Badge Of Shame

A badge of shame, also a symbol of shame, a mark of shame or a stigma, is typically a distinctive symbol required to be worn by a specific group or an individual for the purpose of public humiliation, ostracism or persecution.

The term is also used metaphorically, especially in a pejorative sense, to characterize something associated with a person or group as shameful.

In England, under the Poor Act 1697, paupers in receipt of parish relief were required to wear a badge of blue or red cloth on the shoulder of the right sleeve in an open and visible manner, in order to discourage people from collecting relief unless they were desperate, as while many would be willing to collect relief, few would be willing to do so if required to wear the "shameful" mark of the poor in public.

The yellow badge that Jews were required to wear in parts of Europe during the Middle Ages, and later in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe, was effectively a badge of shame, as well as identification. Other identifying marks may include making shamed people go barefoot.

The biblical " Mark of Cain" can be interpreted as synonymous with a badge of shame.

History

Depilation

Punitive depilation of men, especially burning off pubic hair, was intended as a mark of shame in ancient Mediterranean cultures where male body hair was valued. Women who committed adultery have also been forced to wear specific icons or marks, or had their hair shorn, as a badge of shame. Many women who fraternized with the occupiers in German-occupied Europe had their heads shaved by angry mobs of their peers after liberation by the Allies of World War II.

During World War II, the Nazis also used head shaving as a mark of shame to punish Germans like the youthful non-conformists known as the Edelweiss Pirates.

Clothing

In Ancient Rome, both men and women originally wore the toga, but over time matrons adopted the stola as the preferred form of dress, while prostitutes retained the toga. Later, under the Lex Julia, women convicted of prostitution were forced to wear a , as the prostitute's badge of shame.

Starting in the 8th century Jews and Christians living under the Abbasid Caliphate were frequently compelled to wear distinctive markings on their clothes to signify their status as a follower of a ''dhimmi'' faith which often varied between the eras of different rulers. Underneath Caliph Harun al-Rashid the use of yellow belts or fringes on the clothing were used to signify ''dhimmi'' status, while during the rule of Caliph al-Mutawakkil patches in the shape of donkeys were worn by Jews and patches in the shape of pigs were worn by Christians. These symbols of identification held the primary function of marking individuals as belonging to the ''dhimmi'' minorities, which required them to pay a special tax. Thus, they had the effect of marking individuals as socially inferior to Muslims and could act as a target for persecution during periods of unrest.

At the beginning of the 13th century, Pope Innocent III prohibited Christians from causing Jews bodily harm, but supported their segregation in society. On at least one occasion he likened this to the fate of Cain as it is described in the Book of Genesis, writing to the Count of Nevers:

After Innocent III later presided over the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215, the council adopted canon 68, requiring Jews (and Muslims) to dress distinctively to prevent interfaith relations.

This canon was largely ignored by the secular governments of Europe until 1269 when King Louis IX of France, later Saint Louis, was persuaded to decree that French Jews must wear round yellow badges on their breasts and backs.

After the Albigensian Crusade ended in 1229, the subsequent Papal inquisition of Pope Gregory IX imposed the ecclesiastical