Sao Paulo (AFP) - Police candidates in southern Brazil are now free to get in touch with their softer side.

"Masculinity" has been dropped from the list of 72 required attributes for wannabe cops in the state of Parana. Also gone: a prohibition on falling in love.

The macho criteria were part of the psychological profile demanded for candidates in 16 different types of job, all of them open both to women and men.

Masculinity was defined as "an individual's capacity to remain unmoved by violent scenes, to put up with vulgarity, not to become emotional easily and not to have interest in romantic episodes or love."

After criticism from a national gay alliance, the Brazilian attorneys' association and the Parana government, the police rewrote the rules.

The new version substitutes masculinity for "endurance" and deletes the clause on romance.