- Disfigurement may also refer to defacement.
Disfigurement is the state of having one's appearance deeply and persistently harmed
medically, such as from a
disease,
birth defect, or
wound. General societal attitudes towards disfigurement have varied greatly across
cultures and over time, with cultures possessing strong
social stigma against it often causing
psychological distress to disfigured individuals. Alternatively, many societies have regarded some forms of disfigurement in a
medical, scientific context where someone having ill will against the disfigured is viewed as anathema. In various
religious and spiritual contexts, disfigurement has been variously described as being as a punishment from the divine for sin (such as
Yahweh's defacement of
Cain for
Abel's murder in
Judaism), as being (such as
Paul of the
New Testament's arguments about
Christ's sufferings) caused by supernatural forces of hate and evil against the good and just, which will be later atoned for, or as being without explanation
per se with people just having to endure.