As mulheres na criminologia positivista de João Vieira de Araújo (1884-1920)

This research deals with the positivist criminological thinking of the jurist and politician João Vieira de Araújo, a member of the faculty of the Recife School. Positivist criminology, developed in Italy by Cesare Lombroso, was welcomed in Brazil by several intellectuals, especially doctors and jurists who, like Vieira, supported its main ideas in the criminal sphere and also with regard to women. Based on discourse analysis theory, this article presents the central ideas of João Vieira de Araújo on women in the period between 1884 and 1920. It appears that the author used the assumptions of positivist criminology to reinforce stereotypes and impose gender roles, contributing to the construction of the figure of the ‘ideal woman’ and pointing to prostitutes as her opposite.