Article Review 3- Bridget Thomas

Bridget Thomas

WGST 202 H

December 9, 2014

Article Review #3

Cowan, Gloria. “Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Against Gays and Lesbians: Old-Fashioned and Modern Heterosexism.” Journal of Homosexuality 49.2 (2005): 67-82.

           

            In “Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Against Gays and Lesbians: Old-Fashioned and Modern Heterosexism”,  Gloria Cowan and her colleagues examine the predictability of attitudes toward hate crimes and hate speech against homosexual people. This was done through the investigation of both old-fashioned and modern heterosexism. The study indicated the importance of the fact that old-fashioned and modern beliefs may be interconnected and might exist on a spectrum: these concepts are not separate from one another. Additionally, Cowan noted that hate crimes and hate speech experienced by homosexual people are expressions of the animosity and prejudice also faced by ethnic and religious minority groups.               

            Cowan first defines hate crime as “a criminal act in which the victim was targeted because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. This may include, but is not limited to, threatening phone calls, hate mail, physical assaults, vandalism, fires, and bombings” (68). In comparison, hate speech uses symbols and words, such as faggot, nigger, or pictures. Cowan points out that this type of speech is legal under the US constitution until it contains threats or intimidation. She argues that both hate crime and hate speech are problematic, as they generate trepidation within homosexual communities. Cowan writes, “Since hate speech toward gays often accompanies actual physical violence, the receipt of hate speech leaves the gay target with extreme feelings of vulnerability” (69).

            Successively, Cowan goes on to write about the differences between old-fashioned and modern heterosexism. Old-fashioned heterosexism involves the obvious demonstration of aversion and disapproval toward homosexuals. In contrast, modern heterosexism is elusive. Modern heterosexists do not always blatantly deem homosexuals as inferior, nor do they always blatantly show hatred toward them. Rather, modern heterosexists enforce and maintain policies that promote heterosexism while muffling homosexual rights. 

            Cowan predicted modern heterosexists to have attitudes that uphold a society where overlooking and excusing hate crimes and hate speech against gay and lesbian people is endorsed. She predicted that old-fashioned heterosexists will have attitudes that commend hate crimes and hate speech against homosexuals. The research indicated that the  predictions were accurate, with an additional significant finding: both old-fashioned and modern heterosexism diminishes the damage caused by hate speech. Cowan discusses the significance of these findings in relationship to freedom of speech in the US. She writes, “… freedom of speech is a double-edged sword. It protects gays and lesbians and it indirectly contributes to the tolerance of harmful speech” (79). In other words, as the importance of freedom of speech grows and perpetuates to old-fashioned and modern heterosexists, so does the belittling of the harm inflicted by hate speech.

            The topics of old-fashioned and modern heterosexism in relationship to hate crime and hate speech toward homosexuals pertain to my blog topic of violence against LGBT people. Hate crimes and speech are essentially forms of physical and verbal violence, driven by thoughts of heterosexist superiority. This concept of heterosexist superiority that drives hate crime and hate speech against homosexuals ties into the course themes of heterosexual privilege and heteronormativity, where heterosexuality is deemed the normal, acceptable, and natural sexual orientation.

            Cowan and colleagues discuss the attitudes of old-fashioned and modern heterosexists that drive hate crimes and hate speech. Although the Cowan’s and Paul Kwon’s articles discuss different topics, the topics are interrelated. Hate speech and hate crime can be tied into Paul Kwon’s article titled “Resilience in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals”. It relates because the resilience factors utilized by many LGBT people, as Kwon writes, is necessary because of the violence they experience in the forms of hate crime and hate speech endorsed by heterosexists, as Cowan writes.

            The article by Cowan gave me new insight into how heterosexual privilege and heteronormativity play out in our society. I had never before thought about, but now I understand, how freedom of speech can be a “double-edged sword” for LGBT people. Overall, the article was very thought provoking and I thought the authors did not leave anything out that needed to be addressed.