“Women are peace-loving.” “Women are problem-solvers.” “Women are more empathetic than men.” Arguments such as these are often used to advocate for women’s participation in military operations. This is a risky road to go down, according to researcher Kathleen Jennings.

Pupils in a lower secondary school in Norway are doing group work. In one classroom, a group of 14-year-olds sit quietly and concentrate, working earnestly on the assignment. In another classroom, the pupils play and fool around with lots of physical activity and very little focused effort. So you think it’s easy to figure out which group consists of boys? Not when it’s music class.

If we believe criminologist Thomas Ugelvik, Norwegian prisons are filled with freedom. Through relentless entrepreneurship the inmates are able to fool the system and reclaim their manhood.

The Norwegian ban on the purchase of sex was intended to reduce human trafficking and to convince people that prostitution is wrong. But has it worked? Both yes and no - according to researcher Andreas Kotsadam.

The disciplining and control of women and the feminine are intimately related to notions of cultural and racial purity. As a result, racist ideologies are almost always also misogynist and anti-feminist, says British philosopher Jane Clare Jones. She has analysed anti-feminism in the manifesto of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.

Internally displaced women in Colombia are organizing themselves to secure their rights to housing, education and health care. But along with this come threats, violence and dissatisfied husbands. Is it worth it?

Does state support for voluntary organisations curtail creativity and force activists to focus on what the government wants them to?

Gays and lesbians can now marry or register as partners in all the Nordic countries, with the exception of the Faroe Islands. Yet even within the gay movement there has been a long-standing resistance to marriage for same-sex couples.

A dedicated football player, a disciplined martial arts practitioner or a respected weightlifter? According to a recent Norwegian study, young girls are most concerned with their appearance as they become teenagers, but boys must do something to become young men. Their choice of activity is also a choice of masculine identity.