Bashing (pejorative)

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Bashing is a harsh, gratuitous, prejudicial attack on a person, group, or subject. Literally, bashing is a term meaning to hit or assault, but when it is used as a suffix, or in conjunction with a noun indicating the subject being attacked, it is normally used to imply that the act is motivated by bigotry.[ citation needed ] The term is also used metaphorically, to describe verbal or critical assaults. Topics which attract bashing tend to be highly partisan and personally sensitive topics for the bashers, the victims, or both. Common areas include religion, nationality, sexuality, and politics.

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Physical bashing is differentiated from regular assault because it is a motivated assault, which may be considered a hate crime. In relation to non-physical bashing, the term is used to imply that a verbal or critical attack is similarly unacceptable and similarly prejudicial. Use of the term in this manner is an abusive ad hominem action, used to denounce the attack and admonish the attackers by comparing them to perpetrators of physical bashing.

Karen Franklin, in her paper "Psychosocial motivations of hate crimes perpetrators" identifies the following motivations for bashing: socially instilled prejudice or partisan conflict; the perception that the bashing subject is in some way contrary to, or in offense to, an underlying ideology; group or peer influence. [1]

Physical bashing

One of the more common uses of the term bashing is to describe assault or vilification of people perceived to be homosexual. Gay-bashing is related to homophobia and religious objections to homosexuality.

Non-physical bashing

In cases of non-physical bashing, the term is normally used with the intention of having a pejorative effect on the identified bashers by comparing them to perpetrators of criminal assaults. Sometimes this label is applied to criticisms that are not particularly vehement nor even inappropriate. In these cases, the term can be seen to be applied purely for partisan benefit. The use of the term within this context is most common in editorial or personal commentary. These terms are used to imply that the criticism of these groups or individuals is excessive, too frequent, uncompromising, or inappropriate. Since politics is inherently partisan, the term bashing is frequently used to cast negative aspersions on critics for political gain.

Fans of different artistic works often accuse critics, who may be other fans, of bashing the subject or individuals upon which the fandom is centered. A common example of this on the internet is Lucas bashing, where the term is used to decry criticism of Star Wars or George Lucas personally. In this case, again the motivations include partisan conflict (for or against an aspect of an artistic work); an offense to an underlying ideology (nostalgic attachment to, or immersion in, an artistic genre); and the group influence of other fans and discussion forums. There is also character bashing, which happens when a part of the fandom openly criticises one or more characters in an artistic work, or even real people from media industry.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as the greater tendency to blame victims of rape than victims of robbery if victims and perpetrators knew each other prior to the commission of the crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against transgender people</span> Violence or victimization against transgender people

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom</span> Aspect of history

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of violence against LGBT people in the United States</span>

The history of violence against LGBT people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBT), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. Those targeted by such violence are believed to violate heteronormative rules and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, with statistics showing that violence among female same-sex couples is more common than among couples of the opposite sex, although male same-sex violence is less common.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Franklin</span> American forensic psychologist

Karen Franklin is an American forensic psychologist. For her doctoral dissertation, she conducted research on anti-gay violence. She has also published commentaries about sex crimes, primarily expressing her opposition to the use of the hebephilia and other diagnoses in sexually violent predator regulations. She received the 2012 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in Psychology and the Monette-Horwitz Trust Award in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic violence in same-sex relationships</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay Gang Murders</span> Murders in Sydney, Australia between 1970 and 2010

The Gay Gang Murders are a series of suspected anti-LGBT hate crimes perpetrated by large gangs of youths in Sydney, Australia, between 1970 and 2010, with most occurring in 1989 and 1990. The majority of these occurred at local gay beats, and were known to the police as locations where gangs of teenagers targeted homosexuals and trans individuals. In particular, many deaths are associated with the cliffs of Marks Park, Tamarama, where the victims would allegedly be thrown or herded off the cliffs to their deaths. As many as 88 gay men were murdered by these groups in the period, with many of the deaths unreported, considered accidents or suicides at the time.

References

  1. files.eric.ed.gov(PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20150417233212/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED423939.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 17, 2015.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)