Hate speech inflicts measurable psychological and physiological harm on its targets.

Evidence

The impact of prejudice on targets of discrimination is, as illustrated by the chapters by Major & Vick and by Jones in this volume (chs. 9 and 10 respectively), often profound. Antilocutions represent a critical mechanism by which prejudice can injure targets. As compellingly illustrated in Matsuda, Lawrence, Delgado, and Crenshaw’s (1993) Words That Wound, selfreports of the victims of hate speech are universal in conveying the breadth and depth of these deleterious effects. It is not at all surprising that evidence has confirmed that being the target of hate speech results in harmful effects, ranging from negative emotional responses (Nielsen, 2002), to physiological reactivity (Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999), to lowered collective self-esteem (Boeckmann & Liew, 2002; see also Leets & Giles, 1997). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1273