Annadís G Rúdólfsdóttir | University of Iceland (original) (raw)

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Papers by Annadís G Rúdólfsdóttir

Tímarit um uppeldi og menntun, Jan 6, 2020

Nora: nordic journal of feminist and gender research, Oct 2, 2022

Journal of Gender Studies, Jul 25, 2021

ABSTRACT In this article, we draw on 604 anonymous MeToo testimonies published in Iceland by wome... more ABSTRACT In this article, we draw on 604 anonymous MeToo testimonies published in Iceland by women in different work sectors. Our main analytical focus is on women’s embodied experiences of sexual violations in the workplace, with an aim to explore how they tackle those violations. We use reflexive thematic analysis, and our first theme demonstrates how the women’s world and world-making capacities are perceived as shrinking as a result of harassment. This affects both their bodies and minds to the extent that they doubt their own judgment and grasp of reality. The violent acts become part of their psyche and leave them trapped in time and place. The second theme, workaround tactics for protecting their world-making capacities, describes how women seize opportunities to flag their agency even when they cannot change patriarchal strategies. The testimonies show how common and widespread women’s experiences of sexual violations are and thus call for a changed world order where men’s entitlement to women’s bodies and time in the work environment is removed.

Social Science & Medicine, Jul 1, 2021

In the last few decades, the demography of Iceland has become increasingly diverse with an immigr... more In the last few decades, the demography of Iceland has become increasingly diverse with an immigrant population similar to that of the other Nordic countries. Women comprise almost half of all international migrants and many of those female migrants require maternity care in their host countries. While some literature describes how migrant women experience the healthcare provisions of their host countries, less is known about the experience of providing the service, from the perspective of the healthcare practitioners. In this study we adopt a social constructionist perspective to explore the discourses of knowledge healthcare professionals in Iceland draw on in their discussion of prenatal and postpartum healthcare in Iceland. Interviews were conducted with 16 healthcare professionals with extensive experience of providing maternity care to migrant women to understand how they construct and make sense of the needs and behaviour of migrant women seeking maternity care. Our findings suggest that some healthcare professionals subject migrant women to normative professional discourses of parenting, without considering how those ideals are tailored to white, middle class women. Migrant mothers and pregnant women are thus excluded from the middle-class mothering norms that are ascribed to Icelandic women. Our findings also highlight how national identity, such as being part of a gender equal society and the image of Iceland as a classless society, influences how healthcare professionals view migrant women. This underscores the importance of cultural reflexivity, and policies and scholarship where an intersectional understanding of gender, class and migrant worker status is at the forefront.

Feminism & Psychology, Jul 30, 2020

Childbirth is widely recognized to be among the most painful of experiences, and the most common ... more Childbirth is widely recognized to be among the most painful of experiences, and the most common and effective pain relief for birthing women is known to be the use of epidural analgesia. The increase in the use of epidural analgesia for birthing women has been described by some critics as a by-product of the medicalized model of birth, although there remains a notable dearth of research regarding women’s experiences of epidurals. The present paper seeks to address this research gap by examining how first-time mothers in Iceland discuss their intentions concerning pain relief during birth, along with how they construct childbirth-related pain and the use of epidural analgesia in the context of a midwife-led model of care and an institutionalized preference for “natural” birth. The findings demonstrate that, despite initial intentions, most of the women end up having an epidural, and most describe their epidurals as both wonderful and immensely helpful. The dominant narrative about “natural” childbirth being preferable is not fully refuted by this. Instead, the women either align themselves with the ideology of the capable and knowing body or resist and contest this narrative by constructing their birthing bodies as open to, and in need of, assistance.

Feminism & Psychology, Jun 15, 2022

This paper aims to explore how men perform masculinities in their relationships with women and ho... more This paper aims to explore how men perform masculinities in their relationships with women and how their behaviour is enabled and/or maintained in modern society. An affective–discursive approach was adopted to analyse six in-depth interviews with men who identified as perpetrators of violence in intimate relationships. The analysis portrays how heteronormative discourses on masculinity frame participants’ understanding of the violence they had committed. However, the most pervasive reference point in the participants’ accounts was the construct of the monster. The participants’ understanding of their violence had an intersectional angle as the monster figured differently in their stories, depending on their social positioning. The middle-class participants believed that the monster essentialised and dehumanised them and called for new ways to talk about violence. The working-class participants experienced their violence as masculinity out of control, referring to past trauma and the intensity of their love for their partners, while dodging accountability for their actions. The findings underline the need for discourses on knowledge that encourage men to take responsibility for their actions without being dehumanised.

Gender, Work & Organization, 2020

This study adopts a feminist critical approach to explore how parenting was understood during the... more This study adopts a feminist critical approach to explore how parenting was understood during the COVID‐19 restrictive measures in Iceland. Iceland has been known as a front runner in gender equality, and women’s participation in the workforce is high. Data consists of 97 stories that were collected during the peak of COVID‐19 in April 2020 using the story completion method. The stories were thematically analysed. Most of the participants were university‐educated women. The themes demonstrate the power of neoliberal discourses in framing parenting. Parenting during a pandemic, especially mothering, is constructed as an overwhelming project that requires detailed organization and management. There is also resistance to neoliberal governmentality through redefining successful parenthood. Furthermore, the gendered nature of domestic work is questioned, especially the traditional, inactive father who prioritizes his own needs only to fail comically in the domestic sphere. The study contributes to our understanding of gendered parenthood in neoliberal, pandemic times.

Feminism & Psychology, 2018

This article contributes to recent research on young women’s emerging feminist movements or femin... more This article contributes to recent research on young women’s emerging feminist movements or feminist counter-publics in the digital age. The focus is on the #freethenipple protests in Iceland in 2015 organised by young women and the ensuing debates in mainstream digital news media and popular ezines. A feminist, post-structuralist perspective is adopted to analyse the discursive context in which the debates and discussions about the protest are embedded, but we are also informed by recent theories about role of affect in triggering and sustaining political movements. The data corpus consists of 60 texts from the digital public domain published during and after the protests. The young women’s political movement is construed as a revolution centring on reclaiming the body from the oppressive structures of patriarchy which, through shame and pornification, have taken their bodies and their ability to choose, in a post-feminist context, from them. Public representations of the protest a...

Feminism & Psychology, 2017

For the last year I have been part of an interdisciplinary research team in Iceland involved in a... more For the last year I have been part of an interdisciplinary research team in Iceland involved in a research project called “Gender, youth and violence”1. The overall foci of this research can be divided into two parts. On one hand we are interested in what kind of violence young people (14 to 20 years old) encounter and what constitutes as violence in their minds. On the other hand, we are interested in exploring the effects violence has on young people’s experiences and how they construe the relation between gender and violence. This is still work in progress but I want to present you here with part of the results from our analysis of the media. Moore argues that “violence of all kinds is engendered in its representation, in the way it is thought about and constituted as a social fact ” (1994: 70). In our research we are concerned with the gendered ways violence speaks to its audience in the public sphere which, in an ideal feminist world, should belong equally to every individual (...

In Western societies the role of the parent has increasingly been framed by neoliberal discourses... more In Western societies the role of the parent has increasingly been framed by neoliberal discourses. The focus is on the parent, especially the professional middle-class mother, as an entrepreneur who makes choices and trains the child with an eye to how it can maximize its potential and become a good citizen. This places a strain on parents, especially working mothers, who juggle their parenting responsibilities with their work outside the home. The COVID-19 epidemic upset these juggling acts and the fine-tuned daily rhythms of many families. In April, 2020, when the study took place, Iceland was in semi-lockdown, with schools running at limited capacity and a ban of gatherings of more than 20 people. Furthermore, many parents did not have access to their usual support in terms of childcare. These times without “precedent” thus provided an interesting moment to explore constructions of parenting, especially in relation to parents’ role in their children’s education and how at times c...

Netla

Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að greina hugmyndir ungra kvenna (18-24 ára) um vægi holdafars í ... more Markmið þessarar rannsóknar var að greina hugmyndir ungra kvenna (18-24 ára) um vægi holdafars í tengslum við stefnumót. Fræðilega sjónarhornið er femíniskur póststrúktúralismi en gagna var aflað með sögulokaaðferð þar sem þátttakendur fengu upphaf að sögu sem þeir voru beðnir um að ljúka. Þátttakendur fengu ýmist söguupphaf þar sem söguhetja, sem var að fara á stefnumót, hafði grennst eða fitnað. Alls voru 72 sögur þemagreindar. Í sögum þátttakenda voru póstfemíniskar hugmyndir áberandi en fjögur þemu voru greind: (1) Líkaminn má ekki valda (honum) vonbrigðum. Þar kom fram að grannir líkamar hafa meira virði en feitir á vettvangi stefnumótamenningar og að það sé á ábyrgð sögupersónunnar að tryggja að virði hans sé sem mest. (2) Sjálfstraust og líðan tengist ánægju sögupersónu með útlit sitt. Í því þema kom fram að tilhugsunin um að fitna eða vera feit fyllti sögupersónuna kvíða og óöryggi. Þegar hún grenntist einkenndust sögurnar aftur á móti af gleði og aukinni eftirvæntingu fyrir...