Editing Flagellation (section)

{{Short description|Whipping as a punishment}}
{{Redirect|Whipping|the naval architecture term|Springing|the 2017 Kiiara song|Whippin}}
{{About||the cell appendage|Flagellum|the knot used to prevent the fraying of a rope|Whipping knot}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2020}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2022}}
[[Image:Prisoners whipped.jpg|thumb|Prisoners at a whipping post in a [[Delaware]] prison, circa 1907]]
{{corporal punishment}}
{{slavery}}

'''Flagellation''' (Latin {{Lang|la|flagellum}}, 'whip'), '''flogging''' or '''whipping''' is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as [[whip]]s, [[Birching|rod]]s, [[Switch (rod)|switches]], the [[cat o' nine tails]], the [[sjambok]], the [[knout]], etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an unwilling subject as a punishment; however, it can also be submitted to willingly and even done by oneself in [[sadomasochistic]] or religious contexts.

The strokes are typically aimed at the unclothed back of a person, though they can be administered to other areas of the body. For a moderated subform of flagellation, described as ''bastinado'', the soles of a person's [[barefoot|bare feet]] are used as a target for beating (see [[foot whipping]]).

In some circumstances the word ''flogging'' is used loosely to include any sort of [[corporal punishment]], including [[birching]] and [[caning]]. However, in British legal terminology, a distinction was drawn between ''flogging'' (with a cat o' nine tails) and ''whipping'' (formerly with a whip, but since the early 19th century with a birch). In Britain these were both abolished in 1948.