The Haunting of Hate: Rape as a Form of Hate Crime

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore how notions of gender and sexualities influence state and voluntary agencies’ understanding of men as victims of rape. It aims to examine the roles of gender, sexualities, and hate crime in male rape discourse, particularly examining the concept of male rape as a form of hate crime. I draw on data that consist of police officers, male rape counsellors, therapists, and voluntary agency caseworkers (N = 70) to explore male rape fuelled by hatred in the North, South and West of England. I used 25 semi-structured interviews and 45 qualitative questionnaires to collate the data. I ensured that those who were interviewed did not also fill out a questionnaire. The findings suggest that there is a link between male rape and hate crime, in that gay men or men presumed to be gay are positioned as feminine and subordinate through the act of rape. The findings suggest that the study of hate crime ought to be expanded to include male rape victims because my research suggests that, in some cases, hatred might be involved during an incident of rape.