The purpose of this qualitative and empirical study was to study a group of young women and how they shaped their identites through their experiences and selfrealisation in the suburb Tensta. The main focus of the study was to find what significance and impact the environment had and how much it effetct the individuals’ self image and place in society. Further more the study was done through semi-structured interviews. The different kinds of theories used in this study were mainly Goffman's theory on stigma, Link and Phelan’s explanation model for the process of stigmatization, Skegg’s theory on effeminately as a norm, and the author Sobring etc. as the source to understand the different identity concepts. With the help of these explanation models we learned to comprehend and get a better view of what these young women felt in their stigmitized area called Tensta and how it affected their identity and behaviour. Also, in how they saw themselves and their self image we could draw real life conclusions and what we found out was that these women had ambitious feelings about the future with a general positivity despite their location. Even though they have been and are still being discriminated and stigmitized against, they still keept a postive outlook on life.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie var att studera unga kvinnors upplevelser av identitet och självuppfattning i uppväxtmiljön Tensta. Studiens fokus ligger främst på vilken betydelse uppväxtmiljön har för individens självbild och vidare undersöktes fenomenet genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Olika teorier som tillämpats i denna studie är Goffmans teori om stigma, Link och Phelans förklaringsmodell för stigmatiseringsprocessen, Skeggs teori om kvinnan som norm samt författaren Sorbring m.fl. som förklaring på identitetsbegreppet. Med hjälp av dessa förklaringsmodeller kunde vi tolka och förstå hur unga kvinnor som är bosatta i ett stigmatiserat område som Tensta upplever sin identitet och självbild. Utifrån det empiriska materialet kunde vi dra slutsatsen att unga kvinnor bosatta i Tensta visar sig ha en mer positiv självuppfattning fastän de utsätts för stigmatisering och diskriminering.