Shaming as a symbolic-sexualized exercise of violence

Depth Hermeneutic Reconstruction of the Memories of a Shamed Shamer

Abstract

This article addresses a desideratum in the current research landscape, namely the (qualitative) empirical investigation of shaming as a (symbolic) act of violence in institutional teaching-learning settings of schools. A psychotherapist’s memoir of her own experiences of shaming in the classroom is used for a depth hermeneutic analysis. Through the analysis of the data material, it becomes clear how students use their sexuality to violently shame a teacher. In the reflexive dealing with the remembered shaming, an inner-psychic conflict (guilt versus sadistic lust) of the former student arises, which finally comes to a head in the narrator’s self-shaming.