Gaslight
There was a time, before electricity was discovered, when all homes and workplaces were lit by candlelight, oil lamps or rushlights. Rushlights were rushes soaked in fat or grease and were a common form of lighting for poorer people.
Gas lighting was introduced in the 19th century.
The first well-documented experimental use of gas street lighting was in Pall Mall, London, in 1807. Until then street lights were fuelled with oil, often whale oil. Most London streets were gas lit by 1816 but the general populace distrusted this ‘new-fangled’ form of lighting and were slow to accept it in their homes. Some fifty years after the introduction of gaslight, it was installed in the Houses of Parliament in 1859 and became thereafter more widely accepted.
Gaslights were often left dimly burning, to be turned up when brighter light was needed. Matches were always ready to hand to light the gas lamps in rooms that were not regularly in use.
Electricity wrought a revolution. Light could be accessed at the flick of a switch and people who had been used to leaving the gas lamps on a low flame now had to remember to turn off the electric lights when they left a room. However, some people in UK continued to use gaslights as late as the outbreak of the Second World War.
There is a second, more sinister meaning to gaslight. Gaslighting someone is a method of psychological, emotional abuse, creating confusion and anxiety, with the intention of gaining control of an individual or situation. The objective is to undermine the victim’s self-esteem and confidence by creating doubt in their minds.
The term ‘gaslighting’ comes from a 1930s play called ‘Gas Light. The male character intends to steal from his wife and uses gas lights to persuade her that she is going mad.
Its modern application can include examples like a victim being repeatedly told they are unwell, mad, selfish, manipulative, lying, or simply stacking the dishwasher incorrectly despite being told numerous times how to do it ‘properly’, This makes them jumpy and afraid of ‘doing the wrong thing’. However, the ‘wrong thing’ may change without warning so that they are constantly on tenterhooks, worrying about what might happen next and beginning to doubt their own judgement and sanity.
It is an awful way to live and is not always easy to escape or explain to others. The perpetrator may also try to influence others to accept their version of events, destabilising formerly good relationships with friends or family and further isolating the victim.
Not every perpetrator realises that their behaviour could be described as gaslighting but others make a conscious decision to gaslight. There are many reasons a person may choose to play mind games – control, self-aggrandisement, avoiding taking responsibility – but whatever the reason, the perpetrator needs professional help just as much as their victim.
Just as practices like candle lighting moved with the times to provide gas and subsequently electricity, so bullying, now known as coercive control, has moved on and been recognised, thankfully, as a crime.
’section
76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 has stated that controlling or coercive
behaviour in an intimate or familial relationship is a criminal offence.
On January 20th,
2022, the term ‘gaslighting’ was acknowledged for the first time in the High
Court.’
The lamp in the first picture is very pretty, I wouldn't mind having one like that in my garden. I've heard about "gaslighting" and it is an awful thing to do if one consciously chooses to do it.
ReplyDeleteStreet gaslights were very attractive and I believe they were often converted to electricity.
DeleteGaslighting someone is very destructive.
I assume since the gas lighting was not popular by 1816 that people were afraid the new fangled instrument would make the streets ugly. No wonder the gas lights were designed and produced as beautiful as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think people were afraid and suspicious of new methods and perhaps worried about gas explosions,
DeleteThough I knew the word gaslight, I didn't know its etymology and evolution in meaning. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pradeep.
DeleteHi Janice - excellent overview of gas lights and gaslighting. Gas lights are very evocative aren't they. The film terrified me ... and I might have seen the play in London at some stage - mind games to me in the audience! Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThe sense of powerlessness is so destructive.
DeleteAs soon as l saw the title..l thought Ah! The 1944
ReplyDeletefilm Gaslight..
After the death of her famous opera-singing aunt,
Paula (Ingrid Bergman) is sent to study in Italy to
become a great opera singer as well.
While there, she falls in love with the charming
Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer).
The two return to London, and Paula begins to
notice strange goings-on...
Great film....Not to be missed...!
I remember mia Nona using a oil lamp, which l have
to this day, plus a couple of others, and have used them
during power cuts...much safer than candles..:(.
And yes...Your quite right...
Gaslighting is a manipulative tactic in which a
person, to gain power and control of another
individual, plants seeds of uncertainty in another
person's mind.
The self-doubt and constant questioning slowly
cause the individual to question their reality....! :(.
ππΎπ½πππΎπ½πππΎπ½πππΎπ½π
Must get on and unpack my shopp'in...!
Found a link to the 1944 film Gaslight...
DeleteIt's on DailyMotion...should open o.k.
There is also an earlier version from 1940...
It's the 1944 version that's better known...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x863xx1
Thank you for the link, Willie.
DeleteOne of my grandma (father's side) was very upset about the electric light and wouldn't use it. She even told me that it is very bad for my eyes to read with electric light and that I would become blind. Fortunately I never did what I was told and as soon as she had turned her back I continued reading with electric light. It was the same with the telephone. She refused to use it. While my other grandma was just the opposite and had to try out all new things !
ReplyDeleteI think I know which grandma you take after, Ingrid;-)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the meaning of words evoloves over time. Now when I hear the term 'gaslighting' I think of Rob Tichener in the Archers!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
Ah, yes, Rob Tichener - very chilling - so reasonable, so wicked.
DeleteHow utterly fascinating! I'd heard of "gaslighting" but wasn't aware of its meaning. xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's abhorrent. x x x
ReplyDeleteNot long ago I was chatting to my friend who used to live close to where I live now and he was telling me that right outside his house
ReplyDelete( this was the 1950s) was a gas lamp that used to come on, at dusk, through a timing mechanism, and that had to be wound up once a week by the visiting lamplighter, who was called Les. Les was hero worshipped by the local children as he never used his ladder but used to haul himself up on the cross bars, like Tarzan, and then sit and carry out his weekly task of winding it up as well as replacing any broken gauze mantles, of which there were four inside the glass casing. He often had to repair the glass too as that would get broken by the children kicking their footballs onto it. He also remembers that the council men would also come and paint the cast iron, lamp posts. He says that the flame from the gas lamps heated up the four mantles, which became incandescent and gave out more light than his house lights. When the mantles needed replacing, the light that emanated was greenish, eerie and flickering…he and his brother often thought they had seen a ghost!
Of course, after a while, the gas street lighting was replaced by electricity and so Les was re- deployed digging up roads for the gas board.
How times have changed!
That is fascinating. I hope someone is recording such social history for posterity.
ReplyDelete