Sweden was for a long time considered a ‘political exception’ in Europe, as no far-right party had been elected into parliament during this new wave of right-wing populism. Recently however, far-right, nationalist movements are not only gaining influence within established politics in Sweden – their presence on social media is also increasingly prominent. This prominence goes beyond their visibility, since they are better than other political groups at engaging social media users. Among the often-reoccurring topics are women, our clothing, rights and bodies, and our role in the (re)production of Swedishness. Drawing on Yuval-Davis’ (1997, 37) argument regarding how women function symbolically as “cultural reproducers of ‘the nation’”, this paper aims to explore how Swedish nationalist groups on social media (re)produce discourses of the female body. We focus on how nationalist groups use images of women to further their political agendas. Empirically, we use critical discourse analysis to study both visual and textual content in Swedish, nationalist Facebook groups. Our study casts light on different representations of women and how the female body is used for the (re)production of Swedishness in far-right nationalist Facebook groups, and more broadly for far-right politics in general.

Mathilda Åkerlund is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Umeå University. Her dissertation explores the role of influential users in the mainstreaming of far-right discourses on social media.

Johanna Bergström holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from Erasmus Mundus. Her research interests include gender, equality, sustainability and social justice. She is currently working as an associate professor in Sociology at Umeå University.

Johanna Bergström PhD
Sociology Department Umeå University, Sweden
johanna.bergstrom@umu.se