Hate Crime

I. Why Do Men Commit Certain Crimes against Women and “Non-Masculine” Males?

II. Introduction

In this paper I will be discussing different forms of violence acts that is gendered towards women and homosexuals or those who do not follow the “norms” of society. These include, domestic violence, sexual harassment, homophobic crimes, and rape. I will discuss each one in detail explaining who is most likely to commit each act and who is most likely to be a victim of one. Next I will describe in detail why the feminist’s theory best fits in determining why these crimes are committed.

III. Analysis

Domestic violence is the domination or physically or emotionally inflicted abuse by a spouse, boyfriend, or ex boyfriend. There are two different kinds of physical violence direct and indirect. Direct physical violence is physical harm done to the victim where as indirect is the destruction of objects or possessions. The range of violence varies from household to household. Those households that are in poverty tend to be more violent than those of middle class status (Stalans). Women that are involved with an abusive spouse find it very hard to get away from the violence as well. The intimidation and threats to their safety by their spouse warning that if they try to leave they will always find them and when they do they will kill them. In result if the woman does decide to leave she has to live in constant fear of being found. Not wanting to live like this most women put up with the abuse and tries to stick it out. An example of this is Browne’s idea of Captives and Captors. The abused wife is fully aware of the danger and physical harm her spouse is capable of doing to her so if she gives little resistance then the more lenient and less violent he may be. Also with the constant worry of abuse the woman is in a constant state of survival instead of trying to find a way out of the relationship. (Browne)

Sexual Harassment is coercion of unwanted sexual behavior that interferes with a person’s ability to complete occupational duties or that hinders their education. It is committed predominately by men in an occupational or educational setting. Although found on all levels the majority of sexual harassment cases happen to women that are in subordinate working positions usually with lower pay. (Rundblad) The most vulnerable victims tend to be young, single, from a racial or ethnic background, and as stated in a subordinate workers position. There are two types of sexual harassment: “quid pro quo” and hostile environment. Quid pro quo (“this for that”) is when a supervisor makes an ultimatum for the victim. She will receive a raise or a bonus if she will have sex with him. With this form of harassment only one incident will be enough to take legal action. Hostile environment cases are more towards hostility and a way of degrading or a form of humiliation of women instead of a man seeking a sexual relationship with them. These cases do not even have to pertain to sex but just the fact that the action was done because of the person’s sex. These require evidence of consistent behavioral patterns to be able to take legal action. In female-dominated jobs quid pro quo is most likely to occur and in male-dominated jobs hostile environment is more likely to occur. (Rundblad)

Homophobic crimes are an act of physical or verbal violence directed towards an individual based on their sexual orientation. So the victims of these crimes are lesbians, gay men, and bi-sexuals. Majority of the time the victims do not know there perpetrator, which is predominantly young adult white males. The ways crimes are defined as homophobic crimes are when explicit statements about the individual’s sexual orientation is stated, they were victimized by being at a gay-identified location, and somehow the crime is associated with behaviors of the victim that indicated he/she was gay. (Herek) Like all of these crimes it often goes unreported due to victims not believing that anything will be done about it, they will be treated unfairly because of there sexuality, or they simply do not want there sexuality to be known.

Rape has been occurring for thousands of years. It is violence that involves one gender, race, social class, and sexuality and is forced intercourse that involves vaginal, anal, or oral penetration.(Felty) Rape is a major problem in the U.S. but it is one of the most unreported crimes. The majority of rape victims are young women making them the most vulnerable targets. African-American women are the most likely to be raped and also the least likely to be taken seriously by authorities. Alarmingly women are most likely to be raped by an acquaintance or someone close to them. This is also known as “simple” rape, where the victim knows the assailant and there is no violence used. These are predominantly unreported where as “aggravated” rape, done by a stranger or someone unknown to the victim, there are multiple assailant or there is physical violence inflicted are the most reported. One reason for this according to Felty is that “prosecution is less likely to be pursued when the offender and victim are acquainted, and convictions are more successfully obtained when they are strangers.” Offenders are rarely convicted as seen by less when 5% of inmates in correctional facilities are convicted of rape. (Felty)

So why do men commit these crimes? In my opinion it is the combination of both feminists theory and sociocultural prospective. The sociocultural approach is that certain