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| 2. |
- Devinney, Hannah, 1995-
(författare)
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Gender and representation : investigations of bias in natural language processing
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies are a part of our every day realities. They come in forms we can easily see as ‘language technologies’ (auto-correct, translation services, search results) as well as those that fly under our radar (social media algorithms, 'suggested reading' recommendations on news sites, spam filters). NLP fuels many other tools under the Artificial Intelligence umbrella – such as algorithms approving for loan applications – which can have major material effects on our lives. As large language models like ChatGPT have become popularized, we are also increasingly exposed to machine-generated texts.Machine Learning (ML) methods, which most modern NLP tools rely on, replicate patterns in their training data. Typically, these language data are generated by humans, and contain both overt and underlying patterns that we consider socially undesirable, comprising stereotypes and other reflections of human prejudice. Such patterns (often termed 'bias') are picked up and repeated, or even made more extreme, by ML systems. Thus, NLP technologies become a part of the linguistic landscapes in which we humans transmit stereotypes and act on our prejudices. They may participate in this transmission by, for example, translating nurses as women (and doctors as men) or systematically preferring to suggest promoting men over women. These technologies are tools in the construction of power asymmetries not only through the reinforcement of hegemony, but also through the distribution of material resources when they are included in decision-making processes such as screening job applications.This thesis explores gendered biases, trans and nonbinary inclusion, and queer representation within NLP through a feminist and intersectional lens. Three key areas are investigated: the ways in which “gender” is theorized and operationalized by researchers investigating gender bias in NLP; gendered associations within datasets used for training language technologies; and the representation of queer (particularly trans and nonbinary) identities in the output of both low-level NLP models and large language models (LLMs). The findings indicate that nonbinary people/genders are erased by both bias in NLP tools/datasets, and by research/ers attempting to address gender biases. Men and women are also held to cisheteronormative standards (and stereotypes), which is particularly problematic when considering the intersection of gender and sexuality. Although it is possible to mitigate some of these issues in particular circumstances, such as addressing erasure by adding more examples of nonbinary language to training data, the complex nature of the socio-technical landscape which NLP technologies are a part of means that simple fixes may not always be sufficient. Additionally, it is important that ways of measuring and mitigating 'bias' remain flexible, as our understandings of social categories, stereotypes and other undesirable norms, and 'bias' itself will shift across contexts such as time and linguistic setting.
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| 3. |
- Devinney, Hannah, 1995-, et al.
(författare)
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Theories of Gender in Natural Language Processing
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the fifth annual ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT'22). - New York, NY, USA : ACM.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rise of concern around Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies containing and perpetuating social biases has led to a rich and rapidly growing area of research. Gender bias is one of the central biases being analyzed, but to date there is no comprehensive analysis of how “gender” is theorized in the field. We survey nearly 200 articles concerning gender bias in NLP to discover how the field conceptualizes gender both explicitly (e.g. through definitions of terms) and implicitly (e.g. through how gender is operationalized in practice). In order to get a better idea of emerging trajectories of thought, we split these articles into two sections by time.We find that the majority of the articles do not make their theo- rization of gender explicit, even if they clearly define “bias.” Almost none use a model of gender that is intersectional or inclusive of non- binary genders; and many conflate sex characteristics, social gender, and linguistic gender in ways that disregard the existence and expe- rience of trans, nonbinary, and intersex people. There is an increase between the two time-sections in statements acknowledging that gender is a complicated reality, however, very few articles manage to put this acknowledgment into practice. In addition to analyzing these findings, we provide specific recommendations to facilitate interdisciplinary work, and to incorporate theory and methodol- ogy from Gender Studies. Our hope is that this will produce more inclusive gender bias research in NLP.
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| 4. |
- Devinney, Hannah, et al.
(författare)
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Theories of Gender in Natural Language Processing
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rise of concern around Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies containing and perpetuating social biases has led to a rich and rapidly growing area of research. Gender bias is one of the central biases being analyzed, but to date there is no comprehensive analysis of how “gender” is theorized in the field. We survey nearly 200 articles concerning gender bias in NLP to discover how the field conceptualizes gender both explicitly (e.g. through definitions of terms) and implicitly (e.g. through how gender is operationalized in practice). In order to get a better idea of emerging trajectories of thought, we split these articles into two sections by time.We find that the majority of the articles do not make their theo- rization of gender explicit, even if they clearly define “bias.” Almost none use a model of gender that is intersectional or inclusive of non- binary genders; and many conflate sex characteristics, social gender, and linguistic gender in ways that disregard the existence and expe- rience of trans, nonbinary, and intersex people. There is an increase between the two time-sections in statements acknowledging that gender is a complicated reality, however, very few articles manage to put this acknowledgment into practice. In addition to analyzing these findings, we provide specific recommendations to facilitate interdisciplinary work, and to incorporate theory and methodol- ogy from Gender Studies. Our hope is that this will produce more inclusive gender bias research in NLP.
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| 5. |
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40 år av genusforskning! : Festskrift till Centrum för genusvetenskap
- 2023
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Med denna Festskrift firar vi att Centrum för genusvetenskap i över fyrtio år har fungerat som en viktig mötesplats för kunskap och vetenskapande – en sådan plats som många uppfattar som absolut nödvändig för sin överlevnad i akademin. Genom att sätta genus i centrum på Centrum skapar vi kunskap över gränser mellan vetenskapsområden, fakulteter och forskningsfält.Centrum består i grund och botten av de människor som verkar där. Den här Festskriften är också en hyllning till alla dessa människor – deras arbete, engagemang, intelligens, uthållighet och inspirationsförmåga. Centrum existerar också tack vare de viktiga nationella och internationella nätverk inom forskning och utbildning som Centrum är del av. Med denna bok skickar vi alltså en hälsning och ett tack till alla våra kollegor inom fältet. Kapitlen i denna volym är en blandning som sträcker sig från essäer och personliga historieskrivningar om Centrum, till reflektioner om arbetslivet vid Centrum eller som genusforskare överlag, till forskningsartiklar om en rad mycket olika områden, vilka i sig också vittnar om den livliga och variationsrika forskningsmiljö som vi fortsätter att bygga tillsammans.
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| 7. |
- Björklund, Jenny, 1974-
(författare)
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Maternal Abandonment and Queer Resistance in Twenty-First-Century Swedish Literature
- 2021
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- This book questions why so many mothers leave their families in twenty-first-century Swedish literature, analyzing literary representations of maternal abandonment in relation to sociopolitical discourses. The volume draws on a queer-theoretical framework in order to highlight norm-critical dimensions, failure, and resistance in literature about motherhood. Jenny Björklund argues that novels about mothers who leave can be understood as ways to problematize and challenge Swedish-branded values like gender equality and a progressive family politics that promotes ideals of involved parenthood, the nuclear family, and pronatalism. The book also raises questions beyond the Swedish context about maternal ambivalence, family politics, and privilege and discusses how literature can work as resistance and provide alternatives to the current social order.
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| 8. |
- Björklund, Jenny, 1974-
(författare)
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Struggling to Become a Mother : Literary Representations of Involuntary Childlessness
- 2023
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Ingår i: Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing. - Cham : Palgrave Macmillan. - 9783031172106 - 9783031172113 ; , s. 55-75
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter focuses on literary representations of childlessness, more particularly, Swedish novels from the twenty-first century, with female protagonists and where the struggle to have children takes center stage: Pernilla Glaser’s 40 minus (2010; 40 Below), Martina Haag’s Glada hälsningar från Missångerträsk: En vintersaga (2011; Happy Greetings from Missångerträsk: A Winter’s Tale), and Tove Folkesson’s Hennes ord: Värk I–III (2019; Her Words: Ache I–III). I analyze the literary representations of involuntary childlessness and the women at the center of the narratives, focusing in particular on how non-motherhood is positioned in relation to femininity and (hetero)normativity. I also situate these representations in their national context and analyze how they relate to Swedish-branded values like gender equality and progressive family politics. On the one hand, the representations of non-motherhood illustrate the centrality of motherhood to normative femininity, and all three novels reinforce heteronormative temporalities. On the other hand, the novels to some extent also resist these norms. Moreover, none of these novels ends with children or even a pregnancy, and thus the narratives break with the conventional infertility plot line and frame the struggle to become a mother as a story that can be told in its own right.
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| 9. |
- Bodin, Maja, et al.
(författare)
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"Can I take responsibility for bringing a person to this world who will be part of the apocalypse!?" : Ideological dilemmas and concerns for future well-being when bringing the climate crisis into reproductive decision-making.
- 2022
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Ingår i: Social Science and Medicine. - : Elsevier. - 0277-9536 .- 1873-5347. ; 302
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the wake of the ongoing climate crisis and its negative effects on public health, it has been questioned by climate activists whether it is right to bring more children into the world. Moreover, according to previous scholarship, having one fewer child is the most high-impact lifestyle change individuals in developed countries can make in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But do climate awareness and recommendations to have fewer children have any impact on how lay people reason around reproductive decision-making? In this paper, which is based on focus group discussions with people from different generations, we show how various and sometimes conflicting discourses on reproductive norms and responsibility are negotiated. Even though participants were highly aware of the ongoing discussions around the climate crisis, in the end it had little bearing on their decision to have children or not, and they justified reproduction through addressing other ways to contribute to a better world.
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| 10. |
- Nilsson, Elina, 1984-
(författare)
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Thai Surrogate Mothers’ Experiences of Transnational Commercial Surrogacy : Navigating Local Morality and Global Markets
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Transnational commercial surrogacy is an arrangement where a woman gestates and delivers a child for intended parents from another country in exchange for money. This thesis explores the experiences of women who have acted as surrogate mothers in Thailand. Based on in-depth interviews with twelve former surrogate mothers, the thesis analyses their accounts in relation to gendered, local, and global dimensions of transnational commercial surrogacy. More specifically, it investigates how surrogacy has affected the women materially, socially, and personally; how they understand and negotiate family, kinship, and relationships in connection with their surrogacy experiences; but also how the global surrogacy market and local context interact in shaping the conditions for surrogacy in Thailand. The thesis engages in dialogue with research on commercial surrogacy in other settings, and draws upon theoretical frameworks of gender, motherhood and kinship, local moral economies, and precarious intimate labour. The analysis explores, first, how the women’s decisions to undertake surrogacy, and, for some, further involvement in surrogacy are enabled through women’s social networks and family relationships. Second, it investigates how, through the framing of surrogacy as primarily an opportunity to earn money for their own family but also as an act of making merit, the women draw upon material and religious rationalities as well as gender ideals that allow them to live up to their obligations as mothers and daughters. Third, it explores how their trajectories are marked by im/mobility and flexibility, taking shape in relation to the global reproductive market as well as local and national conditions. Finally, it demonstrates how the women use strategies of de/kinning that both align with and resist the idea that the surrogate mother is not related to the child. The results highlight the precariousness of these women’s labour and how surrogacy stretches into their lives beyond the nine months of pregnancy. Results also focus the women’s own decision-making and negotiations within the context of constrained but real agency. This thesis contributes knowledge about the situation of surrogate mothers post-pregnancy, and also in a context where surrogacy is illegal. It also contributes to the research fields of transnational reproduction, gendered and global division of intimate labour and feminist discussions on motherhood.
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