” You can do this, you goddamn loser!” : A qualitative study regarding the function of swear words amongst students in physical education and health

The aim of this study has been to examine the function of swear words amongst student´s in physical education and health. The basis of the study lies on Andersson´s (1985) division for the function of swear words and is categorized after social, psychological and linguistic motives. Furthermore, the study is permeated by Hirdman´s (1988) gender contract, in order to examine whether gender affects the function of the swear words. The study is based on a qualitative method, where the empirical data was collected by structured observations.A total of six observations were made with six different classes and consisted altogether 85 students. During the analysis of the results three main categories aroused regarding the function of swear words amongst student´s in physical education for how it can be interpreted and explained from Hirdman´s gender contract but also past research. The categories are linguistic dichotomy, school responsibility, The norm-carrying man: A structure in resolution? The result shows that the most common function of swear words amongst student´s is from a social motive where the subcategory to indicate group affiliation is the most prevalent. The study also shows how the gender contract partially continues to be upheld by the separation of what is male and what is female based on the expectations created by society for how a person should speak based on their (biological) gender. Lastly, the maintenance of the gender contract can be seen from the schools´ work regarding fundamental values, where the liability to prevent and counteract all forms of discrimination and degrading treatment seems to be heading in the right direction, but at the same time the work to prevent gender patterns is perceived as lacking