av metoo-rörelsen i Katarina Frostensons och Fredrik Virtanens självbiografier

Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of the description of the metoo movement in the autobiographies of poet Katarina Frostenson and journalist Fredrik Virtanen. Frostenson’s husband, Jean-Claude Arnault, and Virtanen were both publicly accused of sexual harassment and rape during metoo. The analysis takes as its starting point themes that can be extracted from two other works related to metoo: an anthology of texts on experiences of sexual violence edited by Alexandra Pascalidou and Klubben by Matilda Gustavsson which investigates Arnault’s abuse. It then compares how Frostenson and Virtanen describe these same themes, using discourse analysis. Towards the end of the thesis the question of the reception of Frostenson’s and Virtanen’s description of metoo by reviewers is discussed. The thesis shows that Frostenson and Virtanen paint a very negative picture of metoo. They both claim to be scapegoats and victims of media hunts. They describe the movement as a witch hunt and particularly Virtanen insists that the ethics of journalism were suspended during this time. They do not accept the picture presented by the other works of, for example, the magnitude of sexual violence or the suppression of stories about this violence. The analysis of the reviews shows that several reviewers sometimes use a similar discourse to Frostenson and Virtanen, especially in describing metoo as having had a negative impact on the ethics of journalism.