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. Performances de gênero no trabalho policial: hipermasculinidade e policiamento como função masculina ResumoEste artigo tem como objetivo mostrar evidências de que apesar dos esforços institucionais da Polícia Militar do Rio de Janeiro (PMERJ) para transformar sua imagem pública através da divulgação do trabalho de policiais femininas, relações profissionais baseadas em entendimentos tradicionais das funções de gênero impedem que mulheres alcancem todo seu potencial profissional como policiais. As evidências utilizadas baseiam-se na literatura citada e em uma imersão etnográfica de um ano em 2014-2015, em uma Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP), a qual nos referimos pelo pseudônimo 'Morro Santo'.

Eluding the Esculacho

“…Th e proportion of women offi cers has increased substantially in recent decades, and shift s toward soft er forms of community and proximity policing have gained ground (Brogden and Nijhar 2005). Despite substantial changes in operational policing and its management, however, research on police culture across diff erent countries and contexts continues to fi nd that it is pervaded by hegemonic masculinity (e.g., Brown 2007;Franklin 2007;Gripp and Zaluar 2017;Prokos and Padavic 2002;Sirimarco 2013). Rio de Janeiro's Military Police is no exception.…”

“…Th e literature on the warrior ethos has focused mainly on what drives young men to join armed drug traffi cking groups. However, Camila Gripp and Zaluar (2017) argue that studies on the UPPs would also benefi t from focusing on this masculinity ethos. As their antagonists, the police have developed warrior-type ethos and practices within the war on drugs.…”

“…Because while he is out there, giving his life to confront evil, the other is in a more comfortable position. " Silva here argues that the "warrior cop" with the capacity to confront "evil" is highly valued within the police culture, while women offi cers and soft er policing functions are looked down on (see also Gripp and Zaluar 2017;Mourão 2013Mourão , 2015. Th is warrior-type offi cer is imbued with what the police culture literature situates as masculine traits such as aggression, risktaking, assertiveness, and courageousness (Brown 2007;Franklin 2005;Martin 1996;Prokos and Padavic 2002).…”

“…As I stepped aside and the guns grazed by me, I made eye contact with one of the offi cers, who seemed to radiate a lazily arrogant "I dare you" attitude. Th is in-your-face, show-of-force is but one illustration of what the article views as a hypermasculine and militaristic "warrior" identity and ethos in the police occupational culture, drawing on the literature on warrior-based masculinity in favelas (Zaluar 1994(Zaluar , 2004 and in police cultures (Brown 2007;Gripp and Zaluar 2017).…”

“…In this article, I therefore focus on the police culture, more specifi cally its gendered dynamics, which has been relatively under-examined in research on police violence in Brazil (Gripp and Zaluar 2017;Lopes et al 2016). I apply a masculinities perspective to the ways in which policing activities are framed and enacted as I examine the social processes that endorse and reproduce a militaristic warrior ethos.…”