Body maps: Envisaging homophobia, violence and safety

This article seeks to explore the implications of homophobic hostility beyo nd the question of individual injury. It suggests that in order to understa nd the cultural, or collective, implications of homophobic hostility it is necessary to position this hostility in the wider context of discursive sta tements of sexual visibility; that is, to consider how homophobic violence functions through the equivocal and ambiguous trope of visibility. To make this argument, the article draws upon an empirical study of sexuality, gend er and homophobia, undertaken in Australia. This study suggests that the kn owledge one has of homophobic hostility interacts with other factors to eng ender deeply embodied practices of self-surveillance that inevitably centre upon mapping the visible expressions of sexuality. Yet, the pleasure that is derived from flouting the danger of homophobia suggests that it might be helpful to consider the collective implications of homophobic violence as a question of 'management'. In light of the contested nexus between homosex uality and visibility, it is further suggested that the imperative to manag e one's homosexuality as a means of negotiating safety is inevitably an imp erative to manage the unmanageable.