oh, the inhumanity
A macabre encyclopedia of humanity’s most creative cruelties
Tonte Publique
In the aftermath of liberation, France found a punishment that required no courts and spilled no blood: the public shearing of women accused of collaboration. Tonte publique stripped identity rather than life, proving that a society can erase a person without ever laying claim to justice.
Public Shaming Rituals
Public shaming rituals punished without killing, turning exposure itself into the sentence. By stripping symbols of dignity in front of witnesses, societies learned that humiliation could enforce order long after the crowd dispersed.
Rape as Governance
States have long ruled not only through laws and armies, but by authorizing violation as a tool of control, rewriting power directly onto private life. This entry traces how sanctioned abuse became governance by other means, leaving scars on societies long after the uniforms and decrees disappeared.