The Ultimate Hate Crime: Corrective Rape
Brittany Martin
English 200
Professor Gane
21 March 2010
The Ultimate Hate Crime: Corrective Rape Throughout history, hate crimes have obliterated and destroyed the lives of people that have unknowingly committed acts of wrongdoing solely based upon the perception of certain hate filled individuals or organizations; whether it is based upon their sex, their color of skin, their religion, or their sexual preferences, they are unjustifiably hated for it. The deep routed anger cannot be easily identified by these straight forward isms (sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia); the pain and disgust that resides in these individuals that commit these hate crimes is far deeper then these simple phrases. However, just because individuals are hated for specific identities don’t mean that everyone in that community shares that common hatred; for example, there are millions of white men that look up to African Americans with respect (Barrack Obama). Many individuals all over the world that are open to expressing their sexual preferences, homosexuals, have become the target to these repulsive hate crimes that have become known as “corrective rape”, as stated in Andrew Sullivan’s “What’s So Bad about Hate?” and Annie Kelly’s article “Raped and Killed for Being a Lesbian.” Why do people feel they have the right to decide what is right and what is wrong? What are the motives for this immense disgust with homosexuals? Although it seems very simple and straightforward: that men are bias to women because of their sex, African Americans have become the enemy to whites because of their color of skin, or straight men loath lesbians because of their sexual preferences, it is never that simple.
“There is hate that fears, and hate that merely feels contempt; there is hate that expressed power, and hate that comes from powerlessness; there is revenge, and there is hate that comes from envy. There is hate that was love, and hate that is a curious expression of love. There
English 200
Professor Gane
21 March 2010
The Ultimate Hate Crime: Corrective Rape Throughout history, hate crimes have obliterated and destroyed the lives of people that have unknowingly committed acts of wrongdoing solely based upon the perception of certain hate filled individuals or organizations; whether it is based upon their sex, their color of skin, their religion, or their sexual preferences, they are unjustifiably hated for it. The deep routed anger cannot be easily identified by these straight forward isms (sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia); the pain and disgust that resides in these individuals that commit these hate crimes is far deeper then these simple phrases. However, just because individuals are hated for specific identities don’t mean that everyone in that community shares that common hatred; for example, there are millions of white men that look up to African Americans with respect (Barrack Obama). Many individuals all over the world that are open to expressing their sexual preferences, homosexuals, have become the target to these repulsive hate crimes that have become known as “corrective rape”, as stated in Andrew Sullivan’s “What’s So Bad about Hate?” and Annie Kelly’s article “Raped and Killed for Being a Lesbian.” Why do people feel they have the right to decide what is right and what is wrong? What are the motives for this immense disgust with homosexuals? Although it seems very simple and straightforward: that men are bias to women because of their sex, African Americans have become the enemy to whites because of their color of skin, or straight men loath lesbians because of their sexual preferences, it is never that simple.
“There is hate that fears, and hate that merely feels contempt; there is hate that expressed power, and hate that comes from powerlessness; there is revenge, and there is hate that comes from envy. There is hate that was love, and hate that is a curious expression of love. There
Cited: