Free Speech and Public Shaming

This paper examines the ethics of public shaming, both online and in person, from the perspective of freedom of speech. Current work on public shaming conceptualises it as a form of social punishment, and principally examines its effects. In contrast to that, the paper considers what shaming inherently does. The argument proceeeds in two stages. First, I emphasis the importance of uptake for free speech to have the worth it has for speakers. Though there is no right to uptake, persons do have duties not to undermine its pre-requisites. Second, it’s argued that the shaming represents an attempt (whether intended or not) to deny the shamed person the basic eligibility conditions for social membership. With these pieces in place, I argue that public shaming, by labelling a person as socially unworthy, violates the duty to respect the conditions for uptake. The badge of shame is a signal not to give speakers’ views due weight. This applies particularly to the interest in self-presentation, an important of speech. The paper concludes by comparing this argument to the feminist argument that pornography silences women.