Branding persons refers to the use of the same physical techniques as in livestock branding on a consenting or constrained human, a form of body modification (see that article for general considerations) similar to scarification (see that article for technical details). Branding irons Livestock branding in the American west has evolved into a complex marking system still in use today. ... Body modification (or body alteration) is the permanent or semi-permanent deliberate altering of the human body for non-medical reasons, such as spiritual, various social (markings) or aesthetic. ... Scarification is a permanent body modification that uses scar tissue produced by the body to form designs, pictures, or words in the skin. ...

Historical Use

• The origin may be the literally dehumanizing treatment of a slave (by the harshest definition legally not even a person) as mere livestock: just a biological entity owned and sold for arbitrary use and abuse (as agricultural work unit, house slave or toy). This was practiced by the European slavers (sometimes there were several brandings, e.g. for the Portuguese crown and the (consecutive) private owner(s), an extra cross after baptisement) as well as by African slave catchers.

To a slaveowner it would be logical to mark his property on two legs just like cattle, or even more since humans are more adroit at escaping. The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ...

• Brand marks have also been used as a punishment for convicted criminals, combining physical punishment, as burns are very painful, with public humiliation (greatest if marked on a normally visible part of the body) which is here the more important intention, and with the imposition of an indelible criminal record- the mark was often chosen as a code for the crime (e.g. in Canadian military prisons D for Desertion, BC for Bad Character, most branded men were shipped off to penal colonies).
• An intermediate case is when a convict is branded and legally reduced, with or without time limit, to a slave-like status, such as on the galleys (branded GAL in France), in a penal colony, or auctioned to a private owner.
• Branding of the thumbs was used around 1600 at Old Bailey to ensure that the accused who had successfully used the Benefit of Clergy defence (by reading a passage from the Bible) could not use it more than once.

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern prisons (imprisonment was long unusual as a punishment, rather a method of coercion). ... A French galley and Dutch men-of-war off a port by Abraham Willaerts, painted 17th century. ... The Old Bailey by Mountford (1907) The Central Criminal Court, commonly known as The Old Bailey (a bailey being part of a castle), is a Crown Court (criminal high court) in London, dealing with major criminal cases in the UK. It stands on the site of the mediaeval Newgate Gaol... In English law, the benefit of clergy was originally a provision by which clergymen could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead under canon law. ...

Persisting practices

• Generally voluntary, though often under severe social pressure, branding may be used as a painful form of initiation, serving both as endurance and motivation test (rite of passage) and a permanent membership mark, mainly in violent 'macho' circles. Branding is thus practiced:
  • by some street gangs
    

    

    Toronto, ON. Modern strike branding by Blair, 2005. Dylan Hayward
  • in prisons
  • as an extreme fraternity initiation in the (now minorized) tradition of painful hazing (otherwise mostly paddling); it has been reported that U.S. president George W. Bush, while president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at Yale, was involved in a practice in which pledges were branded on the buttocks with a coat hanger bent into the shape of a capital delta. [1]
• Branding can be used as a strictly voluntary body decoration.
• In the sadomasochistic scene, it is practiced as a form of bodily mutilation with consent.
• In extreme BDSM dominance and submission relationships, a consensual slave may desire/accept a branding as a mark of belonging and commitment (possibly to slavery rather than to the specific master).

A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a persons social or sexual status. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Strike_Branding. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Strike_Branding. ... The Glenbrook North High School hazing incident concerned many people worldwide Hazing is often ritualistic harassment, abuse, or humiliation with requirements to perform meaningless tasks, sometimes as a way of initiation into a social group. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States. ... The crest of ΔΚΕ Delta Kappa Epsilon (ΔΚΕ; also pronounced D K E or Deke) is the oldest secret college mens fraternity of New England origin. ... Yale can refer to: Yale University, one of the United States oldest and most famous universities. ... Flogging demonstration at Folsom Street Fair 2004. ... Domination and submission (also known as Dominance and submission, D&s, Ds or D/s) is a set of psychosexual behaviors, customs and rituals relating to the dominance of one individual over another. ... Slave is a term often used in BDSM to connote a specific form of submissive. ...

See Also

Scarification for a more detailed look at modern branding. Scarification is a permanent body modification that uses scar tissue produced by the body to form designs, pictures, or words in the skin. ...

External link

• Branding in BDSM on Wipipedia