A multicultural feminist perspective on interpersonal violence against lesbians and gay men

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2003 by Carlton W. Parks

The Spectacle of Violence: Homophobia, Gender, and Knowledge. By Gail Mason. London: Routledge, 2002, 170 pages. Paper, $22.95.

In social science, increasing attention is being focused on sociocultural influences from a multicultural feminist perspective. One such application has to do with the impact of sociocultural influences on the expression of interpersonal violence within situational contexts. Gail Mason's thoughtful and provocative volume adds an important dimension to ongoing discussions that focus on hate crimes against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgenders.

Brown (1995) defines the goal of a multicultural feminist perspective as "the development of a multicultural, nonWhite, and non-Western feminist database on the varieties of women's experiences.... from a canon of scholarship that is diverse and multicultural in methodology and content" (p. 152). Mason has embraced this perspective and seeks to examine homophobia-related violence through the exploration of violence as a spectacle, as well as an instrument, that can be articulated as a question of knowledge. That is, violence can be a mechanism through which citizens in our society distinguish and observe one another.

The discussion that comprises this book is structured in six chapters:

1. A discussion of methodological issues, including findings emanating from a qualitative data set.

2. A discussion of how the interactions of gender and sexuality set the stage for how homophobia-related violence is a reflection of our dysfunctional perspectives of same-sex sexual expression as being disordered or dislocated (fours themes around questions of homosexuality are used to illustrate this reality: dirt, hetero-sex, butch, and boy/girl).

3. A stimulating discussion of how to conceptualize homophobia-related violence when we are dealing with the intersections of race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation identity.

4. An exploration of the relationship between homophobia-related violence and the construct of sexual visibility.

5. An examination of the question, does violence actually infiltrate the very meaning of the construct of homosexuality?

6. A stimulating discussion of the viability of incorporating both feminist theory and Foucault in our attempts to better understand the relationship between violence and power.

In Chapter 1, Mason does a credible job of presenting the argument for relying on qualitative research strategies to document phenomenological experiences. Mason's data set, based on 70 women ranging in age from 14 to 57 years and residing in Australia, is used as an illustration of the usefulness of such an approach. It would have been advantageous if Mason had applied more concerted attention to systematically exploring the impact on her data of cultural influences within Australia. Mason asserts that a qualitative research strategy better explains previously unseen accounts of experience while simultaneously addressing issues of ecological validity. Through the exploration of experience, we may gain a clearer understanding of the individual, although such accounts of experience may not be totally reflective of objective reality. However, perception is reality, and as such is equally valuable to critique and process for its cultural meaning. Unfortunately, the potential value of mixed designs (combining quantitative and qualitative approaches; see Patton, 1990) is never entertained as a viable compromise in Mason's discussion of culturally sensitive methodological strategies in the social sciences.

Mason starts out Chapter 2 by clearly enunciating the reality that violence is always shaped by cultural contexts such that it is an interpretation of certain events. As a form of knowledge, it lends itself to interpretation. Similarly, homophobia-related violence makes a statement about certain attitudes and belief systems about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender subject. There also exist themes (i.e., linguistic and contextual patterns) within the accounts of experience that need to be examined. Qualitative data lend themselves to that type of thematic content analysis. For example, one of the most common words used to intimidate and insult is the word dirty (i.e., "dirty fag," "dirty lesbian"). Name-calling is a common phenomenon in schools, and the association between being "dirty" and being "sexual" is rather common within the United States. A person engaging in sexual acts is typically perceived as being dirty and possessing "impure thoughts." Likewise, the smells often associated with sexual activity are perceived as dirty. Thus, innocent people are "polluted" when they associate with dirty people. This perceived reality sets the stage for the expression of homophobia-related violence.

The second theme, hetero-sex, relates to the preoccupation of heterosexuals with "curing" lesbians and gay men by forcing them to engage in heterosexual sexual encounters. The belief here is that anyone experiencing such hetero-interactions will turn "straight." If that is not the case, then this unexpected reality can be perceived as rather threatening and disconcerting, especially to an emotionally vulnerable individual. This tension, anxiety, and internal conflict can be the catalyst for the expression of homophobia-related violence. Also, there can be confusion about whether same-sex sexual encounters involve novel or unique sexual activities that do not occur within the context of heterosexual sexual encounters. This myth can lead to a rather intense preoccupation with finding out what exactly lesbians and gay men do, which can lead as well to tension, anxiety, and internal conflict resulting in homophobia-related violence.