Kicking Ass…With Lip Gloss: Mediating Gender on TLC's Police Women of Broward County

Abstract

This research applies key concepts from feminist work on police programs of the 1970s through to the 1980s, to the reality program Police Women of Broward County. Through a feminist textual analysis of season 1 episodes, this manuscript argues that perpetuation of stereotypical gender norms associated with the “private sphere” allow media corporations to market gender in a new way. Both progressive and oppressive at its core, Police Women of Broward County illustrates a progressive representation of women while simultaneously reinforcing stereotypical gender roles. These stereotypical representations are problematized for the ways in which they re-inscribe less than egalitarian divisions of household labor, encourage acceptance of women's “second shift,” and suggest the "othering" of female law enforcement officers, through special police programming that includes an emphasis on the private sphere.

Keywords:

• Feminist
• Textual analysis
• Reality television
• Gender
• Police programming

Acknowledgement

She has previously been published in Kaleidoscope, and would like to thank the anonymous reviewers at Critical Studies for their helpful suggestions on this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Cox

Nicole B. Cox is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at Florida State University's School of Communication. Her research interests include feminist political economy, gender studies, and reality TV