Violence in the City of Women : Police and Batterers in Bahia, Brazil

"Brazil's innovative all-female police stations, installed as part of the return to civilian rule in the 1980s, mark the country's first effort to police domestic violence against women. Sarah J. Hautzinger's vividly detailed, accessibly written study explores this phenomenon as a window onto the shifting relationship between violence and gendered power struggles in the city of Salvador da Bahia. Hautzinger brings together distinct voices - unexpectedly macho policewomen, the battered women they are charged with defending, indomitable Bahian women who disdain female victims, and men who grapple with changing pressures related to masculinity and honor. What emerges is a view of Brazil's policing experiment as a pioneering, and potentially radical, response to demands of the women's movement to build feminism into the state in a society fundamentally shaped by gender."--Book cover Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Prologue......Page 12 Maps......Page 22 Introduction: Violence in Salvador da Bahia, City of Women......Page 24 1. Womanly Webs: In-Laws and Violence......Page 72 2. When Cocks Can’t Crow: Masculinity and Violence......Page 116 3. Paths to a Women’s Police Station......Page 159 4. Policing by and for Women......Page 205 5. Reluctant Champions: Policewomen or Women Police?......Page 244 Conclusion and Epilogue......Page 280 Notes......Page 300 Glossary of Portuguese Terms......Page 324 References......Page 330 Index......Page 350 Introduction: Violence In Salvador Da Bahia, City Of Women -- Womanly Webs: In-laws And Violence -- When Cocks Can't Crow: Masculinity And Violence -- Paths To A Police Station -- Policing By And For Women -- Reluctant Champions: Policewomen Or Women Police? -- Conclusion And Epilogue. Sarah J. Hautzinger. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 307-325) And Index. Brazil's innovative all-female police stations, installed as part of the return to civilian rule in the 1980s, mark the country's first effort to police domestic violence against women. This work explores this phenomenon as a window onto the shifting relationship between violence and gendered power struggles in the city of Salvador da Bahia