15 Cultural Practices From the Past That Feel Outrageous Today

Understanding culture and peoples’ perceptions of things has changed with time, and things that people once took for granted and were very much a part of them will now be deemed absurd or wayward. These norms were mainly used according to their society’s social, political, and technological framework. However, over time, some behaviors or beliefs people hold are rather historical or, worse, considered unreasonable. These cultural practices from the past would surprise us to the core in today’s world.

Execution Spectacles

It was very typical for a society to stage a public execution and have the public watch even consider it as entertainment. People in Europe and America would gather to witness criminals being hanged, be it in a public spectacle or get beheaded or burned to death. They were carried out in such a manner that they were entertaining affairs, accompanied by food suppliers and musicians. Today, people would consider such actions uncivilized and wrong, although the culture of regard for the sanctity of life and human beings has not been noticed for long.

Child Labor

The Industrial Revolution began when children started factory and mining jobs, among other dangerous careers, at age five and above. The roles that the minorities performed were demanding, low-paid, and involved risks. Presently, people regard child labor as a violation of children’s rights, and thus, national laws and international labor standards are meant to safeguard children. What used to be unthinkable, a child who does not work, has now become an element of children’s rights.

Marriage Mandates

In many cultures, arranged marriages were accepted, and in some cases, people had no right to choose their partners. While men marry for family ties, bride price, or social status, women were forced into marriage due to dowry. However, it is legal to marry without consent or affection in the present generation. This situation is not witnessed in most modern countries because they respect free will and affection in marriage.

Smoking Indoors

It was not very long ago that smoking indoors was the general norm of society and acceptable. Public places like restaurants, offices, airplanes, and hospitals permitted smoking, and there were no particular restrictive measures against it. However, because of health perils and all the risks associated with secondhand smoking, many places are now enclosed smoke-free, and smoking indoors is prohibited in many parts of the globe. The change indicates societies’ increasing consciousness of health and nutrition.

Medical Quackery

Doctors have done many things in the past that would be considered very risky today. Procedures such as bloodletting were standard in the earlier centuries, where the doctor removes blood from a patient’s body to “balance the humors” or take mercury for different ailments. Such things as known remedies only worsened the conditions and, given today’s sophisticated technology, would be considered rather useless and lethal to a person.

Racial Segregation

Separation of black people from whites in the United States and some other nations was legal in most areas of public life until the middle of the twentieth century. Blacks and many other minorities were discriminated against in that they were forbidden from using some amenities that were allocated to whites. Such distinctions would now be regarded as intolerable everywhere, as contemporary societies have recognized the value of integration, and there are laws against discrimination of people’s civil liberties.

Boarding Isolation

A couple of decades ago, it was customary for parents of wealthy families to enroll their children in boarding schools for long terms that sometimes could span a few years. Such schools were expected to impart discipline and severance from family as learning procedures. Today, although there are boarding schools, the concept of young children spending most of their childhood away from their families without usual parental interaction is considered harmful to the child’s emotional health. New education approaches emphasize a child’s emotions and their family relationship.

Women’s Oppression

Throughout history, women have been denied fundamental rights such as voting, owning property, or participating in politics. In some cultures, women were considered the property of their husbands and had few rights to their own lives. Over time, this notion can scarcely be entertained in contemporary civilized society that women are not persons, and yet this has only recently been seriously challenged by women’s rights movements.

Corporal Discipline

In most societies around the world, children are physically disciplined, like spanking or even paddling in school or at home. Teachers used to spank students for misconduct, and parents supported them. Currently, pro-spanking has been discredited in many centers of learning since it is commonly regarded as abuse and counterproductive. Today’s punishment methods do not include some physical actions, but they are more psychological and emotional.

Medicine Misuse

Traditionally, people could buy products like ‘cure-alls’ and other medications unsupervised, but they never understood their impact on their bodies. Most drugs that were manufactured had toxic ingredients such as cocaine, heroin, or mercury. In the current world, many laws are put in place that guarantee that any substance intended to be administered to cure an illness or an ailment must first undergo some test to check if it is safe for the population and that it works as marketed. That outdated practice of purchasing dangerous drugs without a prescription is gone.

Hygiene Neglect

About three centuries ago, before the germ theory of disease, people shared clothes and dwelling places and slept with animals, babies, and whatever there was; there was no flushed sewerage and inadequate sanitation. They washed very few times, and diseases like cholera, typhoid, and other diseases associated with unsanitary conditions would quickly spread due to hygiene. The concept of cleanliness has changed today, and sanitation systems, hygiene measures, and sanitation laws are essential requirements for building a healthy society.

Class Servitude

In many cultures, individual contacts were regulated by the question of class. Kneeling, curtsying, or even averting their eyes away from their superiors were some of the things that service providers, as well as the lower class people, did. While in the current world, people have either reduced or eradicated some class bias worldviews, it is impolite to demand that someone should act lowly before you because of class since most societies have embraced equality.

Superstition-Based Medicine

Back in the old days, people turned to all kinds of superstitions to treat various diseases. They would use herbs at certain times, like when the moon is out, or carry out magic to keep the illness away. They believed that such things had healing power. Unfortunately, these practices were not always successful and often considered risky. Today, people are aware of modern medicine and rarely believe in such treatment that would do more harm than good.

Gender-Specific Education

For many years, boys and girls attended separate schools, and the subjects they studied were very different because of traditional gender roles. Boys were taught subjects to prepare them for careers and trades, while girls were mostly taught skills to take care of a home and family. Today, most schools are co-ed, and all students have equal opportunities to learn the same subjects, helping to break old stereotypes and promote fairness and equality for everyone.

Old Pregnancy Myths

In the past, pregnant women from some cultures had to face strict rules based on myths instead of accepting real medical advice. Some cultures limited how much women could eat or what they could eat, where they could go, all in hopes of having a healthy and perfect baby. Now, prenatal care focuses more on the health and safety of women based on evidence and science instead of myths.

Cultural norms have changed depending on the development of the society, and what was relatively normal in the previous period may seem scandalous in the following period. These examples show that societies have come a long way and that change is ongoing. By considering these changes, one can quickly feel or understand how much evolution has occurred and how protesting against norms that may be seen as shocking today is essential.

More For You

One thing that was not common in the past was traveling. Not many people had the freedom and awareness to travel the world. But now, with the internet and social media, people are familiarizing themselves with the world and traveling to places they have never been to before. If you plan to travel within the country, here are the best road trips in the United States.

This article was first published on the RB ITALIA Blog.