Abstract
In the last four decades, there has been a major expansion of research about violence and “hate crime” studies that draw out the mainstream hostility directed at different sexual and gender minorities. Extreme and fatal violence directed at gay men/homosexual men and trans women have featured predominantly in this. These victims include both openly gay men and homosexual men with same-sex desire but no “gay” cultural identity, and trans women living in variable situations of gender transition and gender “passing” that oscillate between physical and social masculinity and femininity. This chapter emphasises the masculine aspects of much homophobic and transphobic violence and its relation to the identity of perpetrators. It does this with discussion of the author’s research on homicides and other interpersonal violence with gay/homosexual and trans women victims. The focus in this chapter is with perpetrator anxiety about homosexual desire and same-sex acts, and resentment towards trans victims who erode the impression that a constant attainment of masculinity is a natural result of male biology. The volatility of interaction and irrational violence that can mark a real or alleged “homosexual advance” from gay/homosexual men, and “gender panic” encounters with trans women, reflect shared notions of the inviolability of heterosexual male bodies.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Interconnecting the Violences of Men |
Subtitle of host publication | Continuities and Intersections in Research, Policy and Activism |
Editors | Kate Seymour, Bob Pease, Sofia Strid, Jeff Hearn |
Place of Publication | U.K. |
Publisher | Routledge |
Chapter | 6 |
Pages | 93-105 |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781040216583 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781032540825 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 Taylor and Francis.