Homophobic violence and masculinities in Australia

This chapter examines Australian research evidence to argue that violence directed at gay men, lesbians and transsexuals are not wholly distinct from other forms of male perpetrated violence. It insists that harassment and violence directed against sexual groups are highly gendered and everyday phenomena and narrow views of homophobic prejudice should be refined in order to appreciate this. Furthermore, these acts are widespread and collective social phenomena built on masculine understandings of a sexual mainstream and subordinate others. In respect to this violence, it is important to focus on its significance for the status and identity of perpetrators. By focusing upon the masculine facets of this violence it can be seen that much violence is a hostile response to sexual and gender non-conformity through which a male perpetrator seeks to enact, police and reinforce sexual hierarchies and gender boundaries. In contemporary Australian life and in a similar range of national cultures, this has a key role in signalling socially acceptable masculine appearance and behaviour. This is a slightly altered 2015 English language version of a chapter previously published in Italian - see http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/529963