Public humiliation orpublic shaming is a form ofpunishment whose main feature isdishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or aprisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned punishment in previous centuries, and is still practiced by different means (e.g. schools) in the modern era.
In the United States, it was a common punishment from the beginning ofEuropean colonization through the 19th century. It fell out of common use in the 20th century, though it has seen a revival starting in the 1990s.[1] With the rise of social media, public shaming moved to the digital sphere, exposing and humiliating people daily, sometimes without their knowledge.[2]
Pillories (right) were a common form of punishment.
Public humiliation exists in many forms. In general, a criminal sentenced to one of many forms of this punishment could expect themselves be placed (restrained) in a central, public, or open location so that their fellow citizens could easily witness the sentence and, in some cases, participate as a form of "mob justice".[3]
Just like painful forms of corporal punishment, it has parallels in educational and other rather private punishments (but with some audience), in school or domestic disciplinary context, and as arite of passage. Physical forms include being forced to wear some sign such as "donkey ears" (simulated in paper, as a sign one is—or at least behaved—proverbially stupid), wearing adunce cap, having to stand, kneel or bend over in a corner, or repeatedly write something on a blackboard ("I will not spread rumors", for example). Here different levels of physical discomfort can be added, such as having to hold heavy objects, or kneeling on an uneven surface. Like physical punishment and harsh hazing, these have become controversial in most modern societies, in many cases leading to legal restrictions and/or (sometimes voluntary) abolishment.[citation needed]
Paris, 1944: French women accused of collaboration with Nazis had their heads shaved and were paraded through the streets barefoot.
Head shaving can be a humiliating punishment prescribed in law,[4] but also something done as "mob justice"—a stark example of which was the thousands of European women who had their heads shaved in front of cheering crowds in the wake ofWorld War II,[5][6] as punishment for associating with occupyingNazis during the war. Public shaving was applied to (true or alleged) collaborators after theAllied liberated occupied territories from theNazi troops.[5][6]
Further means of public humiliation and degradation consist in forcing people to weartypifying clothes, which can bepenitential garb orprison uniforms.[7][8] Forcing arrestees or prisoners to wear restraints (such ashandcuffs orshackles) may also increase public humiliation. In countries such as Japan, France, and South Korea,[9] handcuffs on arrested persons are blurred in media broadcasts and hidden wherever possible to prevent feelings of "personal shame" in the accused and to make the public more likely to maintain a presumption of innocence before trial.[citation needed]
Forcing people to gobarefoot has been used as a more subtle form of humiliation in past and present cultures. The exposure of bare feet has served as an indicator forimprisonment andslavery throughout ancient and modern history.[10] Even today prisoners officially have to go barefoot in many countries of the world and are also presented in court and in public unshod.[11][12]
Apart from specific methods essentially aiming at humiliation, several methods combine pain and humiliation or even death and humiliation. In some cases, the pain—or at least discomfort—is insignificant or rather secondary to the humiliation.[13][14][15]
The simplest is to administer painfulcorporal punishment in public - the major aim may bedeterrence of potential offenders - so the public will witness the perpetrator's fear and agony. This can either take place in atown square or other public gathering location such as a school, or take the form of a procession through the streets. This was not uncommon in the sentences toStaupenschlag (flagellation by whipping orbirching, generally on the barebuttocks)[16] in various European states, till the 19th century.[17] A naval equivalent wasFlogging round the fleet on a raft taken from ship to ship for consecutive installments of a great total of lashes.[18][19] In some countries, the punishment offoot whipping is executed in public to this day.[20]
The humiliation can be extended; intentionally or not; by leaving visible marks, such asscars. This can even be the main intention of the punishment, as in the case ofscarifications, such ashuman branding.[21] Other examples of physical torture or modification used as public humiliation throughout history includeear cropping (starting in ancientAssyrian law and the BabylonianCode of Hammurabi and extending into the 1800s in parts of the US)[22] andtarring and feathering.[23]
Public shaming can result in negative psychological effects and devastating consequences, regardless of the punishment being justifiable or not. It could cause depression, suicidal thoughts and other severe mental problems. The humiliated individuals may develop a variety of symptoms includingapathy,paranoia,anxiety,PTSD, or others. The rage and fury may arise in the persecuted individual, themselves lashing out against innocent victims, as they seekrevenge or as a means of release.[citation needed]
Crucifixion was used by theRomans to add public humiliation to adeath penalty.Josephus describes how theRoman soldiers would crucify people naked, and using different tortuous positions as a way to further humiliate them. Crucified bodies were left to decay on the cross for weeks, and crows would come to feed on thecorpses; this can be seen aspost-mortem public humiliation. See alsogibbeting.[citation needed]
The punishment of public humiliation has taken many forms, ranging from an offender being forced to relate his crime, to a 'shameflute' (for untalented musicians), to the wearing of conspicuous clothing or jewelry (such as an oversizedrosary (Dutch:schandstenen, "stones of shame") for someone late to church). The offender could alternatively be sentenced to remain exposed in a specific exposed place, in a restraining device such as ayoke or publicstocks.[citation needed]
In theLow Countries, theschandstoel ("Chair of shame"), thekaak orschandpaal ("pole of shame", a simple type ofpillory), thedraaikooi were customary foradulteresses, and theschopstoel, ascaffolding from which one is kicked off to land inmud and dirt.[citation needed]
In the more extreme cases, being subjected toverbal andphysical abuse from the crowd could have serious consequences, especially when the hands were bound, preventing self-protection. Some sentences actually prescribed additional humiliation, such as shaving, or would combine it with painfulcorporal punishments, see below.[24]
Incolonial America, common forms of public humiliation were thestocks andpillory, imported from Europe. Nearly every sizable town had such instruments of public humiliation, usually at the town square. In pre-Tokugawa Japan,adulterers were publicly exposed purely to shame them.[citation needed]
In Liberia, boy soldiers stripped civilian women to humiliate them; this was described with the verb phrase "to naked someone else."[25]
InSiam, an adulteress was paraded with ahibiscus behind the ear. Thieves were tattooed on their faces. Other criminals were paraded with a device made of woven cane on the forehead, or lengths of bamboo hung around the neck. Errant Brahmans had to wear a string of oversize beads.[citation needed]
^Frevert, Ute (2020).The politics of humiliation: a modern history (First ed.). Oxford New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 48, 103.ISBN9780198820314.
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