Hate speech law and equality: a cautionary tale for advocates of ‘stirring up gender hatred’ offences

Neller, Jen (2022) Hate speech law and equality: a cautionary tale for advocates of ‘stirring up gender hatred’ offences. In: Guney, G. and Davies, D. and Lee, P.-H. (eds.) Towards Gender Equality in Law: An Analysis of State Failures from a Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 153-174. ISBN 9783030980740.

Abstract

Debates about hate speech legislation tend to be dominated by the conflict between freedom of expression on the one hand and freedom from the harms of hatred on the other; it is pervasively claimed that a balance must be struck between these competing interests. This chapter carefully examines this framing of the issue, drawing on parliamentary debates to foreground the classificatory assumptions and power imbalances that are at play in such purportedly neutral balancing exercises. These insights are used to contextualise the question of whether the stirring up hatred offences of England and Wales should be extended to encompass gender hatred. With a focus on the pursuit of intersectional equality, the chapter raises important dynamics that advocates of such offences should consider beyond the headline issue of free speech.

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