Badge of shame
[11] 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.
[12] 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.
[14] 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.
[15] 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.
[15] 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: The Lord made Cain a wanderer and a fugitive over the earth, but set a mark upon him,... as wanderers must [the Jews] remain upon the earth, until their countenance be filled with shame...After Innocent III later presided over the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215,[17] the council adopted canon 68, requiring Jews (and Muslims) to dress distinctively to prevent interfaith relations.
Modern orange prison uniforms serve the same purpose, but with a highly visible bright color in order to make it difficult for escaping convicts to hide them.
They were temporarily abolished in the United States early in the 20th century because their use as a badge of shame was considered undesirable because they were causing constant feelings of embarrassment and exasperation to the prisoners.
In traditional British and American schoolrooms, the tall conical "dunce cap", often marked with the letter "D", was used as the badge of shame for disfavored students.
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, individuals accused of being counter-revolutionaries were publicly humiliated by being forced to wear dunce caps with their crimes written on them.
Especially restraining the hands of a captive behind his or her back is perceived as particularly shameful, as it renders the person practically defenceless and showcases his or her physical defeat to onlookers.
The effect is often multiplied by combining means of marking people such as the use of prison uniforms or similar clothing like penitential garbs and the exposure of bare feet.
Nazi concentration camp badges of shame were triangular and color-coded to classify prisoners by reason for detention,[31] and Jews wore two triangles in the shape of the six-pointed Star of David.
[47] The Japanese manga and anime series Attack on Titan shows the Eldians living in Marley were forced to wear armbands to identify themselves in internment zones.
