Abstract

MELLO, Ricardo Pimentel  and  FURTADO, Luísa Escher. Hybrid bodies and spaces in the women's Police Station in the city of Fortaleza. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2010, vol.3, n.1, pp. 42-51. ISSN 1983-8220.

This study has arisen from a research on spousal violence and alcohol drinking. In 2009, we made eight visits to the Women Protection Police Station of Fortaleza (DDM). We studied how the people (bodies) who go to this Police Station are placed as if they presented "identities" which outline their ways of life. We used observations, notes, photography, and talks, mapping the composition of the spaces: how they are constituted, to whom they are destined, and why. We realized that the diversity in the DDM is ordered into the duality female/male. The way in which the bodies are positioned creates borders between women (whom the Police Station must protect) and men (against whom the women should be protected). This reflects in the way that movable ornaments are placed and in the authorizations and prohibitions regarding the circulation in the rooms. Thus, there is, at the DDM, an organization of humans and non-humans in heteronormative positions. There is also a resistance against that, but with less visibility.

Keywords : Body; Gender; Women's Police Station; Heteronormativity.

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