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The Terror of Hate: Conceptualizing sexual violence against women as gender-based hate crime

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Abstract

Throughout history, women have been victimized by sexual violence. Yet the vast proportion of this violence has been shrouded in invisibility, and women have habitually been denied social recognition for the crimes committed against them. This chapter explores the emergent idea that gender-based violence should be addressed as a form of hate crime, elucidating the conceptual link between sexual violence and hate crime. Namely, it engages in a conceptual investigation of ‘hate’ as a terrorizing aspect of sexual violence against women. Inspired by Sternberg’s (2008) notion of ‘hate as a story’, the chapter argues that hate crime conceptualization is especially appropriate for women widely considered non-ideal victims’ engulfed by recurring ‘stories of complicity’ that brand them culpable for their own victimization. Conversely, a universal recognition of all sexual violence against women as ‘hate crime’, even if conceptually sound, is unlikely to be implementable through hate crime law.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication(In)Visible Signs of Gender-Based Violence
EditorsAnne Wagner, Angela Condello
Number of pages39
PublisherSpringer
Publication dateApr 2025
Pages139-177
ISBN (Print)9783031355158, 9783031355127
ISBN (Electronic)9783031355134
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2025
Externally publishedYes
SeriesGender, Justice and Legal Feminism
Volume1
ISSN2948-1651

Keywords

  • Hate crime
  • Hatred
  • Gender-based violence
  • Gender
  • Hate crime law
  • Law
  • Violence against women and girls
  • Women's rights
  • Intersectionality
  • Sexual violence

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