Flagellation (Latin flagellum, 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an unwilling subject as a punishment; however, it can also be submitted to willingly and even done by oneself in sadomasochistic or religious contexts.

The strokes are typically aimed at the unclothed back of a person, though they can be administered to other areas of the body. For a moderated subform of flagellation, described as bastinado, the soles of a person's bare feet are used as a target for beating (see foot whipping).

In some circumstances the word flogging is used loosely to include any sort of corporal punishment, including birching and caning. However, in British legal terminology, a distinction was drawn between flogging (with a cat o' nine tails) and whipping (formerly with a whip, but since the early 19th century with a birch). In Britain these were both abolished in 1948.

The terms "flogging", "whipping" and "scourging" are sometimes used interchangeably but can denote specific tools or contexts. Common implements include:

Officially abolished in most countries, flogging or whipping, including foot whipping in some countries, is still a common punishment in some parts of the world, particularly in countries using Islamic law and in some territories which were former British colonies.

Caning may be ordered by the courts as a penalty for some categories of crime in Singapore, Malaysia, as a legacy of British colonial rule in the 19th Century. Unlike typical floggings sentenced by Sharia courts which are public, these punishments take place behind closed doors, with the accused tied to specially constructed frames and carried out with a doctor in attendance.

In the Maldives, Sharia law is mixed with English common law, flogging (but not stoning or amputation) is legal punishment, most commonly used on those convicted of having extramarital sex, who are most commonly women. The object used to lash is typically a paddle, but a "less harsh" tool -- peacock feathers, handkerchief, or "a single lash with a string of 100 rosary beads, each bead counting as a separate lash" -- may be substituted when the offender being lashed has more political influence.

According to journalist Robert Fisk, from circa 1993-1995, "hundreds" of Asian young women guest workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were sentenced to flogging (as many as 200 lashes) by sharia courts before being expelled "penniless" to their home countries for alleged theft or "supposed immoral behaviour". The US State Department Human Rights Practices Report for 2021 states that flogging under the UAE federal penal code was abolished, but is still imposed under the UAE's separate sharia courts, which deal with criminal and family law cases. for adultery, defamation of character, and drug or alcohol use. (The next year, the 2022 report did not mention Corporal Punishment in the UAE at all.)