ABSTRACT
Based on a small empirical study in the UK, this chapter provides an exploration of data from interviews with a group of white males who regularly targeted Asian shopkeepers for physical and verbal abuse. It focuses on perceived threats to masculine identities could produce a more nuanced appreciation about why and how certain hate crimes manifest themselves. The chapter suggests that future research on hate crime offending needs to include an increased focus on gender. It presents some insights by examining extracts from interviews with white men living within a predominantly white area who regularly targeted Asian shopkeepers for physical and verbal abuse and their premises for acts of theft, criminal damage and vandalism. The chapter examines the importance of understanding how offenders may view victims through the lens of their own gendered identities. Intersectionality theory explores the ways in which systems of oppression such as race, class, gender and sexuality simultaneously structure social relations.
