Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in Oct. 2015
It is said that something is a scandal when it goes against certain values or traditions shared by the majority of society. When women wore skirts, those who dared to wear pants were harshly criticized, as their dress was said to be outrageous.
The adjective scandalous-a is usually applied to the provocative or transgressive person and is normally used to refer to artists who present different and disruptive creative proposals. Given the novelty of his work, critical voices often appear and from the media point of view there is talk of the scandal that has caused a exposition, a fashion show or a sculpture.
A reflection on the concept of scandal
There are realities of the past that in their day were very normal and with the passage of time they seem to us unacceptable: slavery, child labor, arranged marriages, accusations of witchcraft, heresies, etc. If someone dared to question a truth accepted by the majority he was considered a provocateur or a madman and, therefore, his position was understood as scandalous.
The idea of scandal belongs to someone who feels scandalized by something. Imagine that someone considers that homosexuality is a disease and he understands that the reasonable thing to do would be to force homosexuals to treat their illness for their own good. Anyone who thinks this way is scandalized by gay weddings or the integration social standard of this group. On the other hand, a homosexual may be scandalized by the ideas of others who are scandalized by homosexuality.
The idea of scandal depends on several aspects. On the one hand, the own education of the individual, his family environment and the set of ideas and values that surround him. On the other hand, the historical period in which you live is decisive. What rule In general, there have been times and places in which an atmosphere of freedom was breathed in which the idea of scandal was not very present in society (for example, the so-called happy 20s or the years 60).
On the contrary, in certain stages of history there have been circumstances that oppressed society and any position contrary to it. the conventional was considered a scandal (for example, the erotic magazines that appeared in the United States in the 1950s or the dance swing in Nazi Germany).
Photos: iStock - BraunS / ozgurdonmaz
Topics in Scandal