Swedish writer and women's rights activist (1865–1945)
Helga Frideborg "Frida" Maria Stéenhoff, née Wadström (11 December 1865, in Stockholm – 22 June 1945, in Stockholm), 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.
During World War II, she participated in anti-fascist work. Frida 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 (Lion's Child) from 1896. She is credited with having introduced the modern concept of feminism in Sweden with her publication Feminismens moral (Feminist Morality) from 1903.
She used the male pseudonym Harald Gate. She was among the contributors to the feminist magazine Tidevarvet.[1]
Frida Stéenhoff was born to the chaplain Carl Bernhard Philonegros Wadström (1831–1918) and Helga Westdahl (1838–1879) and the sister of the suffragist and writer Ellen Hagen. In 1887 she married the physician Gotthilf Stéenhoff.
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 (Tidevarvet 1924(2):8, s. 4, 5, 6)
1924 - Ellen Key och Nikodemus (Tidevarvet 1924(2):49, s. 1, 6)
Ahlund, Claes, "Krig och kultur i konservativ och radikal belysning. Annie Åkerhielm och Frida Stéenhoff från sekelskiftet till första världskriget", Samlaren, Uppsala, årg.126 (2005), s. 97-150