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Pillar of Shame, a sculpture created by Danish artist Jens Galschiot to pay tribute to victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, at the University of Hong Kong campus in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Nora Tam
Opinion
Language Matters
by Lisa Lim
Language Matters
by Lisa Lim

Body shaming, pandemic shaming, slut shaming – when did these terms arise and where does the word ‘shame’ come from?

  • The act of public shaming has existed throughout history in all cultures, but has become more rife via social media, spawning a plethora of new terms
  • ‘Shame’ is currently in local news regarding a University of Hong Kong sculpture memorialising China’s brutal Tiananmen Square crackdown
Lisa Lim
Lisa Lim
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Shame. The word developed from Old English scamu, sceomu, deriving from Germanic, which not only meant a feeling of guilt or disgrace, or loss of esteem or reputation, but also denoted modesty, as well as genitals. Its origin is postulated to lie in Proto-Indo-European *skem-, from *kem- “to cover” – covering oneself is acknowledged as a natural expression of shame.

The act of public shaming has existed throughout history in all cultures, often enacted via formal laws. In English, shaming as a noun is attested from the 1300s.

In the information age, however, such a public practice of mocking, humiliating or stigmatising a person for some quality or behaviour has been made more rife via social media – online shaming – and has spawned a plethora of terms, such as body-shaming, already attested from 1989, fat-shaming and slut-shaming, the latter terms emerging in the first decade of the 21st century. (Of course, the practice of fat- or body-shaming has long existed and can be traced back, for example, to mid-19th century England and the Spartans.)

Flight shaming, from Swedish flygskam, comprises a social movement that started with several Swedish celebrities in 2017 and aims to reduce the environmental impact of aviation by discouraging people from flying. Its counterpart 2019 trend was train bragging, from Swedish tågskyrt – with climate-conscious travellers posting pictures on the 100,000-strong Tågsemester “train holiday” Facebook group or using the hashtag #tågskryt or #trainbrag.

Hong Kong’s Tiananmen remembrance: where the word ‘vigil’ comes from

The past two years have also witnessed the social media public shaming frenzy of anyone regarded as having improper or irresponsible Covid-19 practices, with a term coined for it – pandemic shaming.

The fine arts also articulate a language of shame, clearly evident in Danish artist Jens Galschiøt’s Pillar of Shame sculptures. His series of eight-metre-tall (26 foot) obelisks, each a memorial of a severe infringement against humanity – including the 1997 massacre of unarmed indigenous peoples by a paramilitary group (in Mexico), the 1996 Eldorado dos Carajás killing of landless farmers by military police (Brazil), and the Chinese authorities’ brutal crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 (the University of Hong Kong, where the sculpture has stood since 1997, has ordered its removal) – ultimately serve to communicate a reminder of a shameful event that should never recur.

Expunging such a symbol – that is truly an absence of shame.

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