The act of whipping or beating someone, or in historical and religious contexts, self-inflicted whipping as a form of penance or punishment.
From Latin flagellatio, from flagellare (to whip), the noun form describing the act or practice of whipping.
Flagellation appears throughout history from medieval monks seeking spiritual purification to modern clinical psychology studying self-harm—it's a dark window into how humans have used pain as ritual or control.
Flagellation as spiritual practice was historically male-controlled in institutional Christianity, with women's ascetic self-harm medicalized as hysteria or possession rather than legitimate spiritual discipline.
When discussing religious flagellation, acknowledge women's parallel practices and the differential framing of identical behavior as spiritual versus pathological based on gender.
["self-mortification","penitential practice","ascetic discipline"]
Women saints documented as engaging in severe flagellation—Catherine of Siena, Margery Kempe—were pathologized in medical literature while male flagellants were theologized as devotional.
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