Offensive street speech--racist and sexist remarks that can make its
targets feel both psychologically and physically threatened--is
surprisingly common in our society. Many argue that this speech is so
detestable that it should be banned under law. But is this an area
covered by the First Amendment right to free speech? Or should it be
banned?
In this elegantly written book, Laura Beth Nielsen pursues the answers
by probing the legal consciousness of ordinary citizens. Using a
combination of field observations and in-depth, semistructured
interviews, she surveys one hundred men and women, some of whom are
routine targets of offensive speech, about how such speech affects their
lives. Drawing on these interviews as well as an interdisciplinary body
of scholarship, Nielsen argues that racist and sexist speech creates,
reproduces, and reinforces existing systems of hierarchy in public
places. The law works to normalize and justify offensive public
interactions, she concludes, offering, in essence, a "license to
harass."
Nielsen relates the results of her interviews to statistical surveys
that measure the impact of offensive speech on the public. Rather than
arguing whether law is the appropriate remedy for offensive speech, she
allows that the benefits to democracy, to community, and to society of
allowing such speech may very well outweigh the burdens imposed.
Nonetheless, these burdens, and the stories of the people who bear them,
should not remain invisible and outside the debate.
