Drawing on in-depth interviews with women reflecting a range of experiences of verbal hostility, physical violence and sexual violence, Spectacle of Violence explores the issues surrounding violence and hostility towards lesbians and gay men.

Challenging current thinking, Gail Mason highlights the ways in which different identities, bodes and systems of through interact, and asks fundamental questions:

* Where does violence come from?
* What effects does it have?
* How do lesbians and gay men manage the risk of violence?
* What is the relationship between violence and power?

She argues for the importance of thinking about homophobic violence in the context of other core issues such as gender and race.

Focusing on 'real life' experiences of violence, The Spectacle of Violence is an important contribution to current thought about violence. Moving beyond issues of causation and prevention, it offers new ways of theorizing the relationship between identity, knowledge and power.