Fucking Åmål (released in some countries as Show Me Love) is a 1998 Swedish romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Lukas Moodysson in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Rebecka Liljeberg and Alexandra Dahlström as two seemingly disparate teenage girls who begin a tentative romantic relationship. The film was released theatrically in Sweden on 23 October 1998,[2] and first premiered internationally at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
The original title of the film, Fucking Åmål, refers to the girls' feelings about their small town: In a key scene, Elin shouts in desperation "varför måste vi bo i fucking jävla kuk-Åmål?" (which roughly translates to "why do we have to live in fucking bloody cock-Åmål?").[8]
The film received consistently good reviews, including the realism and credibility of its portrayal of what it is like to be a teenager in a small town in the 1990s. In addition, the efforts of the young actors were praised. Jan-Olov Andersson at Aftonbladet felt that Dahlström's and Liljeberg's imaginative appearance and interaction was "sensationally credible", and Bo Ludvigsson at Svenska Dagbladet wrote that it was "a warm, strong and confident film about the courage to be human". Ludvigsson also believed that Fucking Åmål, with its storytelling drive, leave and authenticity, was well above most of the Swedish films of recent years. Anders Hansson at Göteborgs-Posten thought that director Moodysson with fairly ordinary elements created "a film with unusual rise".[2]
Recent data indicate that IH is directly associated with mental health outcomes,8 with avoidance of HIV testing and identification as bisexual or straight in men who have sex with men (MSM) (but not HIV-risk behaviours when sexual identification and race/ethnicity were controlled for),9 and indirectly through the mediators of discomfort with discussing HIV status and condom use.10 Ryan et al11 found that family rejection of gay and lesbian adolescents was associated with an 8.4 times higher likelihood of attempting suicide, 5.9 times higher likelihood of depression, 3.4 times higher levels of using illegal drugs and a 3.4 times higher risk of engaging in unprotected intercourse compared with teens who reported no or low levels of family rejection. A recent review of US studies12 concluded that IH has minimal effect on risk behaviour, although that conclusion has been criticised for being based largely on US data and for assuming a linear relationship between the two variables.13 However, Ross et al14 have demonstrated that IH predicts sexual risk behaviour in gay men in Uganda, where homosexuality is heavily stigmatised. The data suggest that IH may vary significantly from country to country as a function of levels of discrimination at legal and structural levels as well as individual experience: that is, ambient homophobia is a major determinant of IH. European data from over a decade ago indicate that general population homonegativity is negatively associated with religion and immigration, and positively associated with urbanisation and economic development.15 16 The European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS) is a European study with a unique opportunity to research IH in a range of political and social settings.
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