Once at a fetish market I got talking to a young woman in her early 20s who said she was paid for her work in ‘spanks.’ As it turned out she had a completely different idea about what constituted a spank than many of us. I later saw her strapped to a cross of St Andrew collecting her wages in a room full of strangers; she appeared to be in her element. At one point during our conversation she even stood up to reach for something to show me and as she turned around and bent over I was somewhat disconcerted to see that she had a no back to her skirt and had a bare bottom.

Now there are many other women, I venture to say most in fact, whilst not be averse to a spanking or two, see it as very much a private affair. However, for others, the embarrassment factor can sometimes play an important part. This is often the case where actual punishment is involved.

Here are few comments culled from various places to illustrate this point.

Julie K says, “My boyfriend and I having spanking in our relationship and it is usually just a bit of fun. But I decided early on that sometimes I need a proper spanking as punishment. To mark a difference between the fun bits and my punishments my man incorporates a little bit of embarrassment into the proceedings. This can take the form of corner time or adding a public element to a spanking, like letting certain friends know when it is about to or has just happened.”

A public element to a spanking is a high risk venture but is more common than one might think. Several young women in their 20s have commented here that they have public corner time, some with bottoms fully bare.

In Lesbos Lives Cassie writes: “When Ellen said that she was going to spank me for real whenever I deserved it I was secretly thrilled. But I had no idea what was to follow. I was 28 back then and living with a woman 12 years my senior who was my lover, mentor and big sister all rolled into one.”

“She had absolutely no discretion at all and even the old lady in the apartment below knew I had a curfew and was subjected to routine punishment. She would insist on such remarks as, ‘oh late today dearie,’ and ‘you’ll be for it now,’ just to let me know she knew and approved.”

“Once Ellen realised our neighbour was more amused than shocked she decided that I would not only be spanked but my corner time would become more public. Sometimes I was put partially nude on the landing or in the stairwell. I could have died on such occasions, but I must admit, it all added to the thrill.”

Louise is a 22-year-old college girl still living at home as does her 20-year-old sister. She commented, “We are still subject to spanking no matter who is around. Although any guys might not actually see the spanking, they will hear it and often see us standing in the corner afterwards. We are not allowed the lower parts to clothing at such times, so I always wear long sweaters or shirts to cover myself. But sometimes we have to put our hands on our heads so I guess we oftentimes get seen from the back if not the front.”

“Strangely it is worse when there are just other women around like friends or cousins as they get to see the spanking and the fuss we make and everything really. But it is not just that. I think there is sometimes a bit of excitement in the shame when a boy knows you are spanked.”

For the most part public humiliation is usually confined to fantasy rather than reality, although I suspect that many women are thrilled at the idea of it. Sometimes it is enough just to receive a threat. How often has a man said to his girl, “If you don’t behave I’ll take down your knickers here in front of everybody and give you a good spanking,” only to see her turn into a quivering and simpering bundle of girlishness?

The top clip and the inserted text enlargement from it were taken from Richard Windsor’s blog. The second cutting above is an excerpt from another source, which I have managed to lose and is probably another article from the same period.

They have both hit upon early 20^th century screen legend John Barrymore as the archetypal spanker and although careful to point out that he is only acting in this picture, they do imply that the multi-married Barrymore may not have been adverse to spanking his wives in private and quote him as saying treat ‘em rough – a euphemism for domestic spanking in this case.

The article in the second cutting appears to be a more serious piece on spanking and conflict within love and relationships and the image of the strong man in the media. This is unusual for a time when spanking and domestic violence was either treated as a joke or a social scandal (usually the former as with the caveman quip in the first cutting.)

I have cropped both cuttings so as to leave them legible so that you can make up your own mind, but I thought it was an interesting glimpse back to the past.

This is something of a random post on what is something of a random subject. It all began when I chanced across the movie called Cheer Boys Cheer, a British movie from 1939.

It was the last Ealing movie before the outbreak of the Second World War and considered by some to be the ‘first’ Ealing Comedy of a certain type that went on to launch the careers of such silver screen legends as Alec Guinness.

The movie itself is largely forgotten now, but at the time it was seen as something of allegory or even satire on the differences between western democracy and the rise of Nazism. The film hinges on the conflict between two families, the gentle and more traditional Greenleaf clan and the Ironsides who are about to take over their business.

The film starred Nova Pilbeam (pictured above top) who according to one synopsis is a bit bratty and after a short acquaintance with John Ironside, is spanked over the wing of her car. The picture above is at the start of the conflict just before she is spanked.

Now what has all this got to do with the price of soap?

Well, after hearing about this film, which I had never heard of before, I did a bit of digging and could find no pictures or clips of it or the spanking scene. I did however chance upon a dozen publicity stills of spankings from movies that had no spankings in them.

The spanking scene above is an example of this. It comes from the 1947 movie Dear Ruth, which is included just illustrate the point as there is no spanking in this movie.

So what has this got to do with the 1980s British pop group Haysi Fantayzee?

I told you this was random, but it is a post about surfing and a chain of information uncovered while searching 1930s movies and spanking led me inexorably to John Wayne.

Kate Garner, pictured above, was part of the singing due Haysi Fantayzee, who in 1983 released a record called John Wayne Big Leggy.

I remember this song because of the allusion to spanking and the fact that John Wayne was a spanker, which on some versions of the record was obscured by a rather irritating electronic sound.

In the video at the point where they sing, “I know a trick we can try, turn right over and you’ll why,” Kate Garner gets on her hands and knees in a pose rather like the one depicted above and offers her bottom suggestively to Jeremy Healy. He then uses her to climb out of the cage they are locked in to escape there by excluding the spanking from the publicity as pictured.

These are all random connections to a century of cultural spanking but if anyone does come across a relevant clip or a still from Cheer Boys Cheer then point us to it. Meanwhile here is that song.

Came across these anecdotes and it got me thinking. About the types and levels of submission and what the rituals used in spanking say about different relationships. In particular contrast and compare the first two.

On a Dutch forum in reply to a discussion on boyfriends spanking their girlfriends Lise wrote:

We certainly have a wild time. Sometimes the first time I know he is pissed at me is when he just grabs me and throws me down. That is either face down on the bed or more often over his knee. Then he certainly lets me have it.

He is a big guy and this nothing I can do, which is kind of cool.

Over on the Life Forum Mason wrote about her experience some years before as a young woman.

There does seem to be an awful lot of fuss made about corporal punishment these days. But I don’t accept that it was just what we are used to.

When I was 20 I went to stay with a middle aged couple, me and several girls I knew slightly. We were all on a sixth month contract to help launch a new big city store in a small town. The digs with this couple were in a large house on the edge of town, so there was plenty of room and it was all paid for by our company.

The only drawback was the rules – horror of horror, young people having to obey rules. The rules were enforced with a thin stick applied to bottoms of anyone who crossed Mr J. It was neither abusive nor unfair. No smoking in our rooms, no coming in after curfew, you know the kind of thing. It was no biggie in those days.

The only thing for me was that I wasn’t used to being punished and at first I thought it was funny rather than something to take notice of.

During my first week I came home late and completely ignored Mrs J when she picked me up on it. I just pushed past her with a curt apology and went to bed. To make matters worse I lit up as soon as I got to my room and was still smoking when Mr J came to see me.

He certainly told me what was what and then made come back down to his front room.

“Assume the position,” he said getting out his stick from the cupboard.

I knew what he meant and started to giggle. Part nerves and part lack of experience I guess.

“Assume a position on what,” I said cheekily, “I am not really into politics.”

I thought I was the bee’s knees.

He told me to bend over.

I did as I was told and got six or so smarting strokes across my backside for my trouble. It hurt and I jumped about a bit but my prevailing feeling was that it was all a bit silly.

Despite this encounter I struggled to take the situation seriously and had several more run-ins with Mr J. Finally I was called into the front room on Saturday and got a serious telling off from both of them. Then Mr J left and it was Mrs J who got out the stick.

I could have died when she told me to drop my dogtooth ski-pants (I will never forget what I was wearing) and panties. But somehow I found myself doing it.

That was the first time I cried and not just because I was punished harder a longer this time. She really put me in my place. I was told that if I did not buck my ideas up I would get it on the bare from Mr J.

It wasn’t the last time it happened but I took it very seriously after that. And guess what? The sky did not fall in on me. The only one making a fuss was me.

For how many women is the phrase ‘assume the position’ enough to make them submit? Why do others crave a little ‘throw down’ as someone I know says?

To finish us up here is a little fun snippet in the same vein.

Bailey on Geek Chat wrote:

Twenty years ago we most certainly were paddled.

Not only that but if we did not put our tushies out exactly as our sisters told us we got extra whacks. We got so many extras that we took to practicing the position in our rooms, sometimes with a paddle as an added incentive.

What is your position on this? Just a little mid-week thought.

OTK, if somehow you didn’t know, means over the knee, as in the pictures above.

For many it is the favourite position for a spanking and it is one that separates the so-called spankos from the generality of BDSM.

In movies past and present, it was harnessed for its comic impact, either serving as an out and out joke, or used to soften sexual-spanking innuendo.

It is this last point, the softer and more intimate side of spanking that often makes it more embarrassing.

Again trawling through Life Forum, Experience Project and other discussion boards I chanced across these snippets to illustrate my point.

Helen B, now 52, had this to say:

“When I was 18 I got the cane at school. It was a very ordinary commonplace event and I thoroughly deserved it. However, my father was so embarrassed that it had happened at all that when he saw me in the holidays he put me across his knee and spanked me. This was a far more embarrassing experience than what I had got at school and at the time I thought it was unfair. But now I realise that he wanted to replace my attitude of martyrdom and bravado with a taste of the humiliation he felt over the affair.”

Katy was similarly taken down a peg or two when she worked in motor shop back in 1980s.

“My Dad and uncle ran a shop together so there were always a lot of cousins and distant family around the place working for a time and then moving on. It was a macho world and a lot of stuff got handled through fights.”

“Usually if two of the men wanted to settle something we would all gather in the yard to watch them duking it out. Other times my uncle (never my dad) would just slap or punch one of the young guys and get them into line.”

“I loved the whole thing and when I worked there I would stir things up a little and see if I could get a fight going. I was about 20 I guess when I learned the hard way not mess with these guys. I told one of the younger men that he had been insulted (which he had) and then flashing me bra at him in the back store room I told him that real men didn’t get his hands on these babies unless they stood up for themselves.”

“He went straight to Joe (the guy who had mouthed him off) and started shoving him. Joe was a big guy and about 30, so not wanting to beat up a kid he asked him what was going on and apologised.”

“I should have let it go, but I just had to push it and Joe guessed what had happened. My uncle was pissed too, so when Joe grabbed me, hauled me over his knee and yanked down my shorts, no one intervened. Joe then spanked me in front of everyone. It [was] so humiliating and I felt about 12, but I guess they couldn’t exactly smack me in the mouth. I couldn’t say anything either as I didn’t want Dad to find out that I had been flashing my tits out back.”

So there you have it, what can be intimate and fun in one context can often be tougher than thorough work out with something harsher.

At a party once someone said the boundary between spankos and BDSM was marked out in chains.

I am sure it is more complicated than that, but it is a good a definition as any. Now I am not adverse to a bit of bondage, but it is not at the top of my list – unlike the girl above who seems to be rather greedy with three pairs of handcuffs.

In my book the true submissive (one might argue) will stand in the corner because she has been told to and not because she is chained. It is the inherent consent in the act of submission that has an eroticism of its own.

However, many spankos will experiment in this direction; especially the submissives in a spanking relationship. I think this is because the deep trust it requires.

Rope play can be dangerous and it should be pursued with great care.

Hand cuffs are safer, but if you use real ones, don’t lose the key. Being naked in the bath when the fire service comes to extract a toe form the tap is one thing. Locksmiths could dine out for years extracting Petra out of a pair or two of cuffs.

The real challenge, especially of one is the wrong side of 30 (let alone 40) is that the posture above is extremely hard on the back. So maybe a course of yoga is desirable first.

Now before we leave this (one might say slightly off-topic) thought for the day – there is one more option. Gentlemen what do you do with those old ties of yours. Do you send them to Neck-tie heaven (or as it is known in the trade: Oxfam)? Well they do have other uses. And ladies, if you don’t want a serious spanking for taking his favourite tie for certain play, then consider the charity shop for all your bondage needs.

Or just buy some gear online.

Here a couple of vintage pictures that make the most of mirrors to enhance the shot.

The advantages of such pictures, especially in a spanking context, are obvious.

It also makes me think of a comment once made on a spanking forum.

A young lady hated being spanked in public at parties, which is to say she loved hating it. But she couldn’t decide if she minded people seeing her bottom etc most or whether it was trying to avoid people’s eyes.

The mirror can be used to ensure that this is not a dilemma, but not in a way that provides comfort to the young lady in question.

One wonders why the girl in the second picture needs so many mirrors positioned just so for looking at her bottom.

By the way, the last picture is of a very young Joan Crawford who was not unknown in spanking scandals. I hated her as a child; she always seemed so cross and superior. One of my earliest spanking memories was hoping she would get spanked I think.

She did in fact get not one, but two spankings, in the movie ‘Forsaking All Others,’ as you can catch up on in this earlier post.

Now here is the thing, any fool can chain the willing or even unwilling up and have her at his mercy, but sending a girl to the corner is just as restrictive and carries with it the added element of it being voluntary on both sides.

Okay so it’s a given that few girls will go voluntarily to the corner, but that makes it all the better, since their cooperation strips away all pretence and renders denial of submission pointless.

Now just to remind everyone there are two basic concepts around corner time.

The first being anticipation: ‘you’re gonna get it so wait there until I am ready.’ This plays on a girl’s nerves and helps build tension and expectation and makes a spanking more effective when it comes.

The second is corner time after the fact, which gives a girl a chance to recover and reflect on her punishment to makes sure it sinks in. It also gives the spanker a chance to admire the effects of his work and revel in the ascetics of it.

Of course both can be used together and often are, but usually only for the reasons given above.

Now some girls go meekly and willing to the corner and will stay there until they are told to move, but others are given to fidgeting, rubbing, looking over their shoulders, complaining and asking if they can come out yet, and some will even abandon the corner altogether when nobody is looking.

There is even a game called ‘Russian Roulette’ where a girl in the corner will constructively fidget to see how far she can get before her Top/Dom notices and gives her another spanking or some other sanction.

We will come back to techniques to counter this in a moment.

There is one more situation to consider that can augment a corner situation and significantly ups the stakes. This is the matter of public corner time.

Now this is not that common in a sub/Dom relationship (except where it is part of play) as most couples do not want to embarrass or involve outsiders in their lifestyle. Although it does form a central theme in much spanking literature and it does happen in earnest in some situations.

One of the Yahoo groups carried this post by Carrie in a forum:

“I’m 19 and at college and not only do I get spanked, but I have to do at least 30 minutes in the corner before and after a spanking. It’s usually much worse before as all I can do is think about what I have got coming. Afterwards I am just happy to cry and get over it. But towards the end of the second corner time I start to get nervous in case someone comes and sees me standing there. It is so embarrassing, especially as I have to turn around and explain why to whoever is there.”

Another is from a 27-year-old who has an open spanking relationship with boyfriend.

“Spanking is one thing, but I really hate corner time, especially as all get is a t-shirt. Most of our friends know about us and if any of them come around they get to see me standing there with a very red-bottom and by then a red face.”

Corner time techniques are many and varied. The most common is to have a girl put her hands on her head or sometimes to kneel. Either and both of these make it much more difficult to get in and out of position if you don’t want to watch her all the time.

The situation can be augmented by putting talcum or an easily disturbed object around their feet.

Once in BDSM implement shop in Islington (London) a salesman tried to sell a device to attach to a submissive that either rings an alarm if they move or alternately gives them an electric shock. What is wrong with an old fashioned penny? He was asked.

The guy had genuinely never heard of it and was pleased to be told.

The theory is that you tie the girl’s thumbs behind her back with easily broken paper tape or a ribbon and then make her hold a penny to the wall with her nose.

In actual fact it is hard to keep a penny there and more often a larger coin is used and held in place with the girl’s forehead. But that depends if one wants her to fail or not.

Here is a literary reference for its use.

“Even as a great girl on the point of coming out I was rebellious and whenever I was spanked, would do my upmost to avoid corner time. To this end my governess would place me in the corner with a penny against my nose which I was required to hold there lest I receive another spanking. I must confess it worked a treat and was funny to watch when others were so restrained. I especially loved seeing the nursery maid spanked and put thusly in the corner.”

The point about corner time is that ultimately the submissive cooperates and cannot deny that she does. A line is crossed and the power in the relationship transcends throw-down or overmatching more than just a spanking ever can.

The history of Rachel the Wise’s in her own words. Reality, fantasy or just philosophy…?

I have reached the grand old age of 38 and I now realise that I need spanking. I want spanking and it is a power for good in the universe. I don’t say I like spanking, but without it my life would be less. Spanking is my Zen.

Now I know it is sexual thing, but it goes beyond that and once I realised that I was not constrained by the views of others, I felt liberated.

I did not discover spanking in a real sense until I was about 20. I think in those days I was a bit of a brat and gave just about everybody who knew me hell.

I was in my last year at university when I went with a boyfriend to meet his family. I don’t think they liked me too much and they certainly must have heard the arguments. I admit now, and for the record, that I was the unreasonable one.

With hindsight I think I just wanted my boyfriend to stand up to me, maybe even deep in my psyche I wanted to be spanked. Is that possible? Could I have wanted that before I had even thought or heard about such things?

We all went out. Me, my boyfriend, his older brother and some of the kids they used to hang with. I say kids, because although I was the youngest, I know now that’s what we were.

We went out on motorbikes to a roadside hang out, mostly for tea and coffee, but some of them drifted off to the woods to smoke something illegal. I had just had a blazing row (again) with the boyfriend and he had gone with them leaving me with his brother.

“You are such an evil little shit, you know that,” he told me.

I let him have it too; or tried to.

“Do you know what?” he said, “What you really need is a bloody good spanking.”

A bell went off in my head (well maybe). Something happened anyway. We just looked at each other and I blushed because some of the people at the snack stand must have heard him.

Then he took me by the arm and led me (only half resisting) into the woods and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. The spanking came in short hard blasts to the seat of my cut-off jeans and I was determined not to yell. I didn’t make it.

Then I just called out over and over that I was sorry. And I was.

He might have said, “Not as sorry as you think.” Or something like that.

My shorts came down then and he spanked my bare bottom until I was a surrendered heap. I didn’t cry until afterwards.

It didn’t happen again and I soon parted company with the boyfriend, but the die, as they say, was cast.

A few months later I bigged it up with a biker in a pub; I had a thing for bikers then (and since) following my encounter.

“Go away little girl,” he said, “I blister bottoms of little brats like you.”

I dared him.

That night I was naked face down on a bed with a pillow under my hips while biker man quite literally blistered my bottom with a heavy leather belt until I begged. That night I learned all about fellatio and buggery. (Not necessarily in that order).

I was hooked on him for a while and he taught me so much. I once spilled coffee on his bike and he made me lick it off in front of his mates. Then he spanked me so that they could watch. Abusive? Maybe. But although I hated it, I also totally dug it in those days and who am I kidding, part of me would totally dig it now if I am honest.

Somehow I kept one foot in reality and I got a job in London and drifted away from him. That’s where I learned that sex and spanking is complicated and not necessarily about the sex.

I had a landlady who lived in the flat downstairs. I don’t know how she sussed me. But one night after a drink she went all maternal and I ended up getting a bare bottom spanking over her knee with a hairbrush. It hurt and I bawled like a kid well before she was done.

That was the first time I was put in the corner. I had never felt so humble.

For three years she was a kind of mentor for me. I was like a daughter in a strict household. If I came in late, saw a boy she didn’t like or crossed her in any way I was grounded, spanked and put in the corner. She even introduced me to the cane which I genuinely feared.

Sometimes she even kept me naked below the waist when I was grounded so that some of her friends (and mine) saw me. Bare-bottom corner time while a gay man and two middle-aged women played bridge with my landlady is an experience. And it happened more than once.

At 27 I met Mark.

He was party to some of my humiliation of those days, but had the wisdom to see that I needed it.

The first time he spanked me I knew I was in love and within a year I moved in with him and found other corners to stand in.

For the last 10 years we have explored every form of bottom-centric punishment there is and it is always most satisfying when he finds a method I hate and genuinely fear. It makes me better behaved if at times unable to sit down.

Our close friends know and one or two of them even split on me sometimes (for my own good). And although we are mostly private I have been in the corner with friends present and I still die from embarrassment as I should.

I composed this while in the corner for two hours. I am still grounded and later I will be spanked.

How do I feel? Nervous, (there are butterflies), but know that I am happy. Get over it. Although, hopefully I never will.

Bikers, motorcycle clubs and the whole female submission thing is something that I have come across off and on for years. It has always fascinated me, but at the same time the open sexism, occasional misogyny and even criminality has tempered my erotic curiosity somewhat.

Now it is important to stress that not all bikers (or even most) are sexist, misogynistic criminals. Nor do I believe do most motorcycle clubs endorse such lifestyles. Most countryside cafés (in the UK anyway) are overladen with often overweight bearded gentlemen and their fair ladies who are just weekend bikers with taxpaying jobs.

But these gentlefolks, (sorry guys) are not the ones that interest most people.

In 1947 the American Motorcyclist Association described 99 per cent of all bikers as being law-abiding citizens. Hence implying that one per cent of them were not and ever since some clubs on the fringes of society have often described themselves as ‘One Percenters.’

During my youth in the semi-rural English Home Counties (the populated rich bit that surrounds London) I had the fascinating if dubious honour of working with a biker from one of the more ‘adventurous’ chapters of a famous US-based motorcycle club. He had been given the choice of ‘get or job or go to gaol.’

Now these guys were often in prison a lot and not just for not paying their speeding fines.

They tended to colonise certain country pubs, the kind your Dad did not turn a blind eye to you visiting, but which were perfectly safe if you watched your Ps and Qs. Safer in fact than many town pubs full of Muppets looking for a fight.

I stumbled across my work mate in a Cider House on the Straight Mile. He was surrounded by big hairy blokes all at least 10 years older than me and all with at least two presentable girls each – if you overlooked the tattoos.

These were ‘maybe don’t look and definitely don’t touch sort’ of lassies. So we didn’t.

He acknowledged me with the sort cool nod that came right out of the movies and then made it clear that I shouldn’t join him by looking away. So I didn’t.

But I did have tacit approval to hang in the ‘club house’ rather than the ‘civilian’ lounge bar and check out the bikers without (much) fear of provoking an unwelcome response.

This was not quite Sons of Anarchy territory (not quite), but the clubs usual boss was serving at Her Majesty’s pleasure for murdering a rival club member. So it was probably more dangerous than I then realised.

‘My friend’ had already told me that during ‘meets’ girls were queuing up to be selected as temporary or second girlfriends for the guys. These were Gothic-haired creatures with jeans cut down to thongs and all curves, the kind of lady who turns a 17-year-old’s brain to mush.

I had been given some biker magazines that read more like porn than mechanics. They were full of letters and short stories that featured submissive women who got spanked. I mean more than one reference per magazine and more than one magazine.

I had trolled dozens of men’s magazines for just one spanking story before then.

I came across a girl who told a story about being ‘Owned and Operated’ by her man. It was the heading on a long letter where she expressed her ‘pride’ at having a man who knew how to handle her and admitted that she was spanked, belted and sometimes whipped by him. She even said that her and other biker’s girls traded stories and compared welts. Taking pride in how had the sorest behind.

The woman in the story had had ‘owned and operated’ tattooed down the crack of her arse ending at her anus with arrows pointing the way.

Whilst in this pub I saw a woman (maybe 30-years-old) who had this legend tattooed down her thigh. Of course all sorts of things were ignited in my brain; these were real girls. I had to ask.

The next day at work the biker told me that it was a term used by wives and permanent girlfriends. No other girl would dare have it with being entitled, so of course it was a source of pride.

I asked about the punishments. I was a bit coy about the S-word back then. After that there was some tension and I thought I had overstepped the mark somewhat. Then he realised I wasn’t interested in club activities as such.

“You mean when they get their arses tanned?” He thought I might mean something else more sinister.

He laughed and said that was just par for the course and all girls got that when they needed it.

I wish I could say that I was invited to a biker party where all the girls were spanked, but shortly afterwards he was sacked and I sussed that there were better places to hang out.

But some years later I was watching a late night documentary about American bikers and they interviewed a woman who had an Owned and Operated tattoo on her belly extended down and out of sight. She obliged the camera by showing most of it and then explained to the journalist what it meant.

She too used the word pride and explained that her home life was no different to nay one else’s. She talked about the virtues of domestic discipline and spanking as a tool for a happy life.

“And it can be sexy too sometimes,” she grinned.

I have no idea to this day whether this is a genuine universal custom or a random coincidence that plays upon the general preconceptions and prejudices around motorcycle clubs. But since then I have heard other stories about legal clubs and spanking, with initiations for girls and hints of spanking discipline. Sadly I have no further insight on this.

Incidentally the pictures above are genuine period biker pictures that display the defiant nature and alternative lifestyles of some bikers. You will note the tread marks and bruises on the bottom of the girl in the second photograph.

domestic chastisement from the high middle ages as found in a church

spanking the wife while the rest of the family gets on with business

My girl is reading a book on the history of sex and punishment, she was hoping for more spanking subjects, but it is actually grim reading.

Motivated by her interest, a quick search found a vanilla blog about church decor.

If you are British you will know that there are hundreds of medieval churches in the country and many of them have ornate wooden carved gates and inside, pews with biblical or sometimes pagan scenes.

Flagellation is a common theme but usually the person punished is male. This is sometimes true even if a marital flogging or spanking is depicted.

Having actually studied this at college. The reason for these scenes is comedic satire. They are often subversive images that depict the exact opposite of what was usual, in other words it was the woman who was spanked.

It hard to think that this inversion was just for fun and some people think they were coded messages commenting on the orthodoxy of religious practice (nothing to do with spanking your wife which was de rigour and not controversial).

However many more were just cautionary illustrations like the one above that depicts a naked woman being switched by a fully clothed woman (a mistress or mother figure). This one is either to be found in Boston (the original town in England) or in Germany as both I gather have such depictions but from the text it wasn’t clear which one was shown.

There is some suggestion that the relative rarity of traditional marital spanking depictions in churches was because it had an ambiguous erotic dimension. While some poo-poo this, dismissing the medieval mind of being too innocent, it is true that engravings in books, which often proved to be the source of some of these carvings, (as in one from the 17th century depicted above) were much more likely to show a woman getting a spanking from her husband. So why weren’t these engravings on public display if one could show nudity as above?

The male-on-female flagellation scenes seem to be more common in Germany and the Netherlands, which might account for it and chimes with the picture above if German sourced. However it might just be that the more salacious images were kept out of sight and were the province of those that could read.

All this has to be put in context of course as many images were just the fancy of a local engraver who often secreted them away where only certain people would look. So the depictions and subject matter would vary from place to place.

This brings us back to the subversive hidden meanings on which we can only ponder.

Last week my girl drew my attention to an article on Jezebel that was kicking up a storm about CDD. That is Christian Domestic Discipline to you and me.

This is a rather controversial lifestyle that not only advocates the Head-of-Household approach to TTTWD, but claims that it is sanctioned by God as written in the Bible.

Now this is not the only article doing the rounds on this. The Daily Beast and the Huffington Post have both carried article on this subject in the last week.

The Beast interviewed Chelsea who said:

First, he uses his hands for “warm-up” slaps. Then comes a combination of tools based on the specific infraction. The wooden spoon is the least severe; for the worst rule-breaking—like texting while driving (“It could kill me,” Chelsea admits) or moving money between accounts without his permission—she’ll be hit with something else: a hairbrush, a paddle, or a leather strap.

But this isn’t domestic abuse, Chelsea says. This is for Jesus.

Naturally they also found examples of abused women where the abuse was justified by this ‘Christian’ doctrine where women had left their husbands.

The Huffington Post cites Jim Alsdurf, a forensic psychologist who is described as an expert on Christian abuse. He is quoted as saying: “No fool in his right mind would buy this as a legitimate way to have a relationship. A relationship that infantilizes a woman is one that clearly draws a more pathological group of people.”

Dr Alsdurf’s comments put one in mind of the stance once taken by the American Psychiatric Association that did not declassify homosexuality as a mental illness until 1973. Indeed the UN did not entirely abandon this stance until 1990.

No one wants to ignore the very real issue of domestic violence; certainly one would have to be naïve to think that DD relationships are immune from this. But it is hard to separate DD from CDD once one goes down this road.

However, most of the anger here seems to be directed at the Christian element in all this. Some tending to view this is another example of Christian extremism while others, Christians themselves, resenting what they see as the misreading reading or even perversion of their faith.

Some are more measured.

They point out that it is a sexual fetish that is not incompatible with being a Christian, but that some Christians cannot come to terms with this and have to cloak it in religion to justify ‘kinky sex.’

The Beast cites Sue making this very point on a CCD blog.

This last point seems perhaps the most rational to non-Christians, but let us not overlook the central point of this. Either we have religious toleration or we do not. If someone wants to interpret their religion in this way then as long as it is between consenting adults who is to say they are wrong?

Can it be abused? Sure it can, as can any DD or vanilla relationship. But can we really respond in such a broad-based way?

Of all the misreading, misunderstandings and down-right self-serving distortions of the Christian Bible in the world, surely attacking consenting DD comes a long way down the list.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin. When one is writing spanking fiction and associated articles language can be evocative. But that very evocation is also subjective. For instance:

“You are going to be severely punished young lady,” he said. “I am going to spank you so soundly that you won’t sit down for a week.”

Now by any standard a spanking that left a girl unable to sit down for a week would be pretty severe, but the reader knows that this is an exaggeration just as any poor unfortunate girl about to be spanked in real life knows.

The truth is that severity is all relative. This is the beauty of spanking fiction. If the actual details are dusted over, then reader can supply the level of severity that they desire.

But what of the language? Severely punished is more colourful and therefore more evocative than just punished. What if he had said: “You are going to be punished, I am going to spank you and you won’t sit down.”

Not only is it ambiguous, but you won’t sit down as a phrase alone is an instruction not a prediction and therefor has little power leaving the whole sentence rather flat. In reality no one is going to say that in the emotional heat of making a threat. Most threats tend to be exaggerations.

In fact the phrase, “You are going to be severely punished young lady,” he said, “I am going to spank you so soundly that you won’t sit down for a week,” is rather a moderate statement. A sound spanking is always associated with a punishment, a mere spanking could be a game or a birthday treat.

Compare it with the phrase, “You are going to be very severely punished young lady. You are going to be very soundly spanked until you can’t sit down for a month.”

For some this is overkill, for others it just elevates the punishment to something that is meaningful for a serious transgression. Even if it is understood that being unseated for a month is again an exaggeration. One can nevertheless presume that things have been escalated. Maybe a month is too long but the suggestion is there that he is going to go for it and the young lady might not sit down for days.

While writing such usage might be rare as it leaves the author without anywhere to go. But the language can be spiced up and emphasised without reference to the severity.

“I am going to take your knickers down and spank your bare bottom cherry red,” for instance is if anything less severe but perhaps more evocative.

It may or not be an exaggeration; bottoms rarely go cherry red under a spanking, although it does happen. It depends on the girl’s skin type. But who is going to get a cherry and make direct comparisons?

We actually most of us would, given half the chance, but you get the point.

Now some of the examples above could be said to be poetic or dainty. They belong in a middle class English novel perhaps, but what if someone wants something earthier.

“I am going to take a strap to your backside girl until it is so shiny red that I can see my face in it.”

Again this is all exaggeration but the language and threat are rougher somehow.

Backside is not a word I would often use, but it does suggest a workaday approach to punishment without being crude. Compare it with say:

“I’ll give you rose tinted glass, I am going to leather your arse girl until I can to see to shave in it.”

The language is equally evocative but conveys a different scene. The imagery is again an exaggeration, but it leaves some uncomfortable with a chastiser who thinks in such cruel terms. It all depends on who you are and what you expect.

Notice how a departure from bottom to arse and backside coarsen it. I don’t tend to use arse outside dialogue, for one thing it is generally masculine. If you don’t know what I mean consider this:

Bottom, bum, behind, hiney, hind-end could sound more appropriate to a woman perhaps than arse, ass, backside, which to my mind are decidedly masculine. But this is subjective and may depend on where you learned your English; Surrey, England say or Houston, Texas.

There are also neutral terms like buttocks, butt, glutes etc, but these sound too clinical. I particular hate the word butt, which has gained currency in British English in recent years and have never so far used it. Ass is equally bad (although not used in the UK by anyone whose education extends beyond beyond American TV) except in its biblical sense where it means donkey.

On a side note, such variation is essential when using voice for a story. Some are too American for an English story or vice versa. Also many are too modern for a period piece.

How much you are aware of any of this when reading depends on a variety of things. Personally noticing it is not so important to how you feel about it. But if a story doesn’t appeal to you then in all probability it is these issues that are wrong for you.

Remember accurate use of language is not as important as what it evokes. Some actual writers from the past sound remarkably modern and not what one would expect. The fault lies with the reader here and not the writer. But if a modern writer ploughs on with historically accurate language that sounds unconvincing to the time and place, then poetic license is required.

For example:

The lord put down his sword and advanced on the maiden with an evil glint in his eye.

“I’m gonna spank your ass until it is the colour of a coke can,” he sneered.

The words ass, coke and can are all anachronistic in this context. This is true even if a linguistic scholar can prove that in medieval England arse was actually pronounced ass and can was in common usage. The truth is unimportant here, when establishing an authentic voice, how it feels is the measure.

On a final note, if you are intending to write a spanking story then you may want to consider some of these things, whereas if you read a story and you notice these things then maybe the tone and voice are wrong. Remember it is not what you think that is important, but what you feel.

sorority housekeeping from movie

Two modern college girls ‘bending and baring’

1938 Sorority Girl Janet Shock from a contemporary news cutting posing being spanked by two frat boys as a good sport

Actual sorority hazing c1950

Nervous sorority girls paddle shopping

More modern sorority hazing

sorority hazing

Although I get the odd eye-rolling from young ladies who are strictly M/F when it comes to spanking tastes, one of the most requested subjects for articles is sororities. Of course there is a limited amount of information in the public domain on this, but from time to time new anecdotes do turn up.

I have been sitting on a couple of short snippets for some future use, but then Sam (who has sent in interesting sorority stuff before) sent in an account and some pictures from J, a mature lady in his munchie group.

The other snippets are from the EP and are interesting because they speak of practices hitherto not heard of.

But first J’s account:

I was in college at the end of 1960s and into the early 1970s where I joined a sorority. In those days paddle spankings were the norm and as far as I can tell still are. The only difference now is that this great American tradition has been increasingly driven underground, which is not only unhealthy but from what I hear has greatly sexualised some of these practices and today young women (and men) are doing stuff that we would never have dreamed of doing.

Pleased with her sorority hazing paddles

Despite claims to the contrary, punishment spankings were a major part of the sorority regime and our chapter took regular delivery of short heavy paddles designed to hurt. The pictures are from the 1940s and 50s I think, but the situation was more or less the same in my time.

At our sorority paddle spanking was used for discipline at all levels and for hazing. It was often hard to tell where one left off from the other.

At one extreme we had the paddle parties, which were mostly larks and the paddle was usually applied over clothes. This included mixed-fraternity initiations and the like. At the other extreme there were formal ‘courts’ where girls had to explain themselves for major breaches of the behaviour code that could include stealing, bullying and in those days sexual misdemeanours.

To put this into context though as far as I know this happened once the year before I joined and again in my senior year, so it was not a common event.

More routinely we had housekeeping, which could be extended to all members of the sorority, but was more usually applied to pledges. This was where small breaches of discipline were dealt with.

This consisted of three or four girls being summoned to an upperclassman or Big Sister’s room and one after the other we had to bend and bare for several full-blooded swats of the paddle.

One never quite got used to the pain and embarrassment, especially if the one taking you to task was less than discreet, but it was usually something taken in one’s stride. However on one occasion I was punished with three other girls and one of them decided she had something to prove.

This particular girl kept sassing the two seniors with the paddles; determined to show it didn’t hurt. This meant that we all had to take extra until there was not a dry eye among us. Our bottoms were purple afterwards and I didn’t sit too well for a day or two.

A Paddle from J’s era (click for quaint jingle)

Putting girls in their place and team building was at the heart of the sorority in my view and this is why I would defend it. For the most part I did not sexualise this until much later, but I will come to that.

I remember one stuck-up legacy girl thought she was too good for everyone else. One night at lights out, someone played a prank on her and placed a bucket of something nasty on a door and she got sploshed in her best clothes. She kicked up such a fuss that she was given a roasting and given two minutes to get ready for bed. An impossible task but one for which she was punished for failing.

When 10 minutes later after a shower she reported in her PJs, she had to bend over and take three swats clothed and three swats bare for reporting late and then she was made to get dressed again and come back. She then got three on her skirt, three on the panties, then on the bare, then on the seat of her PJs again. All this at each stage of getting undressed. These were hard heavy swats and by the end she was bawling. All this under the eyes of a dozen wide-eyed young pledges and older girls.

She also had to report for housekeeping that week I think. But I think she learned a lesson and later was much less stuck-up.

On top of this were the much more intimate Big Sister spankings.

My Big Sister, C, was a brick and we had a lot of fun. She also got me out of a lot of scrapes. But if she thought I needed it she would make me bend over and bare my bottom for a sound paddle spanking. Sometimes this was followed or preceded by corner time.

This was never as bad as housekeeping, but there was no limit to what she could do and often she would keep me up to the mark for most of an evening in the room we shared.

Sometimes she would put me across her knee and spank me that way and this is where I first began to get confused feelings that I later recognised were sexual.

I think she may have enjoyed these sessions, but neither of us took it any further. I know that since then it is these days that have fuelled my kink, if I can call it that, but that was only in my head and on the whole at the time it was all just character-building and robust fun.

actual sorority paddling from the 1940s

I have spared many details, especially about specific rituals and secrets, but not having named names I hope that gives you a flavour of those days Sam. Feel free to pass this on so long as you don’t identify me or my college or sorority.

Thanks to Sam and J for this account and the photographs.

Susan wrote:

In my senior year my best friend got me a birthday paddle and everyone present got to spank my posterior and sign it. (It was an all-girls party) Their love pats provided a small amount of satisfaction, but not much -my posterior was hardly pink – I still wanted the real thing. So, I searched for a college sorority that still hazed with a paddle and not just for one traditional night, but all year long.

An Ivy League school in the South is where I found my heart’s desire. This sorority’s rule was that any member could haze any underclassman for any sorority infraction at any time (as long as you were in our sorority building).

Once a month the sorority would hold an open party where the big entertainment was the “Toughest Butt Contest” and all the underclassmen were required to participate, the winner could paddle any upperclassman in the sorority the coming month as often as they desired. A reward of revenge was a great motivator.

The contest was done in G-strings for entertainment purposes. It was a great fund-raiser, and open to the whole campus for both genders. I won several times and enjoyed my month of revenge. Now, since I have long graduated (class of 1980), I no longer have the means to fulfil my desire to give or receive.

A comment to this contribution ran:

We had freshman initiation that culminated with all of us freshman having to crawl on our hands and knees between the legs of the seniors who paddled our little bottoms until we were all howling. We all survived, and just looked forward to when we would have our own crop of freshmen. Imagine what a stir that would cause today.

There were many short snippets like this, but many were quite fanciful, but it seems the legend continues.

Now this short article, whilst hopefully being informative, is not intended to be exhaustive and can better be viewed as a bit of fun.

Many of you will either be in a spanking or DD relationship or will have had one at some point. If not then no doubt your turn will come.

As you will know the reality of such experiences differ markedly from spanking fiction. The main reason for this is that on one hand Tops and Doms and on the other Bottoms and Subs have the inconvenient status of being real people.

These terms (Tops, Doms, Bottoms and Subs – not ‘real people’) are used advisably as none quite satisfy true definition, but given the on-going debate here they are a useful shorthand.

But as real people they tend not to behave or respond as you want them too.

This is as real an issue for the submissive half of the relationship as for Mr Dom Top, but we will come back to that. Let us first address the other side for the uninitiated.

Ladies and Gentlemen please pardon the language in advance but it is a dead cert that at this point there is a small selection of readers who are saying “the bitch had better do what I want her to or…” well you know the type of thing. Therefore we must take a moment to remind ourselves of the term relationship. Do you see where we are going with this?

A relationship is and can only be between equal partners built on trust and mutual respect. The rules in DD you see are no different from any other relationship. If you are 20 and into This Thing That We Do (another irritating little phrase that we will employ as a shorthand), then you may be forgiven for struggling with this; if you are over 40 then not so much.

Okay so she has agreed to and wants to get taken in hand, brought into line and to cut a long story short get spanked (in some form or other actual practices differ so see small-print for details). But she isn’t going to make it easy for you. Come on get a life.

She has a job and is probably the manager of two dozen people on a salary that may well exceed yours. Imaginative intelligent women are often much more likely to be submissive than otherwise. And here again for clarity the reverse is not also true – in other words not all intelligent imaginative women want you to take her in hand in any shape of form. So do be aware.

In other words, unless you are just playing at it or having a scene, then an argument is an argument and she is going to give you static until you can get on her wavelength and calmly and psychologically sort her out so to speak.

After all the women who are serious about this want help to be better than they are and not give into certain behaviours. If this was easy then you my dominant friend would be surplus to requirements.

Also it has to be said that she may want you to win but that doesn’t mean she is going to roll over without a fight.

All of this is before her parents just happen to drop in, her boss phones up or infallible you (or sometimes her) have seriously screwed up and it is all hands to the pump in the grown-up world.

On the other hand she has just as many problems with you.

In books the masterful hero always reads the bratty heroine right, always knows what to do and can probably pick her up and throw her into the next county for good measure. I don’t know about you but even though I can still (almost) bench-press my own weight I gave up wench-throwing along with rugby when I turned 40.

It is a challenge always being in charge and manfully being the answer to a maiden’s prayers. Try it sometime. Seriously, it is hard work spanking a wench whenever and wherever she needs it. Shakes head. But somebody has to do it.

Look in the mirror sometime. How do you stack up against Wolverine or James Bond?

Okay let us say that you have trust and mutual respect and that you are both compatible. What next?

Spanking

How long and how hard do you spank?

This can only be deduced from experience and varies from woman to woman.

Start off slow and soft and build up. Even die-hard roughtie-toughtie girls can get in the wrong head space if you start off too hard and fast.

Spanking on the bare bottom is always desirable for more reasons than one. It is as well to monitor ‘damage’ as you go.

Spanking implements

What do you use to spank a woman with?

For beginners and experts alike you cannot beat the hand. It is always there at the end of your arm (well usually – sorry if it is not) and it can only take so much punishment itself so being overzealous is much less likely.

Even after you graduate to other implements the hand is a classic and the intimacy of it cannot be underestimated.

Then we have the trusty hairbrush, clothes brush or bath brush. Apart from the weight and therefore severity, they are all variations of the same things as far as spanking is concerned. The advantage of these common household items is that they are also easily come by and are in no way incriminating when her parents come to call.

If you want something harsher but discretion is important then a man’s belt is a good staple. It is also a good psyche tool as some girls turn to jelly at the sound of leather pulled through trouser hoops.

Specialist items like leather paddles are often preferable as they sting as much but often do not bruise. But do be careful where you leave them. Also do be careful when using wooden or other unyielding paddles or she really won’t sit down for a week and medical help may be required.

Other equipment like canes, crops and the like require some skill and practice and are only for the truly committed. But they are obtainable and can be hung at the back of the wardrobe or secreted in a hat-stand.

One person even bought a Charlie Chaplin outfit ‘for a fancy dress party’ which just happened to come with a cane. See, you can hide things in plain sight. Same goes for riding crops. They can be wall ornaments or a legacy from a horsey youth.

But we are veering into areas that are not strictly spanking.

Canes, crops and birches are whole other level.

Spanking techniques and positions

These are too many and varied but here are few things to keep in mind.

Over the knee (OTK) is a good standard start. Obviously for use of the cane and such this will not work so the girl might need to stand up and bend over.

If bending, beginners should have her use a chair or bed to bend over. You cannot expect most girls to hold position if you mean it.

The other aspect of spanking that cannot be stressed enough is cause and effect.

She has to know why she is being spanked and ideally should agree that she deserves it. Then in a non-confrontational way, she should be scolded and put in the correct submissive frame of mind.

Failure to do this can make the whole experience unpleasant for both parties and instead of clearing the air, it can cause resentment.

As with above, it is a good idea to always begin with a gentle hand-spanking and build up. At the same time one should reiterate the offence and continue with an appropriate level of scolding.

Some women cry. This is usually good. It is an emotional response and it usually means that the spanking is working. A woman who is growling angrily through gritted teeth is probably not in the right head space.

But do not worry if there are no tears. These are a rare gift. Listen for gentle whimpering and laboured breathing as both can mean she is struggling but not resentful. It is a good indicating of how she is doing.

Also don’t be afraid to stop. Use the pauses for scolding and maybe a time out in the corner if you are really making a point.

Corner time

Corner time is the ultimate bondage position. However much she complains, if she goes to the corner she has to contend with the fact that she is submitting and is a under discipline.

You can leave a woman alone in the corner, but unless you are confident she won’t challenge you in absentia, you might consider light bindings around thumbs that can be removed but not replaced coupled with having her press a coin to the wall with her forehead or nose.

Talcum powder on the floor, small objects that can’t easily be put back if disturbed can also be of use. In sororities, they used a trick involving empty bottles crossed with pencils set behind the ankles.

Some women can handle corner time better than others.

For some 20 minutes is hard and others can handle two or three hours, but note this is extreme and presents health issues without practice and know-how.

Start off with short periods, after all 5 minutes is a long time for a girl in the corner.

Also corner time with anticipation is effective beforehand and although it is satisfying for a top to see his handiwork set in the corner, many women want to be forgiven after a spanking and do not respond well to after spanking corner time.

Also it is wise to be aware of any issues such as back pain and the like. A 20-year-old will ruefully pout after an hour in the corner (on the whole) but the more mature miss might struggle both physically and mentally so start off slowly as with spanking.

Figging and other invasives

This is a delicate subject and one that can be left entirely out of the equation if it squicks either partner.

This is effective both as a supplement to a spanking or if for some reason (such as noise) spanking is difficult it can be a substitute in its own right.

Proceed with care.

At one end of the spectrum (so to speak) there is the simple mouth soaping for lying or swearing. It is a juvenile punishment and not for everyone.

More usually we address ourselves to the other end. Here we are in the territory of anal plugs of various sizes. Small ones can be worn as day wear for added submissive discomfort, but more usually the woman will be lying down with the largest she can handle inserted in her bottom.

Figging is a variant of this that involves ginger or some other mild abrasive to really get a girl’s attention. Beware of women with allergies and also of those who do not get much sensation from it.

At the extreme end we have enemas, which is a subject in its own right.

Spanking Regimes

This is an interesting area. Most couples have a spanking regime even if they do not think of it as such. For instance, some couples start the day off with a spanking or if not they will have some spoken or unspoken rules as to when a spanking will be due.

In a more formal setting more elaborate rituals may be temporary punishment sets that can be employed.

At the moderate end we are talking about maintenance spanking. This is where a girl is spanked at regular set intervals for no particular reason other than to let her know her place and to remind her what will happen if she truly steps out of line.

A classic spanking regime may be also be imposed as an elaborate punishment.

For instance for some serious offence a girl may be told that she will be spanked every morning and again every evening for a set number of days. These spankings maybe varied with canes and such or in extreme cases before witnesses for added (spice) humiliation.

These are options not obligations and will be applied according to the nature of the relationship and what has been agreed.

Ultimately the spanking regime is the overarching arrangement that forms the basis of the relationship.

Any one of the headings above could be a book let alone an article in its own right so if you want to know more, proceed with care and research more wildly. But above all be safe and have fun.

Years ago while watching an old black and white movie set in some kind of senior girls’ school there was a chance reference to Abelard and Heloise. It meant nothing to me at the time and if I ever knew it the name of the movies escapes me.

It was an odd set-up with ‘schoolgirls’ all being women (or at least played by women) and the scene in question revolved around a senior girl ambiguously ‘seducing’ a master in a classroom as an elaborate way of embarrassing him.

“If you don’t cut along Miss…” whatever, he says, “I shall spank you.”

This is the moment the teacher’s colleague choses to enter and overhear and she quips, “Not exactly Abelard and Heloise is it.”

The girl scurries away while the male teacher stutters his explanations to a woman who is dismissive and has the naughty girl sussed.

The movie, which was made circa 1950, was otherwise unremarkable and was of the sort that was often shown on UK TV up to the 1980s and never seen again. But it did set me on a short quest to find out more about Abelard and Heloise.

This story has featured on this blog before, but not in any detail. One of the books dealing with the story was a biography by Enid McLeod, which was published in 1938. At the time a copy wasn’t be had but tantalisingly a reference at the library to the book said it “was over endowed with spanking other romantic nonsense.”

As you can imagine it was with regret that a copy couldn’t be found.

If you are wondering and didn’t know Peter Abelard and Héloïse d’Argenteuil were real lovers in the 12^th century and he was indeed her tutor and empowered to thrash the girl as he saw fit; this at the orders of her uncle Fulbert.

Heloise was unusually talented and although her age at the outset of this arrangement isn’t known, it has been put between 17 and 27 by scholars.

The point of interest for us is that some of these scholars have speculated as to whether Heloise’s chastisements were a cover, a duty or something more erotic.

The tale is a tragic one as the picture above, which may be an engraving depicting the couple, suggests.

Steampunk is very much back in vogue these days, although many of you might be forgiven for never having heard of it. The label ‘Steampunk’ was not coined until 1987 and even then it was merely mooted as a possible collective term for a sub-genre of science fiction writing. And some say it was wholly intended as a spoof on cyberpunk.

This last point maybe true as far as coining a phrase was concerned and the confusion with the use of the term punk has put many off. But the traditions themselves are not only older, but a long way removed from the anarchic aspirations of punk and cyberpunk. For one thing Steampunk is smart and savvy and hankers for a return to order of a sort, albeit a sort of stylish Victorian New Order.

For those who do not know, this sub-genre usually deals in alternative history and what-if scenarios. Most especially these stories are set either during the Victorian era or in a 20^th century where 19^th century values and key technologies did not perish and technology and society took another path.

The common characteristics of these stories are often clockwork, airships and of course steam power.

The movies The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Sean Connery, and Wild West with Will Smith and Kenneth Branagh based on the 1960s TV show of the same name, gives one a feel for the sort of retro science that embodies Steampunk. Indeed could be said to be wholly within this sub-culture.

It is this particular genre that first attracted me as far back as the late 1970s, almost a decade before the name was even invented and the inspiration for this literary tradition can be traced back even further to novels as from the mid-19^th and early 20^th century such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and a whole swathe of books by HG Wells such as the War in the Air, the Time Machine and even War of the Worlds.

The mechanical legged Martians and clockwork time machine are staples of what is now regarded as Steampunk, where frock-coated and top-hatted heroes abound.

Apart from Wells, it was the novels of Michael Moorcock that was to be my first taste of retro-sci-fi and which is now known as Steampunk. His books presumed a world where the British Empire had not fallen and great mechanical steam or clockwork driven leviathans crossed continents bring destruction to mankind.

His alternative histories included works such as the Ice Schooner, the Land Leviathan, Warlord of the Air and the Steel Tsar. All of which had most of the classic features we now associate with Steampunk.

To complete the picture a whole raft of new authors such as Scott Westerfield, William Gibson and Cherie Priest have emerged sometimes confidently writing under the Steampunk banner.

Today influences can be seen far beyond traditional Steampunk and hints can even be seen in Dr Who (whose frockcoat predates even Moorcock) and many other contemporary imaginative fiction.

So it has been very much with this literary tradition in mind that I have viewed the growing emergence of the Steampunk sub-culture, where Victoriana meets sci-fi in brass and clockwork, and top hats with goggles that has even spawned a music culture.

So what has this got do with spanking and TTTWD?

My first encounter with real life Steampunks was at the LAM some years ago and then again during a London Fetish Fair where real embodiments of characters straight out of a Steampunk novel down to the hat, goggles and the whip in their hands walked the aisles. While on stalls parallels with corsetry and other fetish gear could clearly be seen.

Incidentally, returning to Michael Moorcock for a moment, before the old hippy engaged in a campaign to restrict spanking books to the top shelf on the grounds that no woman really wants to be spanked (well his heart is in the right place and to be fair some of the books he cites are rather misogynist) he did write a few books of his own that touched upon the matter in hand. The time travelling adventures The Life and Times of Jerry Cornelius and The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century were not adverse to a bit of S&M, as it was quaintly called in those days. None of these books are strictly Steampunk, but the author certainly has such credentials.

So given an opportunity it has been an emerging ambition of mine to explore two merging interests. No, I am not buying a top hat and goggles, but I have written a short Steampunk spanking story which you can read here tomorrow.

Some time ago I came across a little piece of military history regarding the home front and the use of photography for keeping up the morale of men off fighting. Certainly by the time of both the Crimean War and the American Civil War photography was available to the officer classes among the British, French and Union Army.

It is by no means clear how widespread this practice was, but there is a suggestion that some young wives and sweethearts of serving officers (and some men) had risqué portraits taken of themselves (much like the themed one above) in order to keep their men’s spirits up.

One can well imagine that these women kept this naughtiness from their families and many a Victorian father would have been outraged and all that that promised. Remember this was the age of the birch and strap which were not spared when it came to a young woman’s bottom. Remember too that the same young ladies may well have been required to lodge with older relatives, sister’s, or even their imperious mother-in-laws.

One can speculate too what their husbands would say (or do) on returning for war to confront the butter-wouldn’t-melt demeanour of demure women who had dared all.

I couldn’t find more of substance on this. A selection letters from the First World War had these two little snippets.

Dear Bell,

Thanks for the items you sent, especially the socks and the other thing. That certainly was a surprise. Now I really am looking forward to when I can come back home.

And this…

Some of the men have been sent pictures of their girls got up in bathing suits and sometimes even less. I would hate to think of you getting up to such antics and if you ever did you and I would have words when I got home. The respectable portrait of you that you had made last summer is more than enough for me.

Pictures from the First War are relatively common and abound on vintage erotica sites, but many from earlier times were printed on glass and would have been lucky to survive the post in the first place and are now mostly lost or are in private collections.

In the recent article on Steampunk Spanking I mentioned the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the movie starring Sean Connery. What you may not know is that the movie was based on Volume One of a graphic novel of the same name published by America’s Best Comics and created by Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neil, Ben Dimagmaliw and Bill Oakley.

As you can see from the second of the drawings above, the scope and imagery very much suggests a Steampunk setting.

What was omitted from the film were the early scenes where our heroine captures the Invisible Man at Rosa Coote’s school for young ladies. The cad was there playing mischief and spying on the girls and the headmistress, Miss Coote, has called on the League for help.

Rosa Coote was a figure in several Victorian spanking novels including the Pearl and The Convent School. These were lurid harsh tales of the type that are now probably out of print, but were still available up until the 1980s.

In the scene above Katy Carr (of What Katy Did Next) is shown caning Olive Chancellor, a suffragist from the Bostonians, another Victorian novel. This is very much the vibe behind the novel and the films where a host of literary figures are drafted into the League from a variety of sources, hence Mina Harker (who in the film replaced Miss Murry as the heroine), Dorian Grey and Tom Sawyer all featuring in the film.

I have had the novel on my bookshelf since 2006 and have long thought about featuring it. Then a search of the web only reveals a cursory mention of the scene so here it is, possibly for the first time and scanned in by my own fair hand.

As regular readers will know, from time to time this blog runs anecdotes of supposed real spanking adventures. These are often random snippets dug up from an old back-up drive of stories culled from the Internet over the last 20 years (has the Interweb really been with us that long?) or recent discoveries from various sources like the Experience Project, Life Forum, FemFirst and such like.

It is fascinating but readers tend to fall into two camps with regards to their response to these snippets. The first group ‘doubt’ that they are true (as well they might – many are quite farfetched) and the second swallow them whole and (sometimes) expect one to introduce them to the actors in the anecdotes on a social basis. Well this last is an exaggeration, but you would be surprised.

On the whole I do not care if the stories are true or not. They are published in much the same way that Will Henry published his case studies back in the 1960s and 70s, but I know others have higher standards. Nevertheless, these little snippets are among the more popular features of this blog and people actually comment and email asking for more. But since the factory just outside Newport Pagnell that used to manufacture these tales has closed down, we are a hostage to what can be found.

My point is it is evident that everyone should keep a large pot of salt handy when dealing with anything one finds on the Internet and so it should be with this blog when it comes to anecdotes. As ever you pay your money and you takes a chance and for entertainment purposes only here is the first of two stories found online. They have both been edited and ‘spruced up’ a bit for public consumption and for a change they were both long enough for a post each. One I have had for a while and originally came off Collarme and the first one (I think) was found on FemFirst.

Cassie wrote:

On the subject of lesbian spanking, a subject close to my heart (grins), one of my early adventures in this game was not a scene deal. Back in the early 70s I worked as nurse for a couple in Surrey. The gentleman had various medical issues I won’t bore you with and I had to be on hand and live in pretty much 24/7.

They had a 20-year-old daughter Elisabeth who had dropped out of university and was also living with them. She was cute and I suspected at once that she was onside, but as she was such an unpleasant brat and because I was rather dubious of mixing pleasure with business, I decided to back off.

This was particular tough as my own girlfriend of the time was making tracks, and living in a small town as I was in those days was not the best recipe for getting any action. So I think I became a bit of an officious bitch with a stick up my arse as only a 23-year-old cynic can be.

Elisabeth and I clashed over everything, a situation made worse because originally I had been assigned her room and on her return from college I had been relegate to a pokey box room above the garage. This was not only uncomfortable but made by job more difficult. But she didn’t care about that because as I say she was a total brat.

One day while her parents were out, he rarely went anywhere I recall so I think it must have been a hospital visit, well anyway I caught Elisabeth around her father’s meds. I have no idea what she was doing, maybe trying to score something or just trying to make me look bad, I didn’t know or care.

All I knew was that she was bending over my medicine table in her father’s room with those long legs of hers and showing me her little white panties as I came in. I wore midis by then but she still wore hot pants or as on this occasion, a little short A-Line floral dress.

I was furious and shouted at her and she turned on me and said I was a maid or servant, something like that and couldn’t talk to her like that. I said she had no business messing with her father’s medicine and told her to get out.

All hell broke loose and we had something of a cat-fight for a moment. In my defence she totally started it but I soon got the better of her. As we thrashed about on the bed I manoeuvred her over my lap and got a swat in on her bottom.

Her attitude changed at once and although she was obviously still mad at me she started acting more like a kid and saying childish things. I think she actually said ‘I’ll tell my dad.’

I spanked her again and then after a minute of struggling with her, really set to it. At some point I got her little panties down and was spanking her bare bottom. Although she made a lot of noise she didn’t really try all that hard to break free so I was able to give her a long hard spanking until her little bottom was really quite red.

When I finally did let her up she burst into tears and ran off to her room.

I thought I had gone too far and totally expected her to tell her father and get me the sack or even bring assault charges or at least tell the agency. But the next day it was as if nothing had happened.

A day or two after that there was a knock on my door one evening and I opened it to find a rather mousey little Elisabeth standing there. She said she was sorry and that she hoped I wasn’t still mad at her.

I found myself giving her a maternal lecture about the danger of drugs and the risks to her father if she had mixed the meds up. Bear in mind that I was all of three years older than Elisabeth. Then at some point she shyly admitted that she deserved a ‘smacked bottom’ and I said that she hadn’t had half enough in my view. I might have said more but she just became very embarrassed and quickly left.

For a few minutes I thought I had overplayed my hand but then there was another knock and Elisabeth had returned. She had with her a hairbrush with the kind of flat side that can be useful sometimes.

I told her that if I spanked her again this time it would be really hard and done properly. She couldn’t look at me and just went redder in the face.

I still didn’t particularly like her and decided to make a point rather than make it playful. So I sat down in a hard chair and took her over my knees in a business-like fashion and made her bare her bottom her again.

It was hard to hold her in place as I spanked her but I really hit her hard over and over until my arm ached and I could not carry on. Her bum was really well marked with bruises and she was crying for all she was worth. But the funny thing was that Elisabeth made no attempt to get up. So after I had rested for a bit I started spanking her some more and she took it.

I went slower this time although just as hard and really made a night of it. Then after a really long time and quite a few tears I made her lay face down on the bed while I put something on her bottom. One thing led to another and she stayed the night with me.

We were careful but the next day she could hardly move and watching her try to sit down was totally funny. Her bottom was purple for about a week, I should know because I had full and thorough encounters with it.

She still had some yellow marking when I spanked her again. I don’t remember the pretext but I spanked harder and longer if anything and so it went on for months. I don’t think her bottom was white again until after I left.

Spankville II here tomorrow.