Database: Public Shaming in the colonies

Public shaming was a common practice during the Colonial era, based on a mix of medieval legacy and Puritan culture. It served as a public humiliation in front of the community and a warning for the audience. Public flogging was frequent, with a varying degree of pain administered. Less harmful but uncomfortable and equally humiliating were devices made of wooden boards and based on physical restraint. Offenders were put in the stocks, which restrained their ankles and sometime their wrists too, or in the pillory, standing on a post, with their neck and wrists secured. The punishment took place in public spaces such as marketplaces to increase visibility, and usually lasted around a couple of hours. Often used for women, there was a specific punishment called the ducking stool: the offender was placed on a chair attached to a long beam and repeatedly submerged in water. Gossips were forced to wear the infamous scold's bridle, a mask or some straps made of iron silencing the victim.