In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Violence in the City of Women: Police and Batterers in Bahia, Brazil
  • Natasha Borges Sugiyama
Violence in the City of Women: Police and Batterers in Bahia, Brazil. By Sarah J. Hautzinger. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. Pp. xx, 342. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. $55.00 cloth; $21.95 paper.

Sarah Hautzinger’s Violence in the City of Women is an engrossing work that addresses the evolution of institutional and societal responses to gender-based violence in the city of Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia. This book is the culmination of nearly twenty years of Hautzinger’s experience investigating gender-based violence in Salvador. The strength of this work lies in her personal narrative and connection to people, families, and state institutions. Since 1990, Hautzinger has conducted extensive fieldwork in the city’s sole women’s police station (Delegacia da Mulher or DM for short), collaborating with other researchers to document police officers’ opinions and procedures, and listening to testimonies. A second research site, a poor urban neighborhood that became her home for nine months starting in 1993, is the center of her ethnographic account of family violence. In addition to analysis of both sites, the book draws on multiple vantage points and methodologies to provide a full account of the evolution of gender-based violence in Salvador.

Hautzinger examines multiple facets of violence between men and women and centers her analysis on evolving gender relations and power struggles. She argues that violence arises not only from men’s use of violence to dominate, but also from men reacting to women’s contestation and rejection of male dominance. Throughout her analysis, she resists simplistic dichotomies and characterizations of female victimhood and male dominance to highlight how Bahian women resist men’s domination and avail themselves of resources (community support, cultural delegitimation, and state sanctions against violence) to avoid becoming victims.

The book challenges many truisms perpetuated by mainstream actors in the international battered women’s movement and proposes alternative premises. First, while gender-based violence is widespread, it is not a universal and static phenomenon. Second, while violence is destructive, it can also hold other meanings, including the performance of masculinity. Third, gender-based violence is not “one size fits all;” man-to-woman violence does not always reinforce masculine power and patriarchy. In breaking with the tendency in the field to assert that violence against women crosses culture, class, and race, Hautzinger emphasizes the ways in which these categories and distinctions matter. In particular, [End Page 419] she illustrates how poverty creates anxieties, insecurities, and desperation that hold significance for understanding patterns of domestic violence. Finally, the author concludes that criminalization is an insufficient strategy; public policies need to promote prevention.

One of the strengths of the analysis rests on the author’s exploration of the performance of masculinity and men’s attitudes toward gender relations and violence. While research based on police station complaints reveals that most instances of violence erupt over mundane issues, such as how to discipline children or spend money, men in her focus groups argue that violence is only a legitimate avenue to assert one’s masculinity when dishonor (e.g., female adultery) is involved. By drawing on contrasting accounts, including the changing power dynamics between the pseudonymous Zizi and Jorginho of the Bomfim family, Hautzinger illustrates how gender norms, family/community intervention, and police intervention alter their historic pattern of abuse.

Other sections of the book may offer familiar historical accounts, including discussion of the development of women’s police stations in Brazil, historical context on police reform during democratization, and the women’s movement during that era. Two other chapters on police institutions and the women who work there help round out the book. Surveys of policewomen as well as participant observation reveal the ways in which politics, bureaucratic institutions, and ideology constrained the DMs during their early years. Interestingly, Hauztinger is reflective about the evolution of DMs and today is far more optimistic about their potential than she was years ago. In all, Hautzinger’s book is an engaging and accessible read. She provides those unfamiliar with Brazil vivid depictions of Salvador and the...

pdf

Share