Cathy Young

About the author: Cathy Young is the vice president of the Women's Freedom Network and the author of Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality.

Adding gender to the existing hate crime statute that includes race, religion, and ethnicity is not necessary. "Hate crimes" against women as vicious as the murders of African American James Byrd and gay college student Matthew Shepard are rare. Even among crimes motivated by hatred toward homosexuals, 80 percent of the victims are men. Enacting laws that prohibit gender-motivated violence against women is unjust because it ignores bias-motivated violence perpetrated by men against men. Moreover, the criteria for a crime to be a considered a gender-biased offense is loose enough to be applied to any case of rape or assault and...