Academic disagreement and critical engagement are essential to knowledge production. But the line is crossed when critique targets the person rather than the scholarship, writes Hande Eslen-Ziya. 

Amnesty believes the new Norwegian draft bill on rape violates the Istanbul Convention. Law professor disagrees.

The five most read articles in 2023 covered a variety of issues: from fatherhood and paternity tests; intimacy among whalers in the early 20th century to the treatment of gender dysphoria. 

Sexual violence happens in every country, yet journalists have often depicted it as some kind of sensation. “I wanted to find out if this changed as a consequence of the MeToo movement,” says journalist Thea Storøy Elnan.

All disciplines need criticism, both from within their own ranks and in the media. But if the criticism is unreasonable and personal, it can threaten freedom of speech in academia, believes one Swedish gender researcher.

Researchers are particularly worried about criticism from colleagues and superiors working in the same field, according to sociologist Marte Mangset. In a new book, she has studied factors that may prevent researchers from expressing themselves in the media.

Humour has an important function for solidarity and team spirit among conscripts in the military. According to researchers, however, it may also contribute to many women leaving the military after the compulsory military service.

A new report shows that twice as many LGBT people are victims of discrimination and exclusion as the rest of the population. The risk increases even more among those with minority characteristics.

A new working group will document the extent of sexual harassment in Norwegian academia. Now Sweden is encouraging Norway to follow its lead and set aside money for research in this area.

The #metoo campaign has shown that sexual harassment in the workplace is a large-scale societal problem. Now, researchers want to change focus from spicy stories to constructive debate on sexuality and power.

Norway met criticism in the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for its lack of efforts on matters of gender equality. There is now a hope that the critique may contribute to the implementation of important measures.

Ever wondered what it takes to achieve a gender balanced and diverse staff? In academia, the most knowledge-intensive sector in society, the answers are hard to find. In this podcast, the experts discuss barriers and offer solutions.

Post-apartheid South Africa: A white professor is accused of sexually harassing a non-white student and loses his job. His daughter is gang raped by a group of black men. Should the novel Disgrace be interpreted as J. M. Coetzee’s protest again the new South Africa, or is the Nobel Laureate saying something else about violence, desire and empathy?

The way in which women are represented in the media is getting worse every day, according to professor of Communication and Media Studies Liesbet van Zoonen. However, the representation of the Norwegian female politicians Siv Jensen and Erna Solberg, may be the exception from the general rule. 

The researchers behind a new report on gender equality in the Norwegian army describe the phenomenon as “degenderisation”. When boys and girls shared the same room, gender was no longer significant.