Impacts of hate-motivated acts
Acts of hatred have diverse and often also long-lasting impacts on victims. The harm caused by acts of hatred is not only targeted at the individual but at the wider group of people to which the victim belongs or is assumed to belong. An individual act of hatred sends a message to the whole group that its members are not equal members of society.
Acts of hatred can affect issues such as
- a general sense of safety
- mental health
- participation in social debate
- confidence in the authorities
- working and studying
- family relationships.
Being victimised by a hate crime due to a personal characteristic or view increases the fear that the situation may recur. Many cover up their membership in a minority group or avoid places where harassment occurs. Many members of minority groups also avoid spending time outside the home with their loved ones or ask their loved ones to avoid certain places.
The following quotes were extracted from the follow-up report titled “Hoping for a Concrete Intervention”, which deals with hate speech and harassment.
Personal experiences
The following quotes were extracted from the follow-up report titled "Että puututtaisiin konkreettisesti" (Hoping for a Concrete Intervention), which deals with hate speech and harassment. Only available in Finnish
| “It affects your sense of security. You’re continuously on high alert, and even if you get numb to the constant contempt, it still hurts. It makes you think carefully about who you can trust and where you can go. Participating in public discussion is highly demanding as you have to prepare for a backlash. It’s easier to stay out of the public eye.” |
| "The feeling of shame it caused is strong and difficult to work through because you are regularly targeted. The effect is that you spend a lot of time thinking about and even fearing where you can move and spend time in peace in advance. I recognise that, at some level, it makes me not do some of the things I'd like to do.” |
| “I keep thinking that it is my fault that I look different and that I’m not good enough as I am. I’ve been threatened so I haven’t felt safe.” |
| “For example, I no longer walk hand in hand with my partner in certain places or near suspicious people out of fear that someone would start insulting us publicly again because we are lesbians. We have to keep an eye on our surroundings outdoors to avoid situations like that.” |
| “As someone with a visible disability, it’s part of my everyday life that people stare, laugh and point at me, call me names and humiliate me in other ways.” |
| “For example, the guards follow right behind me when I’m shopping, people ridicule you on social media, are ALWAYS calling the Roma names and often threaten that they’re going to shoot you in the neck and belittle you and this is not even classified as hate speech. Here are a few examples that I have encountered.” |
| “Racist name-calling related to my name and things like my language skills. I often hear that the ethnic group I belong to is dumber, less significant. I often hear comments that I can't understand something because I’m not Finnish.” |
| “The most offensive thing is hearing inappropriate things at a doctor's appointment when receiving first aid when they start asking me about being transgendered, which has nothing to do with my ailment, and I’ve had gender reassignment surgery years ago.” |
| “The feeling that I’m not accepted and I’m not treated the same because I wear a scarf. Some people also think that the scarf takes away my brain, so I can’t have rational thoughts because I'm Muslim.” |
| “My Sámi heritage has been invalidated. Among other things, I am a Sámi speaker, an indigenous Finn. I have once been in a situation where I was asked about the Sámi people several times in a short period of time. They often want me to speak Sámi even if the people I’m speaking to do not understand the language. The person asking me to do that is ridiculing me in that situation and is wondering ‘if Sámi people are real’. I have started to think that I don't want to make my background known, that I’d rather be silent about it.” |
Reference: Että puututtaisiin konkreettisesti
Hatred is tiresome
Individual acts of hatred are often mild verbal insults, but because they relate to the victim’s personal characteristics and therefore violate the victim’s identity, their effects are serious.
Victims of acts of hatred are not always fully aware of when they can report hate speech or harassment, as they are often accustomed to the hate speech they encounter. They may also personally start playing it down and even blame themselves for not being able to withstand the hate speech or harassment they encounter. They often feel unable to do anything about hate-motivated acts.
Consequences of multiple discrimination
In the case of multiple discrimination, the impacts can be particularly stressful for the individual. This means that the experiences of acts of hatred accumulate on several different grounds and in different areas of life. In experiences of discrimination, aspects such as origin and religion are often intertwined. Different grounds for discrimination may occur in different areas of life or be encountered in the same situation. A person may also encounter discrimination in their own peer group due to membership in another group.
People belonging to several minorities face discrimination that is more constant, likely and comprehensive.