Deserving victims?: sexual status and the social construction of violence

Theoretical understanding of the meaning of the term violence is underdevel oped. This paper examines the question of how violence to the person is soc ially defined, and in particular how understandings of violence are both ge ndered and sexualised. It highlights how victim characteristics, as well as the social and interactional contexts in which violence occurs, influence interpretative frameworks, with specific reference to the binary distinctio n between the public and private and to notions of culpability and victimis ation. This entails a consideration of the social meanings which constitute notions of a 'person' with a 'right to life' and occupation of 'public spa ce.' The importance of the victim/perpetrator dichotomy in theorising viole nce is also considered. These themes and issues are examined in relation to a relatively new area of study; the case example of public violence toward s lesbians and gay men.