To say a lot of things have changed lately would be a huge understatement. Our language is constantly evolving and I have trouble understanding our granddaughter’s messages sometimes because she (apparently) uses the younger generation’s “shorthand.” And new words and terms are constantly appearing in the news…. sometimes I stop in the middle of an article to check the meaning of a new word that seems to have just “popped up.”
One of those words that I’ve seen a lot lately is gaslighting. Gaslighting has been all over the press lately — usually in reference to Donald Trump. So what does the word mean? Gaslighting is used to describe abusive behavior — specifically when an abuser manipulates information in such a way as to make a victim question his or her sanity. Gaslighting intentionally makes someone doubt their memories or perception of reality.
The term has been thrown around recently both correctly and incorrectly. A lot of news articles accuse Trump of gaslighting his followers or the American public. The word has been used to describe the President’s comments disputing proven facts throughout his presidency.
The term gaslighting originated in a 1938 British play, “Gas Light” — a mystery/thriller, by playwright Patrick Hamilton that premiered in London. The play was made into a film in 1944 as “Gaslight” and starred Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman as a husband and wife. Throughout the film, the abusive husband manipulates his wife to make her feel like she has gone mad. The film gets its name because the husband uses the gas lights in an upstairs room, causing them to dim, supposedly on their own. His wife brings this up, and he convinces her she’s imagining the lights dimming… contributing to her thinking she’s going mad.
So the term and phenomena have been around for a long time, and it’s probably been practiced in relationships, friendships and families over the years, but it seems it’s now become a manipulative technique at the national level…..
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