Public Shame Research Articles

Shame-Sensitive Public Health.

In this article, we argue that shaming interventions and messages during Covid-19 have drawn the relationship between public health and shame into a heightened state of contention, offering us a valuable opportunity to reconsider shame as a desired outcome of public health work, and to push back against the logics of individual responsibility and blame for illness and disease on which it sits. We begin by defining shame and demonstrating how it is conceptually and practically distinct from stigma. We then set out evidence on the consequences of shame for social and relational health outcomes and assess the past and present dimensions of shame in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, primarily through a corpus of international news stories on the shaming of people perceived to have transgressed public health directions or advice. Following a brief note on shame (and policymaking) in a cultural context, we turn to the concept and practice of 'shame-sensitivity' in order to theorise a set of practical and adaptable principles that could be used to assist policymakers in short- and medium-term decision-making on urgent, tenacious, and emerging issues within public health. Finally, we consider the longer consequences of pandemic shame, making a wider case for the acknowledgement of the emotion as a key determinant of health.

Destigmatizing kinks: alien erotica in Netflix’s sex education

ABSTRACT The Netflix series Sex Education has sparked enthusiasm among critics, audiences, and scholars due to its celebration and visibility of sexual identities in all forms, one of the most exhilarating being the narratory and visual development of the character of Lily which constitutes a focal point of Season 3. Lily’s vibrant interest in writing sexual outer space stories is entangled with her sex life and highlights issues of public shame related to sexual fetishes. Netflix, by means of series such as Sex Education, has become a notable entity in the representation of LGBTQIA+ characters in visual storytelling, as well as the facilitation and sharing of discussions related to non-conventional gender identities and sexual practices within an ever more interconnected media landscape (Zurian, Garcia – Ramos and Rodriguez, 2021). By using as a starting point the fact that claims for visibility, representation and sexual citizenship access do not exist until they are produced through the needs of different identities, this analysis will focus on the premise that the representation of the character’s kinks entails the ability to broaden the understanding of Lily’s sexual identity and contributes to the destigmatization of her sexual practices due to the series popularity and transnational dissemination.

Accountability and information disclosure in a Catholic charity (1798–1801)

By examining a Spanish Catholic charity that operated in an unregulated environment in Cádiz between 1798 and 1801, this article analyses the motivations for discharging accountability to stakeholders and the factors that influence information disclosure. Drawing on stakeholder theory and not-for-profit accountability literature, we show how the organisation’s founders, managers and board members translated their feeling of responsibility and the accounting insight prevailing in their socio-economic context to this charity setting. Their efforts to discharge accountability and disclose information focused largely on upward stakeholders, but they also discharged accountability to aid recipients. Nevertheless, they restricted the information they revealed because of the Catholic doctrine about secret almsgiving and concerns about the protection of poor people’s privacy and fear of public shame. These restrictions may have been somewhat counterbalanced by the charity’s observable actions and by social interaction among board members, donors, and beneficiaries enabled through physical proximity and social ties.

Social Control in Globalization of Public Law: The Enforcement of Law

In the wake of World War II, a paradigmatic shift occurred in the study of social control. The once predominant notion of a consensual society was challenged by the emergence of fascism, Nazism, and the horrors of war. Consequently, scholars began to examine social control through a lens that acknowledged its coercive and repressive dimensions, driven not solely by social norms but by power dynamics and force. This article will review how globalization has been addressed by research of public law and will deepen the legal and sociological focus on law, focusing on the mechanisms of enforcement that accom­pany legal systems. Theoretical introduction will allow for a discussion of legal studies on a variety of dimensions and mechanisms of social control in the areas of policing. The rele­vance of legality was brought out most clearly by Max Weber in his definition of law. A normative order must always be accompanied by mechanisms and systems of control that secure obedience through norm enforcement. Such systems of control range from very informal responses and normative expectations, such as public disapproval or private shame, to highly formalized systems of enforcement of law by police institutions. Good comparisons with experimental and previous studies demonstrated that enforcement is a special and unavoidable problem of law.

Delay in Care Seeking for Menstrual Regulation

In Bangladesh menstrual regulation (MR) services are available at all major government and private hospitals, and even at government primary health care facilities. In spite of wide availability, women who do not use menstrual regulation services from proper facilities may resort to induce unsafe abortion by non-medical or untrained health workers in unhygienic condition. Worldwide, nearly 1 in 10 pregnancies end in unsafe abortion and World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 18 out of 20 unsafe abortions takes place in developing countries. Induced abortion leading to complication such as bleeding, infection injuries and even death, these deaths could be prevented if women had an access to safe abortion facilities. This cross sectional study was carried out among fifty two women from family planning unit of Institute of Child and Mother Health (ICMH), Dhaka from December 2009 to May 2010. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors for delay in care seeking of menstrual regulation (MR). The data were collected by using the pretested questionnaires and cases were selected from the women who came for seeking care of MR after 10 weeks of amenorrhoea. Duration of amenorrhoea was confirmed by taking history and in some cases by ultrasonography. After incorporation of the socio-demographic data; factors or reasons of delay in MR were found due to personal, social, service and family related events. The mean age of respondents was 22.14 years. About 75% of the respondents were housewives and 79% were illiterate. The mean age of marriage 19.5 years. Regarding husband’s educational level of the respondent, more than one-third (37%) was class I – V, others one-third (33%) was above the primary level rest of the husbands were higher secondary and above. More than two-third (70%) of the respondents delivered 1 to 3 live children and used oral contraceptive pills. Most of the (87%) of women gave right answer about MR and most of them (85%) had knowledge about adverse effect of MR. Nearly two-third (65%) came to know about MR form relatives/neighbors, where one-fourth (25%) from health workers and rest them from mass media/ others. Most of the (87%) respondents answered correctly about advantages of MR, however, 60% did not know about the proper time of performing MR after cessation of menstruation. Most of the respondents (85%) knew about the side effects of MR; among them more than one-third (37%) told excessive bleeding was adverse effects of MR, however 33%, 8%, 6% and rest 4% told pain, sterility, perforation and infection respectively were the adverse effects of MR. Three-fifth (60%) of the patients didn't know about the right time of pursue care for MR and 63% of them were unaware about legal aspects of MR that they have right to seek MR. More than half of the respondents (56%) stated the reasons for the delay due to their personal problem where, 19%, 15% and 10% of them were specified the reasons as social factor, service related reason and family conflict respectively. Among the respondents of personal reason for delaying MR, more than half of them (52%) took oral tablets for abortion at home, 41% failed to understand their amenorrhoea and only 7% were unaware about service facility for MR. Regarding familial reasons for delay of MR, 60% pointed out the security problem and remaining 40% told about resistance by husband/others or absence of husband in the houses. The main (70%) social reasons of delaying MR was due to spiritual bindings and 30% was due to public disgrace. Service facility related reasons for delaying MR were treatment cost (62%), distance of facility (25%) and substandard services (13%). The study findings suggested that women had good knowledge about MR even they made delay due to unawareness of their legal rights, personal issues, social and service related causes. Strengthening of reproductive health services through community clinic at community level with available awareness building program on MR may minimize the delay for care seeking of MR among women. Bangladesh Med J. 2022 May; 51(2): 37-44

Experiences of persons with lower limb amputation after prosthetic rehabilitation in Ghana: A qualitative inquiry.

Lower limb amputations (LLAs) have long been associated with physical, social, and psychological consequences. Individuals with LLAs have challenges with mobility and often become isolated from their social networks. Disability rehabilitation technologies such as prosthetic devices are used to improve the mobility capabilities of lower limb amputees. To improve clinical outcomes, feedback from the prosthetic users is a key element to consider. The study sort to explore the experiences of lower-limb prosthetic users after prosthetic rehabilitation in a prosthetic and orthotic rehabilitation center in the Eastern Region of Ghana. This study adopted an exploratory descriptive qualitative study design. A purposive sampling technique and semistructured interview guide was used to interview 17 participants by the first author. The social model of disability underpinned the study. Lower-limb prosthetic users (≥18 years) with unilateral LLA attending outpatient follow-up at a prosthetic and orthotic rehabilitation center were recruited. The interviews were audio recoded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the procedure for thematic content analysis by Braun and Clarke (2013). Participants reported injuries and tingling in their residual limb. Internal stigma resulting from negative comments and labeling from the public were reported. Prosthetic users experienced empathy and being treated as weaklings by their family/peers. Participants avoided relationships because of recurrent rejection, embarrassment, fear of sexual abuse, and exploitation. As a coping method, some participants chose to isolate themselves to avoid humiliation and public disgrace. Other coping mechanisms included watching television, listening to music, conversing with others, ignoring criticism, and having faith in God. Participants' narrative in this study gave insight into the varied lived experiences on the individual level, family/peer level, and the coping mechanisms used. Challenges relating to discomfort from the prosthesis, internal stigma, relationship avoidance, and altered sexual life should be given much attention and used in implementing initiatives to improve clinical outcomes.

Landscape of Tragedy: Young Death, Rumour, and Speculation in Early 20th-Century Quebec

The beautiful Aileen Hingston and her dashing beau Shirley Davidson set off on a gentle Sunday morning sail in August 1907. Despite being excellent sailors and swimmers, the couple failed to return to the Hingston summer home at Varennes, a small town just south-east of Montreal, where they were expected for lunch. The sudden, mysterious disappearance of these two young Montreal celebrities captivated the public imagination. While people speculated and gossiped about whether this was a suicide pact, a tragic accident, or a staged escape, the family and friends of Aileen and Shirley were caught in the horror of searching the riverbanks and depths of the St. Lawrence for any sign of their loved ones. For five days, the search for the two young people was relentless and when the end arrived, it was the most tragic denouement. This is a story that is dramatic and harrowing, played out across an urban and rural landscape that was rife with palpable tensions emerging where language, religion, gender, and class clashed. The sensationalism of this tragedy, driven by the youthfulness and celebrity status of the central actors, magnified the way narratives competed: one narrative driven by spectacle and speculation, the other driven by devotion and a desire for respectability. When we unpack this story, paying attention not only to the events themselves but also to the conversations that were happening in the public and private spaces of Montreal, we glean invaluable understandings of the ways these tensions were experienced and, in some instances, mitigated. We see, for example, that capital, both social and material, could provide a buffer from certain types of public disgrace, while private moral judgements were harder to combat and often lingered in the whispered realm of gossip, only emerging in written form once time and space had created enough distance from the trauma.

Too Close for Comfort: Stigma by Association in Family Members Who Live with Relatives with Mental Illness

Stigma by association is described in qualitative research of family members who have relatives diagnosed with mental illness, depicting their sense of public shame for having these relationship ties. However, there have been relatively few empirical studies thus far, in part due to the isolation of family members affecting research recruitment. In order to address this gap, an online survey was administered to 124 family members, comparing those who live in the same home with their ill relative (n = 81) and those who do not (n = 43). A remarkable incidence of one in three family members reported experiencing stigma by association. Those living with an ill relative reported comparatively higher levels of stigma by association using an adapted questionnaire measure. Both groups experienced loneliness (moderate levels), but importantly, the cohabiting relatives perceived themselves as lacking support from friends and other family members. Correlational analyses revealed that those with heightened stigma by association reported heightened anti-mattering: that is, feeling that other people treat them as if they are insignificant and invisible. Anti-mattering was also associated with more loneliness and reduced social support. Our discussion focuses on the theme that family members who actually live with mentally ill relatives experience heightened social isolation that is under-recognized due to public stigma concerns, compounded by feeling their own lives do not matter to others. Public health implications are considered for the stigmatized family members who appear to be particularly marginalized.

Negative experiences with public bathrooms and chronic illness‐related shame

The use of public bathrooms is a challenge for everyone, but especially for those who are affected by a bathroom-dependent condition. Being dependent on bathrooms is linked with different negative emotions. One of them is a clinically relevant emotion: shame associated with the chronic condition. In a cross-sectional survey study (n = 193) of people who suffer a bathroom-dependent condition we asked about health conditions, well-being, and shame related to chronic condition outcomes. We show a link between negative public bathroom experiences, and diminished well-being and feelings of shame related to chronic illness. We found that this relationship between negative experiences with public bathrooms and shame is not specific to the different conditions. We conclude that the negative experiences which people with different gastrointestinal illnesses face is an environmental stressor associated with more embarrassment as a result of the condition suffered.

The effect of shame on prosocial behavior tendency toward a stranger

BackgroundThis study aimed to examine the effect of different types of shame on prosocial behavior tendency to different help-seekers.MethodsA total of 120 participants were randomly assigned to a neutral mood condition, a public shame or a private shame condition.ResultsAll participants rated their willingness to help a benefactor and a stranger in an everyday helping situation and a money-donating situation after emotion-induction. The study found a higher willingness of participants in the public shame group to help strangers than those in neutral mood and private shame groups.ConclusionThese findings support a facilitation effect of public shame on prosocial behavior tendency toward strangers, indicating an effect of restoring motive of shame on social interaction. The results are further discussed in light of the functionalism of shame.

Effect of perceived public stigma on internalized homophobia, anticipated stigma, shame, and guilt: Outness as a moderator

Although previous studies found that distal minority stress contributes to proximal minority stress and shame/guilt among the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population, it is unclear whether the extent to which LGB individuals' open display and discussion their sexual orientation moderates these relationships. A total of 1,452 Chinese LGB adults provided demographic information and completed measures of outness, perceived public stigma, internalized homophobia, anticipated stigma, shame, and guilt. Structural equation modelling was conducted to test the hypothesized moderation analyses. Perceived public stigma had positive associations with internalized homophobia, anticipated stigma, shame, and guilt. Outness played a moderating role in the associations of perceived public stigma with internalized homophobia, anticipated stigma, shame, and guilt. Specifically, when LGB individuals had higher levels of outness, the effects of perceived public stigma on internalized homophobia, anticipated stigma, shame, and guilt were lower. Moreover, such moderating effect did not differ by sexual orientation. The degree to which sexual minority individuals' sexual orientation is known by and openly discussed with others may lower the extent to which LGB individuals internalize sexual stigma, expect rejection after coming out, and develop shame and guilt as a result of perceived social prejudice and discrimination.

Vaccination and altruism under the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesThe goal of this study is to examine the role of altruism and sensitivity to public shame in individuals’ willingness to pay for a COVID-19 vaccine. Study designWe apply expected utility theory to predict the role of individuals’ altruism and public shame in the willingness to pay for vaccines. Subsequently, we test the prediction by using a unique cross-sectional survey. MethodsWe use online survey data collected from those aged 30–49 in Japan between June 18th and 25th, 2020 (n = 1686). The selection of respondents follows quota sampling with regard to age group, gender, and prefecture of residence. We employ an ordinary least square (OLS) model to regress respondents’ willingness to pay for a hypothetically-effective vaccine for COVID-19 on binary indicators of altruism and sensitivity to public shame, as well as socio-demographic characteristics. ResultsThe willingness to pay for the vaccine is higher among those with stronger altruistic concerns and sensitivity to shaming. ConclusionVoluntary vaccinations may be inefficient, because the uptake of vaccines could be low for selfish individuals who often violate social distancing requirements. To improve the efficiency of vaccine uptake, some interventions, such as nudges and a vaccine passport, may be needed.

To Speak or Not to Speak in Public: A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial Regarding the Effects of a Public Speaking Program

Public speaking has become an increasingly sought-after skill, which is why more and more people choose to get professionally trained. But is it possible for a public speaking program to have other effects, in addition to improved performance? The aim of this study is to discover the effects of a public speaking program on reducing social anxiety, public speaking anxiety and shame, and also on increasing self-efficacy. The sample (high-school and university students) consisted of 164 participants aged between 15 and 47 years, M = 19.93, SD = 4.70. There were 82 participants in the experimental group and 82 participants in the control group, and the instruments used were: Liebowitz's Scale for Social Anxiety (Liebowitz, 1987), Personal Report on Public Speaking Anxiety (McCroskey, 1970), General scale of self-efficacy (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), Cognitive Schema Questionnaire (Young, 2005). A test-retest design was approached, the participants completing the questionnaires one week apart from the others. The results indicate that a public speaking program is useful for reducing social anxiety and public speaking anxiety, with significant differences between the experimental and control groups. However, in terms of self-efficacy and shame, the results were not conclusive. Thus, even if there has been a decrease in shame and an increase in self-efficacy, it is not clear whether these changes can be attributed to the proposed program. This study can serve as the beginning of a program that can contribute to reducing the level of social anxiety and public speaking anxiety..

How the Public Shaming of Peers Enhances Corporate Social Performance: Evidence from Blacklisted Firms in Japan

This study aims to show how vicarious public shaming, that is the public disgrace of several peers in the same industry, affects focal firms’ corporate social performance (CSP). Drawing on the legitimacy and category theories, we suggest that since an increased vicarious public disgrace harms the legitimacy of the entire industry, peer companies attempt to negate these potential legitimacy losses by improving their CSP. This tendency is more pronounced in firms that have a poor record of CSP. Using a context of the Japanese blacklisted companies by the government for labor law delinquency between 2016 and 2019, our results confirm that vicarious public disgrace is a significant antecedent to improving CSP. Our findings also imply that the appropriate use of public disgrace can enhance overall the CSP levels.

The Exclusionary Power of Microfinance

In recent years, international banks, investment agencies, and development institutions have created new markets for capital accumulation by rapidly expanding the commercial microfinance industry in the global South. In Cambodia, which has one of the largest microfinance industries in the world, the typical loan amount now exceeds the average annual household income and requires land-based collateral. Cambodian borrowers are increasingly over-indebted, compelling families to reduce their food consumption, take out new loans to service prior debts, migrate, and/or sell their land in distress. In this paper, we investigate this last effect of over-indebtedness, distress land sales. We argue that the exclusionary power of microfinance debt—constituted by collateralized legal contracts, discourses of moral responsibility, and public shame—is driving land dispossession among the country’s most vulnerable people. To make our argument, we draw on ethnographic fieldwork, supplemented by quantitative data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey, MIX Market, and two industry-sponsored large-scale quantitative surveys of over-indebtedness. We trace the rise of the commercial microfinance industry, show how it has contributed to over-indebtedness, and consider how household debts can lead to distress land sales. These land sales have largely gone unacknowledged in the industry because they take place through informal channels rather than the court system. We conclude that microfinance-debt-induced land dispossession in Cambodia is a product of an overly commercialized international microfinance industry that now values profits over people.

Screenshot, save, share, shame: Making sense of new media through screenshots and public shame

This article engages in a qualitative thematic analysis of media discourse about two prominent cases involving screenshots and public shame: the story of Amanda Todd, a Canadian teenager who took her own life after years of cyberbullying facilitated by screenshots; and the story of Anthony Weiner, the New York U.S. Congressman whose political career crumbled after screenshots revealed extramarital flirtations. It shows how screenshots violated the assumed boundaries of media environments, and in doing so prompted moments of public sense-making around new media. By focusing on cases where public shaming collides with the introduction of new media technologies, this article also offers an opportunity to understand how public spectacles of emotion, specifically of shame, shape new media technologies’ meanings and uses.

“I’m always hiding and ducking and diving”: the stigma of growing older on methadone

Background There is emerging consensus that older opiate treatment patients have specific health and social care needs and also evidence of a particular stigma associated with opiate maintenance treatment. Yet, very little is known about the stigma experienced by individuals who have been interacting with methadone treatment services over a prolonged period. Aim and Method Conducted in Ireland and drawing on data from a qualitative study of 25 long-term clients of methadone treatment, this paper examines the stigma narratives of patients who are growing older as MMT patients. More than two-thirds were over the age of 40 and 16 had first accessed methadone treatment more than 20 years prior to taking part in the research. Findings The findings reveal the omnipresence of stigma in participants’ lives, which was experienced at institutional and public levels, leading many to attempt to conceal clinic attendance. Treatment-related stigma intersected strongly with the process of growing older on methadone; an ageing effect that was particularly apparent in participants’ accounts of public and private shame. The disabling effects of multiple intersecting stigmas were perhaps most apparent in participants’ narratives of internalized stigma, which uncovered private worlds characterized by isolation and seclusion. Conclusions The findings presented reflect the marginal position of addiction treatment within the wider healthcare system in Ireland and a failure to normalize methadone treatment.

THE TECHNOLOGY OF PUBLIC SHAMING

AbstractThis essay argues that online public shaming can be productively understood as a problem of technology. In particular, the technology of public shaming is ambiguous between two senses. On the one hand, public shaming depends on various technologies, such as social media posts or, more historically, pillories. These are the artifacts of shame. On the other hand, public shaming itself is a social technology. In particular, public shaming is a way for communities to promote cooperation. Ultimately, I claim there is a mismatch between the artifacts of shame and this important social technology of shame. Social media drifts toward disintegrative shame, which tends to corrode cooperation. This suggests that we must either realign the technology of public shame or reject shame as a legitimate option.

Mark Twain in Context

Mark Twain in Context

Making Public Shame Bearable and Entertaining: Ritualised Shaming in Reality Television

In modern liberal society, a person is considered a ‘sacred’ entity and any violation of their dignity should produce embarrassment not only on the side of the ashamed individual but in those co-present as well. In our research, we studied public shaming in reality television (RTV), a recent popular culture product, in order to understand the mechanism that transforms otherwise degrading shaming into popular entertainment. The analysis drew on the classical concept of the ‘degradation ceremony’ (H. Garfinkel) and it covered three RTV programmes originating in different cultural contexts. We discovered that it is strong situational ritualisation of shaming which substantially attenuates the harmful consequences of being shamed for participants’ selves and thus protects viewers from uncomfortable feelings. In RTV, the shaming takes the form of a purposively unaccomplished degradation ceremony, which consists of the creation of an extraordinary situation, typification of participants, emphasis on the shared values in whose name the shaming is done, and participants’ reflexive performance in the show. The results suggest that in RTV, the social practice of the status degradation ceremony is transformed into a cultural practice of systematic shaming without real identity degradation, which makes it possible for shaming to become global mediatised entertainment.