Sylvia Likens Was A Victim Of Slut Shaming

How is slut-shaming and public shaming measured? Is it measured by how many people join in and continue the chain of humiliation or is it measured by the intensity of the comments or actions made? Many pop stars have been publically shamed and are pitied for being slut shamed and radicalized public, but does it count for the people that only have been slut shamed by a small group of people? Many people have been slut shamed in a smaller scale yet they still were very affecting to the victim.
Sylvia Likens (picture on the left) was born on January 3, 1949, Sylvia was a victim of slut shaming, public torture and later murder. Let’s start from the beginning, Sylvia Likens was the daughter of Betty and Lester Likens who were carnival workers. She

Then Sylvia was accused of spreading rumors that Stephanie and Paula were “whores”. After all these incidents Mrs. Baniszewski began to tell other kids of the neighborhood to torture Sylvia for being a liar and for being a supposed “whore.” encouraged Hubbard and other neighborhood children to torment Sylvia including, “putting cigarettes out on her skin and forcing her to remove her clothes and insert a glass Coca-Cola bottle into her vagina on at least two occasions.” (Unknown. "Sylvia Likens | Home Page." Sylvia Likens | Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2016.) As a continuation to the torture and the public humiliation and slut shaming when Sylvia as a cause of all the beatings peed on her bed. As an effect of that Gertrude locked Sylvia in the basement and refused to let her use the bathroom. Since Sylvia was in the basement they didn’t feed her at all, they forced her to eat her own “feces and urine.” As if it wasn’t enough public humiliation Gertrude gathered with Richard Hobbs (a boy that likes Sylvia), Marie Baniszewski, and Shirley Baniszewski heated a needle under the instruction of Gertrude Baniszewski and carved the words "I'm a prostitute and proud of it!" into Sylvia's stomach. Additionally, Shirley Baniszewski, also heated eye bolt to burn the