Threats to Power

Bookslut:

True crime at its best highlights the tensions within an afflicted society -- or as Joyce Carol Oates describes in her essay on the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the “profound and disturbing disequilibrium provoked by the commission of a crime.” In this month’s issue, David McConnell discusses his new book, American Honor Killings, which deals with murders committed by men and boys who believed their masculinity somehow threatened by their victims’ homosexuality. American Honor Killings examines the common thread that runs through each of the sometimes bizarre-sounding, seemingly disparate hate crimes discussed in the book: the ways in which homophobia in America is deeply concerned with masculinity and power.

For more on the relationship between masculinity and violence, here are some indispensable readings:

Head there to read those links.