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This study examines how the armed forces in Sweden, Norway, and Finland represent gender in contemporary recruitment and- profile campaigns. Using a poststructural feminist security theory framework, it analyzes how visual and narrative portrayals of military subjects shape gendered identity positions and how these, in turn, influence women’s ability to identify with the role of military defender. Through a comparative content analysis, the study explores how defense willingness, gender, and military legitimacy are discursively constructed across national contexts.

The study shows that Sweden presents dual narratives: one inclusive and focused on competence and collaboration, the other emphasizing militarized readiness and national sacrifice. Norway however, offers a broader spectrum of roles but reinforces a hierarchy that privileges elite, masculinized combat identities. Furthermore, Finland presents a seemingly neutral collective subject, yet ties legitimacy to bodily discipline and depersonalized functionality which are features implicitly aligned with masculine-coded norms.

Across all three countries, defense communication simultaneously promotes inclusivity while sustaining a gendered hierarchy of military value. The study concludes that women's identification with the defender role is discursively conditioned and often constrained by symbolic norms linked to violence, risk and national protection. These findings contribute to feminist security research by highlighting how visual and affective dimensions of military storytelling reproduce structural gendered norms in Nordic security cultures