The most desired positions: Brazilian female drug traffickers in inferno and falcão: Mulheres e o tráfico

Abstract

In order to analyze the gender performance and empowerment of Brazilian female drug traffickers, this article compares the character of Marta in Patrícia Melo’s novel Inferno (2000) with the testimonies of four real female drug traffickers collected in MV Bill and Celso Athayde’s book Falcão: Mulheres e o tráfico (2007). It argues that while female drug traffickers highlight their experience and use their kinship relations, Marta’s access to power and gender transgression are temporary because her community and other drug traffickers do not support her. The article also proposes the term “the most desired positions” to replace “hegemonic masculinities” because of the prominence that cisgender and trans women have begun to have in the world of drug trade.