Wall of Shame

"Wall of Shame" is a phrase that has been applied to a wide range of uses.

The earliest use may have been by Ruth Benedict and other anthropologists discussing the honor shame culture of Japan, but the term has been applied to many things, including physical barriers such as the Berlin Wall, and collections of names or images posted on physical walls, in print, or on virtual walls for the purpose of shaming the individuals listed. In this sense the term is an inversion of a "wall of hope", "hall of fame" or an "honor roll". Another name for this use of "wall of shame" is "hall of shame".

This phrase, a translation of a Japanese phrase, has been used by anthropologists including Ruth Benedict in her influential 1948 book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, to discuss the shame-honor culture of Japan.

The term was used in reference to the Berlin Wall, which separated East Berlin from West Berlin. In 1961 the government of East Germany named the erected wall as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall", a part of the inner German border; many Berliners, however, called it "Schandmauer" ("Wall of Shame"). Outside Germany it first appeared as "Wall of Shame" in a cover story published by Time Magazine in 1962, and President of the United States John F. Kennedy used the term in his Annual Message to the US Congress on the State of the Union, January 14, 1963.

The Berlin Wall was referred to as the "Wall of Shame" in many more recent notable works, such as:

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