TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, & ABUSE / April 2002McPhail / GENDER-BIAS HATE CRIMES GENDER-BIAS HATE CRIMES A

Currently, hate crimes and hate crime policy are receiving increased public and scholarly attention. Much of the attention has been focused on crimes committed out of bias toward a victim’s membership in a group based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin. However, more recently, gender has been included as a status category, often causing heated debate. This article looks at the history of the initial exclusion, then inclusion, of gender in the hate crime domain. The reasons for the uneasy fit of gender as a status category are recounted, as well as arguments both for and against inclusion of gender within the hate crime model. The problem of gender essentialism is examined, which results in the marginalization of the multiple category statuses of many women. The article con-cludes with implications for research, policy, and practice. Key words: violence against women, hate crimes, bias crimes, gender-bias hate crimes, sexual assault, domes-tic violence AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MAN is dragged to his death behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas