Gender clashes and faux pas. the political diaries of Ulla Lindström, Swedish minister in 1954-66

Gender clashes and faux pas The political diaries of Ulla Lindstrom, Swedish minister in 1954-66 The political diaries of Ulla Lindstrom caused a great sensation when published in 1969, three years after her resignation as Swedish minister without portfolio. She was the only woman minister in the Swedish government from 1954 to 1966, and her career had, according to the press, been characterized by faux pas or, as one reviewer of her diaries wrote: “(t)he silly Ulla /…/ of the botches, bodges, and gaffes.” He added that he himself had helped to write her down “with both malice and recklessness.” He was, however, not the only journalist putting down Ulla Lindstrom. A particular discourse or way of describing Ulla Lindstrom’s political persona was developed in the Swedish press during Lindstrom’s ministerial career. She started as the good-looking “pin-up girl” of the Parliament and ended up as the “shrew” of the party, the faux pas queen who was too talkative and thus in need of a muzzle. She was constructed as deviant, both as a woman and as a politician. In her political diaries Ulla Lindstrom herself compared the way she and her male colleagues were portrayed in the press. In my paper I will compare Lindstrom’s own political persona with the persona created in the press asking what was behind the creation of the “ faux pas queen”. Genuskrockar och fadaser. Statsradet Ulla Lindstroms politiska dagbocker Sasom atskillig forskning visat har det varit svart for politiskt aktiva kvinnor att forena de motstridiga krav som stallts pa dem som handlingskraftiga politiker och ”riktiga” kvinnor. Inom massmedieforskning anvands ofta ordet persona for att beskriva den personlighet som en politiker iscensatter pa den offentliga arenan, en politisk persona . Problemet for politiker ar att det i massmedia ofta skapas en annan persona an den som politikern sjalv iscensatter, sa beskriver t ex en forskare hur en ”false persona” av Hillary Rodham Clinton skapades under den sa kallade Whitewateraffaren ( Cit efter van Zoonen 2005:100).  Pressens bild av Ulla Lindstrom som ett pratigt och beskaftigt statsrad, vars karriar praglades av grodor, fadaser och klavertramp, kan ses som ett satt att ”skapa” en politisk persona och med den en diskurs; ett specifikt satt att tala och skriva om regeringens enda kvinnliga minister aren 1954-66. Nar Ulla Lindstrom efter sin avgang 1966 publicerade de politiska dagbocker hon fort under sin statsradstid var ett av hennes motiv sannolikt att hon ville ge sin version, dvs skapa sin egen politiska persona som motvikt mot den bild som skapats av henne i pressen.  I mitt bidrag skall jag ge exempel pa hur Ulla Lindstrom skapades som politisk persona och hur hon sjalv sag pa eller tolkade den bild som gavs av henne.