Travel shaming: going on a holiday may get you shamed

Back in the day we had body shaming, fat shaming, femme shaming, addiction shaming, age shaming . . . Name it and there was somebody to shame it.

These days, new types of shaming seems to have entered the world of bullies and shamers.

There's mask shaming, when someone is criticised for wearing or not wearing a mask, social distance shaming, when people are criticised for being too close, and even virus shaming when someone is criticised for getting the coronavirus.

And there's travel shaming.

Before the coronavirus, travel was social currency. Everyone had bucket lists and there were long discussions about it over dinner and a good bottle of wine.

Back then, travel shaming referred to shaming someone for not travelling enough. People shared their travel experiences proudly, like a badge of honour.

Once the world went into lockdown the social status of travel changed. Travellers began to face backlash from people who felt travelling during the pandemic was putting others at risk.

June Tangney, a psychology professor at George Mason University and author of "Shame and Guilt," says it's natural to want to travel shame someone during the pandemic. However, Tangney doesn't think travel shaming will have the impact people expect.

"Is shaming or guilt-tripping people who are not following the program effective or counterproductive?" Tangney says. "I think it's pretty safe to say that that's counterproductive."

"It's natural to get angry at people like that and feel resentful and then want to make them feel bad about it," Tangney says. "But making them feel bad about it in a shameful way is not helpful."

Tangney says there's another way to influence someone's risky behaviour: Try "encouraging people to think about their impact on others in a way that invites them to be more careful instead of trying to beat it out of them," she says.

Some celebrities really couldn’t care less, though.

Actor Timothée Chalamet went to Mexico in June Rapper Drake was spotted in Barbados in July. Kylie Jenner posed maskless in Paris earlier this month despite the E.U. ban on American travellers.

It would seem there will always be someone out there ready to shame someone else - even for traveling. Whether you let it stop you, is up to you.

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