Human branding or stigmatizing is the process by which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting
scar
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a n ...
makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or
very cold branding iron
A branding iron is used for branding, pressing a heated metal shape against an object or livestock with the intention of leaving an identifying mark.
History
The history of branding is very much tied to the history of using animals as a commodit ...
. It therefore uses the physical techniques of
livestock branding on a human, either with consent as a form of
body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many so ...
; or under coercion, as a
punishment or to identify an
enslaved, oppressed, or otherwise controlled person. It may also be practiced as a "
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
", e.g. within a tribe, or to signify membership of or acceptance into an organization.
Etymology
The English verb to ''burn'', attested since the 12th century, is a combination of
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
''brenna'' "to burn, light", and two originally distinct
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
verbs: ''bærnan'' "to kindle" (transitive) and ''beornan'' "to be on fire" (intransitive), both from the
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
root ''bren(wanan)'', perhaps from a
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
root ''bhre-n-u'', from base root ''bhereu-'' "to boil forth, well up." In
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
, ''(ver)branden'' mean "to burn", ''brandmerk'' a branded mark; similarly, in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, ''Brandzeichen'' means "a brand" and ''brandmarken'', "to brand".
Sometimes, the word ''cauterize'' is used. This is known in English since 1541, and is derived via Medieval French ''cauteriser'' from
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
''cauterizare'' "to burn or brand with a hot iron", itself from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
καυτηριάζειν, ''kauteriazein'', from καυτήρ ''kauter'' "burning or branding iron", from καίειν ''kaiein'' "to burn". However ''
cauterization
Cauterization (or cauterisation, or cautery) is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, o ...
'' is now generally understood to mean a medical process – specifically to stop bleeding.
Historical use
Marking the rightless
The origin may be the ancient treatment of a
slave (often without legal rights) as
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...
.
*
European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
,
American, and other colonial slavers branded millions of slaves during the period of the
Atlantic slave trade. Sometimes there were several brandings, e.g. for the Portuguese crown and the (consecutive) private owner(s), an extra cross after baptism as well as by
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n slave catchers.
*
Ancient Romans
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 ...
marked runaway slaves with the letters FVG or FUG (for ''fugitivus'').
* In modern
Sudan there are reports of branding of slaves.
* An intermediate case between formal slavery and criminal law is when a convict is branded and legally reduced, with or without time limit, to a slave-like status, such as on the
galleys (in France branded GAL or TF ''travaux forcés'' 'forced labour' until 1832), in a
penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
, or auctioned to a private owner.
As punishment
In
criminal law, branding with a
hot iron was a mode of punishment consisting of marking the subject as if goods or animals, sometimes concurrently with their reduction of status in life.
Brand marks have also been used as a punishment for convicted criminals, combining
physical punishment, as burns are very painful, with
public humiliation
Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
(greatest if marked on a normally visible part of the body) which is here the more important intention, and with the imposition of an indelible
criminal record
A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...
.
Robbers, like runaway slaves, were marked by the Romans with the letter F (''fur''); and the toilers in the mines, and convicts condemned to figure in gladiatorial shows, were branded on the forehead for identification. Under
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
the face was not permitted to be so disfigured, the branding being on the hand, arm or calf.
The
Acts of Sharbel The Acts of Sharbel or the Hypomnemata of Sharbel is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text pertaining to a pagan high priest who was martyred for converting to Christianity. The setting takes place at Edessa during the fifteenth year of Roman Emperor ...
record it applied, amongst other tortures, to a Christian between the eyes and on the cheeks in
Parthia
Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...
n
Edessa at the time of the Roman Emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
on a judge's order for refusal to sacrifice.
In the 16th century, German
Anabaptists
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
church.
In the North American colonial settlements of the 17th and early 18th centuries, branding was a common punishment for those found guilty of crimes. The type of brand differed from crime to crime. Men and women sentenced for
adultery
Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
were branded with an A letter on their chest, D for
drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ...
and B for
blasphemy or
burglary, T on the hand for
thief
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
, SL on the cheek for
seditious libel
Sedition and seditious libel were criminal offences under English common law, and are still criminal offences in Canada. Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection ...
, R on the shoulder for
rogue or vagabond, and F on the cheek for
forgery. Those convicted of burglary on the
Lord's Day
The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed ...
were branded upon their forehead.
During the early stages of the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, some
Loyalists
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...
were branded on the face with the letters G.R (for ''George Rex'', i.e.
King George) by
Patriots as punishment for perceived servility to the Crown.
The mark in later times was also often chosen as a code for the crime (e.g. D for
desertion and BC for bad character in Canada. Most branded men were shipped off to a
penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
). Branding was also used by the
Confederate Army during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
.
Until 1832 in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, various offenses carried the additional infamy of being branded with a
fleur de lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol.
The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
and
galley slave
A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar (''French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing.
In the ancient Mediterranean ...
s could be branded GAL or, once the galleys were replaced by the ''bagnes'' on land, TF (''travaux forcés'', 'forced' labor, i.e.
hard labour) or TFP (''travaux forcés à perpetuité'', hard labour for life). In most of the German-speaking states, however, branding people was unlawful.
Following the
Conspiracy of the Slaves of 1749 in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, some slaves were branded with the letter R (for ''ribelli'') on their forehead and condemned to the
galleys
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be use ...
for life.
Branding tended to be abolished like other judicial mutilations (with notable exceptions, such as amputation under
sharia law), sooner and more widely than
flogging
Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...
,
caning, and similar corporal punishments, which normally aim 'only' at pain and at worst cause stripe scars, although the most severe lashings (not uncommon in penal colonies) in terms of dosage and instrument (such as the proverbial
knout
A knout is a heavy scourge-like multiple whip, usually made of a series of rawhide thongs attached to a long handle, sometimes with metal wire or hooks incorporated. The English word stems from a spelling-pronunciation of a French translitera ...
) can even turn out to cause death.
Branding in America
As criminal punishment
In Pennsylvania, the
horse theft
Horse theft is the crime of stealing horses. A person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief. Historically, punishments were often severe for horse theft, with several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presu ...
law "An Act to Increase the Punishments of Horse Stealing" was passed in 1780 and repealed in 1860, which stated people guilty of such a crime should be branded. The law ran as follows; ''"the first offense
he convictedshall stand in the pillory for one hour, and shall be publicly whipped on his, her or their
arebacks with thirty-nine lashes, well laid on, and at the same time shall have his, her or their ears cut off and nailed to the pillory, and for the second offense shall be whipped and pilloried in like manner and be branded on the forehead in a plain and visible manner with the letters H. T."''
This punishment was referenced in
Cormac McCarthy's Novel
Blood Meridian
''Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West'' is a 1985 in literature, 1985 Epic (genre), epic novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, classified under the Western (genre), Western, or sometimes the Revisionist Western, anti-Western, g ...
as the Character Toadvine is branded with the letters H. T. on his forehead. H stands for Horse, T for Thief and F for Felon; ''"On his forehead were burned the letters H T and lower and almost between the eyes the letter F and these markings were splayed and garish as if the iron had been left too long. When he turned to look at the kid, the kid could see that he had no ears."''
For slavery
![Wilson Chinn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Wilson_Chinn.jpg)
![Slave branding iron (replica), Museum of Liverpool](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Slave_branding_iron_%28replica%29%2C_Museum_of_Liverpool.jpg)
In Louisiana, there was a "black code", or ''
Code Noir
The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by the French King Louis XIV in 1685 defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. The decree restricted the activities of free people of color, mandated the conversion of all e ...
'', which allowed the cropping of ears, shoulder branding, and
hamstringing
Hamstringing is a method of crippling a person or animal so that they cannot walk properly by severing the hamstring tendons in the thigh of the individual. It is used as a method of torture, or to incapacitate the victim.
Use
Hamstringing is us ...
, the cutting of tendons near the knee, as punishments for recaptured slaves. Slave owners used extreme punishments to stop flight, or escape. They would often brand the slaves' palms, shoulders, buttocks, or cheeks with a branding iron.
Branding was sometimes used to mark recaptured runaway slaves to help the locals easily identify the runaway. Micajah Ricks, a slave owner in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...
, was looking for his slave and described, "I burnt her with a hot iron, on the left side of her face, I tried to make the letter M."
Most slave owners would use whipping as their main method, but at other times they would use branding to punish their slaves. Another testimony explains how a slave owner in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
around 1848 was looking for his runaway slave. He described her having "a brand mark on the breast something like L blotched." In South Carolina, there were many laws which permitted the punishments slaves would receive. When a slave ran away, if it was the first offense, the slave would receive no more than forty lashes. Then the second offense would be branding. The slave would have been marked with the letter R on their forehead signifying that they were a criminal, and a runaway.
As religious initiation
Ceremonial Branding is an integral part of religious initiation in most
Vaishnava
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
sects. References to this practice can be traced in texts such as Narad Panchratra, Vaikhnasagama,
Skanda Purana
The ''Skanda Purana'' (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest '' Mukyapurana'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Kaumara literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvati, w ...
, etc. This practice is still in vogue among Madhava sect Brahmins of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, who brand small marks on both shoulders (for men) or forearms (for women).
Branding in Britain
The punishment was adopted by the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
, and the ancient law of England authorized the penalty. By the
Statute of Vagabonds (1547) under
King Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
,
vagabond
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...
s and
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
were ordered to be branded with a large V on the breast, and "brawlers" with F for "fraymaker";
slaves who ran away were branded with S on the cheek or forehead. This law was repealed in England in 1550. From the time of
Henry VII, branding was inflicted for all offences which received
benefit of clergy
In English law, the benefit of clergy (Law Latin: ''privilegium clericale'') was originally a provision by which clergymen accused of a crime could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ec ...
(branding of the thumbs was used around 1600 at
Old Bailey to ensure that the accused who had successfully used the Benefit of Clergy defence, by reading a passage from the Bible, could not use it more than once), but it was abolished for such in 1822. In 1698 it was enacted that those convicted of petty theft or
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
, who were entitled to benefit of clergy, should be "burnt in the most visible part of the left cheek, nearest the nose." This special ordinance was repealed in 1707.
James Nayler
James Nayler (or Naylor; 1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. He was among the members of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and missionaries. In 1656, Nayler achieved national notoriety when he re-enacted Christ's Palm ...
, a
Quaker who in the year 1655 was accused of claiming to be the
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
, was convicted of
blasphemy in a highly publicized trial before the Second Protectorate Parliament and had his tongue bored through and his forehead branded B for "blasphemer".
In the Lancaster Criminal Court, a branding iron is still preserved in the dock. It is a long bolt with a wooden handle at one end and an M (malefactor) at the other; close by are two iron loops for firmly securing the hands during the operation. The brander would, after examination, turn to the judge exclaiming "A fair mark, my lord." Criminals were formerly ordered to hold up their hands before sentence to show if they had been previously convicted.
In the 18th century, cold branding or branding with cold irons became the mode of nominally inflicting the punishment on prisoners of higher rank. "When Charles Moritz, a young German, visited England in 1782 he was much surprised at this custom, and in his diary mentioned the case of a clergyman who had fought a
duel and killed his man in
Hyde Park. Found guilty of
manslaughter he was burnt in the hand, if that could be called burning which was done with a cold iron" (Markham's ''Ancient Punishments of
Northants
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is kn ...
'', 1886).
Such cases led to branding becoming obsolete, and it was abolished in 1829 except in the case of
deserters
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which a ...
from the army, who were marked with the letter D, not with hot irons but by
tattoo
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...
ing with ink or gunpowder. Notoriously bad soldiers were also branded with BC (bad character). The British
Mutiny Act
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...
of 1858 provided that the
court-martial might, in addition to any other penalty, order deserters to be marked on the left side, below the armpit, with the letter D, such letter to be not less than an inch long. In 1879 this was abolished.
Branding in Australia
Offenders in Australia were subject to branding in accordance with British law. In 1826, in Hobart, Joseph Clarke was charged with manslaughter and ‘sentenced to be burnt in the hand’. In 1850, in New South Wales, deserter Daniel O’Neil was tattooed with the letter ‘D’.
Branding in Russia
Branding in Russia was used quite extensively in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Over time, red hot iron brands were gradually replaced by tattoo boards; criminals were first branded on the forehead and cheeks, later on the back and arms. Branding was totally abolished in 1863.
Branding prostitutes
Forced and enslaved prostitutes have often been tattooed or
branded with a mark of their owners. Women and girls being forced into
prostitution would have their boss's name or
gang
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...
symbol inked or branded with hot iron on their skin. In some organizations involved with the
trafficking of women
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extra ...
and girls like the
mafias
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
nearly all prostitutes are marked. Some
pimps
Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...
and
organisations
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
use their name or well-known symbol, others are using secret signs.
The branding is both painful and
humiliating
Humiliation is the abasement of pride, which creates mortification or leads to a state of being humbled or reduced to lowliness or submission. It is an emotion felt by a person whose social status, either by force or willingly, has just decr ...
for the victim, especially when done with a
branding iron
A branding iron is used for branding, pressing a heated metal shape against an object or livestock with the intention of leaving an identifying mark.
History
The history of branding is very much tied to the history of using animals as a commodit ...
, and may be also a form of
punishment and of
psychological submission for the prostitutes.
Some years ago the brands were usually small, only recognized by other pimps, sometimes hidden between the
inner vaginal lips, though other instances show that pimps have no issue with larger, more noticeable brands.
Persisting practices
![Seven frat members showing off their brands](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Seven_frat_members_showing_off_their_brands.jpg)
* Generally voluntary, though often under severe social pressure, branding may be used as a painful form of initiation, serving both as endurance and motivation test (
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
) and a permanent membership mark, seen as
male bonding
In ethology and social science, male bonding or male friendship is the formation of close personal relationships, and patterns of friendship or cooperation between males.
In the context of human relationships, male bonding is used to describe ...
. Branding is also practiced as a form of
body art
Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of, the human body. Body art covers a wide spectrum including tattoos, body piercings, scarification, and body painting. Body art may include performance art, body art is likewise utilized for investi ...
, and sometimes in
BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
relationships. Branding is thus practiced:
** By some
street gangs
** In organized crime as "stripes" to signify a violent crime that the person committed. Typically on the upper arm or upper torso.
** In
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
s
** Sometimes as an extreme initiation in the increasingly less common tradition of painful
hazing (otherwise mostly
paddling
Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel. The paddle is not connected to the boat (unlike in r ...
).
** Some members of college
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
voluntarily elect to be branded with their fraternity/sorority letters. This is far less common in sororities than fraternities and is especially prevalent in some historically African-American fraternities, such as
Omega Psi Phi.
** As a
voluntary body decoration – a form of permanent body art rather like many
tattoo
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...
s.
** In some consensual BDSM relationships, with a dominant branding their name or symbol onto their submissive.
Protests
In symbolic solidarity with
Calf 269
Calf 269 is a bull who was rescued as a calf by anonymous activists, days before his planned slaughter. He was born at an Israeli facility in the vicinity of Azor, a town on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The slaughter was scheduled for June 2013. H ...
, protesters in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
subjected themselves to branding on World Farm Animals Day (
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
's birthday): October 2, 2012. This act was emulated by others in England and the Czech Republic. An English protester who was interviewed justified the extremism as a reaction to the extreme cruelty perpetrated by the dairy industry such as shooting calves at birth.
Methods
; Strike branding
: Similar to the process used to brand livestock,
a piece of metal is heated and pressed onto the skin for the brand. Historically it was used to claim ownership of slaves or to punish criminals, but as a form of body art, strike branding is less preferable to other types because it is not precise and tends to spread greatly on healing, and is not advisable for curved areas of the body. More successful is the multi-strike brand; it is done piece-by-piece rather than all at once. For example, to get a V-shaped brand, two lines would be burned separately by a straight piece of metal, rather than by a V-shaped piece of metal.
; Cautery branding
: This is a less common form of branding. It uses a thermal
cautery
Cauterization (or cauterisation, or cautery) is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, or ...
tool
with a heated wire tip to cause the burns.
; Laser branding
: "Laser" branding is a marketing term coined by
Steve Haworth, who pioneered its use in body modification. The technical term is "electrosurgical branding". Though it is technically possible to use a medical laser for scarification, this term refers not an actual laser, but rather an
electrosurgical unit which uses electricity to cut and cauterize the skin, similar to the way an
arc welder works. Electric sparks jump from the hand-held pen of the device to the skin, vaporizing it. This is a more precise form of scarification, because it is possible to greatly regulate the depth and nature of the damage being done to the skin. Whereas with traditional direct branding, heat is transferred to the tissues surrounding the brand, burning and damaging them, electrosurgery branding vaporizes the skin so precisely and so quickly that little to no heat or damage to the surrounding skin is caused. This means that pain and healing time after the scarification is greatly lessened.
; Cold branding
: This rare method of branding is the same thing as strike branding, except that the metal branding tool is subjected to extreme cold (such as
liquid nitrogen) rather than extreme heat. This method will cause the hair on the brand to grow back white and will not cause
keloiding. This process is also used in livestock and called
freeze branding
Freeze branding (sometimes called CryoBranding and the resulting brands, trichoglyphs) is a technique involving a cryogenic coolant instead of heat to produce permanent marks on a variety of animals.
The coolant is used to lower the temperature o ...
in that context.
See also
*
Criminal tattoo
Criminal tattoos are a type of tattoos associated with criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer's personal history—such as their skills, specialties, accomplishments, incarceration, world view and/or means of personal expressio ...
*
Number of the beast
*
Scarification
Scarification involves scratching, etching, burning/branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification or body art. The body modification can take roughly 6–12 months to heal. In the ...
for details on cosmetic branding
Sources
*
Brand & Cauterize on EtymologyOnLine* W. Andrews, ''Old Time Punishments'' (Hull, 1890)
References
External links
{{Collier's poster, Branding
Human Branding and Scarification ArticleBranding at the BME EncyclopediaScarification Blogat Scarwars.net
Body art
Corporal punishments
Torture
Mutilation
Scarification
fr:Marquage au fer