[user104658]

Originally Posted by Livia

How about, he has no respect for women and thinks they're worth less? Especially if that male is from another culture, because there are plenty of cultures where women are worthless.

I honestly don't see how "he hates women" is any less believable than "he hates gays".

Yes I think the former probably is what ALLOWS the person in their head to justufy the crime - but again, self-justification is different from motivation. e.g. many sexual predators justify their crimes by dehumanising women and seeing them as lesser, but the REASON for attacking is different. With religious minorities / homosexuals etc. hate crimes occur when people specifically set out to hurt someone, specifically because they think what that person is is "wrong".

As for cultures where women are devalued... to make a really crass comparison... is it not more like the men in those cultures consider women to be like possessions or livestock? A farmer doesn't "hate" his animals... he just believes that he owns them and they are "his". Again I'm not saying this is permissible or a good thing - and it's not that one is worse than the other - but I still think that, for example, a sexually-motivated crime committed by someone who devalues women is not psychologically the same thing as a purely hate-motivated crime.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Yes I think the former probably is what ALLOWS the person in their head to justufy the crime - but again, self-justification is different from motivation. e.g. many sexual predators justify their crimes by dehumanising women and seeing them as lesser, but the REASON for attacking is different. With religious minorities / homosexuals etc. hate crimes occur when people specifically set out to hurt someone, specifically because they think what that person is is "wrong".

As for cultures where women are devalued... to make a really crass comparison... is it not more like the men in those cultures consider women to be like possessions or livestock? A farmer doesn't "hate" his animals... he just believes that he owns them and they are "his". Again I'm not saying this is permissible or a good thing - and it's not that one is worse than the other - but I still think that, for example, a sexually-motivated crime committed by someone who devalues women is not psychologically the same thing as a purely hate-motivated crime.

Whatever their motivation or mindset, I would personally spend less time worrying about why he's done it and what his state of mind was, and instead calculate how many years his actions will get him locked up in the chokey.