Frida Stéenhoff


Helga Frideborg Maria "Frida" Stéenhoff was a Swedish writer and women's rights activist. She was a leading participant of the public debate of gender equality and a contributor of several radical progressive publications. She was engaged in the women suffrage movement and several humanitarian organisations.

Life

Frida Wadström was born to the chaplain Carl Bernhard Philonegros Wadström and Helga Westdahl, and was the sister of the suffragist and writer Ellen Hagen. In 1887 she married the physician Gotthilf Stéenhoff.
During World [War II], she participated in anti-fascist work. Stéenhoff was a leading central figure of the free love movement in Sweden, for birth control, sex and romance without marriage, and critical toward the institution of marriage, subjects for which she became controversially known by her debut novel: Lejonets unge from 1896. She is credited with having introduced the modern concept of feminism in Sweden with her publication Feminismens moral from 1903.
She used the male pseudonym Harald Gate. She was among the contributors to the feminist magazine Tidevarvet.

Works

Novels and serials

  • 1902 - Det heliga arvet
  • 1904 - Öknen
  • 1911 - Kring den heliga elden
  • 1915 - Ljusa bragder och mörka dåd
  • 1918 - Filippas öden
  • 1937 - ''Objektiv stats- och könsmoral''

Plays

  • 1896 - Lejonets unge
  • 1898 - Sin nästas hustru
  • 1900 - Ärkefienden
  • 1907 - Stridbar ungdom
  • 1908 - Den vita duvans samfund
  • 1910 - Den smala vägen
  • 1911 - ''Kärlekens rival''

Essays and other publications

  • 1903 - Feminismens moral
  • 1904 - Den reglementerade prostitutionen
  • 1905 - Humanitet och barnalstring
  • 1905 - Varför skola kvinnorna vänta
  • 1907 - Fosterlandskänslan
  • 1908 - Penningen och kärleken
  • 1909 - Riktlinjerna i mitt författaskap
  • 1910 - Teatern och livet
  • 1910 - Det nya folket
  • 1912 - Minfru, fru eller fröken
  • 1912 - Äktenskap och demokrati
  • 1913 - Könsslaveri
  • 1915 - Krigets herrar - världens herrar
  • 1924 - Samtal med en borgmästare om prostitutionen
  • 1924 - Ellen Key och Nikodemus
  • 1925 - Babels förbistring: angående befolkningsproblem...
  • 1925 - Bör nutidsmänniskan tro på drömmar?
  • 1925 - Vad unnar han henne?
  • 2007 - Blott ett annat namn för ljus: Tre texter av Frida Stéenhoff