Stephen A Tomsen

Engendering homophobia: Violence, sexuality and gender conformity.

The links between social constructions of sexuality and gender are theoretically and politically problematic. A contemporary social movement understanding of violence against gay men and lesbians as ‘homophobic’ suggests a solid basis for coalitionist action. But important aspects of the imposition of gender conformity are a common thread in the experience of female, male and transsexual victims and the motives of perpetrators. Detail of violent and hostile incidents is drawn from two Australian studies: Victorian research on the experiences of 75 lesbians and a New South Wales study of 74 homicides with anti-homosexual motives. Violent acts commonly reflect the hatred and stigma felt towards women and men whose sexuality falls outside of acceptable gendered boundaries. Additionally, this research signals the importance of violence and harassment for the attainment and protection of a masculine identity among perpetrators, and the significance of gender in ways that call for a new understanding of ‘homophobia’ as a socially widespread phenomenon.

Homophobic violence, cultural essentialism and shifting sexual identities

Contemporary researchers have gathered widespread evidence of same-sex practice and desire with no implications for identity, across a range of historical and social settings. Paradoxically, models of understanding hate crime and homophobic violence that incline towards sexual essentialism have emerged in the same period. Categorizing perpetrators and victims as distinct groups of dangerous heterosexuals and vulnerable ‘sexual minorities’ is a politically seductive position in the media, public bureaucracies and criminal justice systems of contemporary liberal states. Fatal attacks are regarded as extreme expressions of homophobia that encapsulate this group division. But the author’s study of anti-homosexual killings in New South Wales, and related criminal trials, signals the frequent significance of same-sex activity that is not accompanied by homosexual/gay identity among perpetrators and victims, and the relation to perpetrators’ reasoned concerns about masculinity. Expert discourse and legal findings have typically viewed non-gay same-sex activity (by either victims or perpetrators) as the marker of an unresolved struggle for homosexual identity. But more recently, this is interpreted as signalling a lesser mental pathology or problematic male risk taking for pleasure. These shifts have had unexpected negative outcomes for victims without a gay social identity, and some perpetrators in ‘homosexual advance’ cases now derive a benefit from the newer cultural understanding of gay and straight categories.

A comparative study of blood alcohol concentrations in Australian night-time entertainment districts

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS There is little research describing how intoxication levels change throughout the night in entertainment districts. This research aims to describe levels of alcohol intoxication across multiple Australian metropolitan and regional nightlife districts. DESIGN AND METHODS This study was conducted in the night-time entertainment districts of three metropolitan cities (Sydney, Melbourne and Perth) and two regional cities (Wollongong and Geelong) in Australia. Data collection occurred approximately fortnightly in each city on a Friday or Saturday night between 8 pm and 5 am. Brief structured interviews (3-10 min) and breathalyser tests were undertaken in busy thoroughfares over six months. RESULTS Of the 7037 individuals approached to participate in the study, 6998 [61.8% male, mean age 24.89 years (standard deviation 6.37; range 18-73)] agreed to be interviewed. There was a linear increase in blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels throughout the night. Post hoc testing revealed significantly more highly intoxicated participants (i.e. BAC above 0.10 mg of alcohol per 100 mL of blood) after midnight (P < 0.05). The overall mean BAC was 0.06 mg/100 mL. Men were more intoxicated than women earlier in the night, but gender differences disappeared by 3 am. There was no age differences in intoxication earlier in the night, but after midnight, patrons over the age of 21 showed increasing BAC levels. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS There is a consistent trend across the cities of high to very high levels of intoxication later in the night, with trends after midnight being significantly different to those before.

‘Boozers and Bouncers’: Masculine Conflict, Disengagement and the Contemporary Governance of Drinking-Related Violence and Disorder:

Abstract The links between crime, violence and male offending are now more deeply researched in a growing international literature that understands much antisocial and criminal behaviour as a social resource for the attainment and protection of masculine identities. Nevertheless, the tie between masculinity and nonoffending has been much less explored. This focus group study of understandings of public drinking-related conflict and violence among young male drinkers and security officers in a combined urban and rural district of New South Wales illustrates the significance and complexity of these links. Masculine concerns inform a readiness for involvement with conflict and its enjoyment through the prominence of issues of social status, gender policing, honour and carnival during different social occasions. But this must be understood in relation to the different masculinity ‘projects’ (Connell, 1995) that contrast security officers with an idealised professional self-image and the majority of drinkers, from a more violent minority. A surprisingly common pattern of ‘respectable’ masculine subjectivity informs disengagement from serious violence. This is often characterised by an exaggerated view of the rational male self as safe and in control of most social interaction in dangerous public contexts. The pitfalls of this may even be enhanced by the new influence of campaigns around ‘risky’ public drinking that aim to instill ideals of responsible self-governance.

Social and cultural meanings of legal responses to homicide among men : masculine honour, sexual advances and accidents

This paper discusses Australian controversies over defences and excuses to homicide that serve partly to normalise violence in fatal conflicts between men. The ‘homosexual advance defence’ (HAD), describes a specific use of the provocation plea to seek a reduction of murder charges to a finding of manslaughter in cases of alleged male on male sexual advance. Successful uses of HAD to support claims of provocation have reflected legal acceptance of the alleged affront to masculine honour that such an advance can comprise. Likewise, the excuse of ‘accident’ has become a matter of growing debate when used to counter homicide charges arising from petty disputes or unprovoked assaults between men. The ineffective outcome of debate and the extent of this violence mirrors official resignation about this phenomenon and casts doubt on the progression of ‘civilising’ trends against social brutality. Anti-violence activists and reformers have mobilised against the use of HAD and the excuse of accident with mixed success. Reform of provocation law to abolish HAD is still incomplete, and the accident excuse continues to impact on cases involving alcohol-related violence among men. Anti-homosexual attacks and other fatal male on male conflicts have been viewed as unrelated forms of crime, yet there is a symmetry between HAD-related and ‘accidental’ killings that arise in social scenarios where sudden rage in reply to insults to male honour is a common social expectation.

Service beyond self-interest? Australian lawyers, legal aid and professionalism

Within the context of the history of the Australian legal aid system, this article explores the shift in the legal profession’s relations with the state and the internal con ̄ icts facing the legal profession. This account demonstrates the challenge for a heterogeneous legal profession to be seen to be `professional’ . The choice facing legal practitioners between providing `service beyond pure economic self-interest’ and pursuing economic imperatives becomes apparent when discussing developments in the Australian legal aid system. During the period under review (19732000) there have been signi® cant shifts in the social context of legal aid, the legal profession and the way government operates. The current dominance of economic globalisation with a philosophy of neo-liberalism has increased the focus on competition policy generally and undermined the concept of the welfare state. With this approach, welfare becomes a personal responsibility rather than a social one. `̀ Government services are reduced, with remaining responsibilities contracted out to private practitioners in a commercialised purchaserprovider relationship’ ’ . In this account the shifts in the approach to welfare and the focus on competition policy are re ̄ ected in the changes made to the amount and mechanisms of legal aid funding and the response of the legal profession. During the last decade, major changes have occurred in the Australian legal profession, the legal services industry and the legal aid system. Within the legal aid system there has been change in the organisational structure of legal aid organisations; the management of the provision of legal aid services; the funding arrangements; the form and number of legal services; and the relationships between the stakeholders in the system. In the legal services industry there is increased competi-

The Past Is the Past? The Impossibility of Erasure of Historical LGBTIQ Policing

This quote came from an interview with a now retired, gay male police officer conducted in a research project in 2010. He elaborates how he thinks LGBTIQ people still hold onto old understandings of police interactions. Furthermore, he notes how he thinks about discussions about these historical moments as ‘stereotypes and prejudices’, as though events in the past now shape what people think about police in the present. Interestingly, how he thinks about this contradicts with the way research and commentary tend to document this policing history. There is little doubt that relationships between LGBTIQ people and police have been historically turbulent (Radford, Betts, & Ostermeyer 2006). Discussions about LGBTIQ policing history can tend to chart this as though conflicts are matters in the past, and that we have moved to a more enlightened present as a result of historical events. While the documented accounts of this history rarely follow a fully linear chronology (Dwyer 2014), they can also romanticise a present and assumed future that is or will be ever grounded in sensitive, community-based police relationships.

Victims, Perpetrators and Fatal Scenarios: A Research Note on Anti-homosexual Male Homicides:

Anti-homosexual harassment and violence are often described as ‘hate’ crimes perpetrated by homophobic people who act on an extreme and irrational contempt for the sexual identity of victims, and killings are regarded as the most typical form of these incidents. But there is little detailed international research evidence about the victims, perpetrators and the social aspects of such fatal violent incidents. The authors ongoing study in New South Wales, Australia, has filled some of these gaps. It has drawn evidence from 74 homicides with male victims that occurred in New South Wales between 1980–2000. Information sources were press records, police interviews with suspects, Coroners court files and documents from the criminal trials of accused perpetrators. Analysis of the social characteristics of victims and perpetrators and the fatal scenarios reflect the significance of situational factors (such as alcohol, illicit drugs and anonymous sexual cruising) as well as the ‘hate’ motive in this fatal violence. Some perpetrators have serious drug use or psychological problems, whereas most killers are young men and boys from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The major scenarios of killing indicate that these crimes are linked to commonplace issues of male honour and masculine identity that are sharpened in the perpetrators’ situations by their marginal social status.

Professionalism and state engagement : lawyers and legal aid policy in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s

Profession-state relations are usually analysed from an interventionist perspective in which the contemporary state acts as a unified and conscious subject, and threatens the autonomy of professionals by regulating and employing them. The recent history of debates and reforms to the legal aid system in Australia suggests there is a far more complex link between professional groups and sectors of the state. The legal profession has entered a phase of extended state engagement which runs parallel to major social changes and political conflict among lawyers. These changes include the rise of a new legal services segment of the profession, with its own ideal model of practice, distinct specialisation and clientele, and a new response to public agency involvement in professional matters. The greater contemporary level of engagement with the public sector has threatened the power of the traditional elites among lawyers. But it has been of overall benefit for the profession; expanding work, career prospects and control and influence over sectors of the state. These developments reflect the increasing interdependence of the Australian welfare state and groups of new middle- class professionals, and the limits to the attainment of reform program goals that can result from this.

What do we know about alcohol mixed with energy drink (AmED) use in Australia? Expanding local evidence

OBJECTIVES Despite continued health concerns associated with the practice of consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED), few Australian studies have examined the popularity of this combination or attempted to characterise AmED consumers. The purpose of this paper is to replicate two previously used survey approaches to consolidate a national picture of AmED consumption in Australia. METHODS The survey approaches used were: an online survey with a convenience sample of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, residents (n = 1931; 63.7% female; median age 23.0 years); and street intercept surveys in regional and metropolitan entertainment precincts in NSW (n = 1265; 58.2% male; median age 21.0 years). Analyses explored the rates and frequency of AmED use across both samples, and the sociodemographic and substance use predictors of AmED consumption in the past 12 months. RESULTS More than 90% of participants in both samples reported alcohol consumption in the past 12 months, with approximately 40% of current drinkers also reporting AmED use in the past 12 months. Three-quarters of participants interviewed in entertainment precincts reported alcohol consumption in the previous 12 hours, with one in six of these also reporting AmED consumption in the past 12 hours. AmED users across both samples were more likely than alcohol-only consumers to be younger and male, and to report riskier substance use practices. CONCLUSIONS Health promotion activities are warranted to promote awareness of energy drink guidelines, and the potential harms of exceeding these guidelines, among alcohol consumers. In addition, health workers should consider enquiring about AmED use as an indicator of risk related to substance use.