Rumuuden politiikka: sukupuoli, ruumis ja kansallisuuden rakentuminen 1900-luvun alun Suomessa

Authors

• Johanna Valenius

Abstract

In early twentieth century Finland various political factions had their own conceptions of what the Finnish nation should and should not be alike, and battles over the right to define Finnishness were fought for instance in caricatures. The conceptions of Finnishness were manifested in different forms of the Finnish Maid, the visual personification of the Finnish nation and state. This article focuses on one of these figures, Suometar-Mamma, the personification of the Old Finn newspaper Uusi Suometar. Suometar-Mamma appeared in Socialist and Swedish language satirical magazines and its purpose was to represent a vulgar form of Finnishness, what Finnishness should not be. This article addresses four aspects in the figure. Suometar-Mamma’s female body and sexuality is, first of all, analyzed in the theoretical context of abject and grotesque; secondly, the notions of political prostitution associated with the figure; thirdly, the ways in which this figure’s ugliness was used to construct a negative image of the ”Finnish race”; and finally, it is argued that with this feminized political opponent masculinity was given a priviledged position in politics and in the construction of Finnishness.