Talk:Flagellation

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To do:

• Mention the "English vice"

(moved from the main article -- Timwi 15:11 19 Jun 2003 (UTC))

Why does it say that Judaism has no history of flagellation yet earlier in the article it says "the Jews" used a standard 40 whips?

Ancient Judaism did have "40 lashes lacking one" (39) as the maximum number of times one can be flogged during biblical and rabbinic times, but hasn't been exercised for over a millenium. Judaism does have some sort of self-flaggelation, well, sorta: During the sixth prayer of the Daily Amidah, a Jew lightly beats his or her chest twice. In addition, during recitation of Selichot (penitential) prayers during the High Holidays and on fast days, each word of the Ashamnu and each verse of the Al Chet confessionals gets its own light breast-beating. I don't know if this fits the classical definition of flagellation, but I think it could be considered flagellation, albeit a less violent one. All of these flagellations have in common the theme of desiring atonement for sin. What does everyone else think? Should I include it?Valley2city 02:28, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

The section about the paraphilia seems to be rather incorrect. For one thing, floggers used for this use are not restricted to multi-tailed or broad whips; in my experience, these are more commonly used by people who only occasionally use it as a kink. Handling a single-tail requires great care or some amount of training to be safe, but is absolutely not uncommon. Also, it is quite possible to pierce the skin, even with the multi-tailed ones, even in the well-padded areas of the body; it depends on the force used. One might also want to mention the formation of endogenous opiates during flagellation, which may have profound effects on the recipient (cf. "sub space", etc.); this particular effect has also been employed by Russian psychiatrists to circumvent the limitations on the use of opiates in the treatment of depression. Could someone with a broader knowledge of these subjects chime in? Zuiram 02:18, 9 September 2006 (UTC)