Police and gendered labor performances: hypermasculinity and policing as a masculine function

Abstract

This article argues that despite the institutional effort made by Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police (PMERJ) to transform its public image by promoting the work of female officers, workplace relationships based on traditional understandings of gender roles continue to hinder women’s potential to thrive as police officers. Evidence for this claim is drawn from the existing literature, as referenced in the article, and a one-year ethnographic study conducted in 2014-2015 accompanying a Pacifying Police Unit (UPP), which we refer to by the pseudonym ‘Morro Santo.’

Keywords

• hypermasculinity
• policing
• gender relations
• workplace relations