NCJ Number
99517
Date Published
1985
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Questionnaires, interviews, and observations at two regional police academies formed the basis of an analysis of how the models of womanhood that are created during the training process both reflect traditional stereotypes about women and contribute to the strengthening of the male macho image.
Abstract
During 1978 and 1979 participant observations took place for 9 weeks at an eastern police academy (a residential facility) and for 4 months at a midwestern police academy (a commuter facility). The observations were supplemented by interviews with 19 staff members and questionnaire responses from 144 recruits. The class members were predominantly white and male, but included some blacks and some females. The views expressed by trainers and by male recruits and the interactions with the female recruits tended to reflect traditional views of women as wives and sex objects and contributed to an image of patrol work as being inappropriate for women. The trainers often referred to women in joking terms, conveyed an image of them as helpless and unpredictable, and teased or flirted with female recruits. The male recruits often exhibited similar behaviors and attitudes. These behaviors and statements related not only to women in general but also to women as victims and suspects and women as police officers. The training academies made only minimal formal adaptations to women, producing a sense that the roles of women and police officers are incongruous: women are sex symbols and police officers are macho. For this to change, both societal changes and changes in the police occupation will be needed. Six notes and 24 references are included.