Egyptian approach

I thought it would be interesting to search around for factual information about how corporal punishment is being used today, and came across a 1998 report from Egypt that seemed quite extraordinary.

A substantial proportion of boys (79.96%) and girls (61.53%) incurred physical punishment at the hand of their teachers. Teachers were using their hands, sticks, straps, shoes, and kicks to inflict such punishment without sparing a part of their students' body. Physical injuries were reported by a significantly higher percentage of boys the most common being bumps and contusions followed by wounds and fractures. Moreover, it was only among boys that serious injuries such as loss of consciousness and concussion were encountered.

...analyses revealed that corporal punishment was more likely to be used in preparatory schools and on boys. Such means of punishment were also predicted by students' undesirable behavior as well as their poor achievement in academic tasks.

The proportion of pupils punished was quite staggering in itself but the methods and consequences are breathtaking. Whatever the arguments for and against school corporal punishment, I can't imagine anyone condoning this mindlessness.

Questionnaire

I was tagged a few days ago for this questionnaire thing that's going the rounds and initially felt I ought to join in. It's the one that starts with...

1. What are three of the stupidest things you've done in your life?

I drafted answers to about half and then stopped, I hope people don't mind but I'm not going to finish. There are times in everyone's life, I'm sure, when you things are just getting to you, you start to look inwards, and really don't want to share deeply personal stuff. Now is one of those times. I could make something up but what's the point? I'll share what I feel comfortable sharing but one of the questions in this set took me a bit too close to something I'm having trouble coming to terms with. Sorry guys and gals.

Switching and self spanking

When I changed school at the age of eight to an all boys private school I found myself in an environment where teachers routinely doled out minor corporal punishment within the classroom. For most of us this was a fairly new position to be in and I think many of were a bit apprehensive about the possibility of being called to the front of a class and whacked - certainly I was worried about whether I would take my punishment well. Now, with hindsight, it's obvious that these punishments were largely symbolic and not intended to cause significant physical discomfort. However, a result of our concerns meant that several of us "played" at giving each other "beatings" - for instance I had a particularly heavyweight wooden ruler at home which I thought would be rather effective and I brought it in to give some friends the chance to experience it across their trousered backsides. Most people lost interest after a few weeks but I was now hooked. I realised that there was a potentially huge gulf between what you felt if a fellow eight-year old smacked you for fun compared to a fully grown adult hitting you as a punishment.

I moved on to self-inflicted punishments in the privacy of my bedroom whenever I had the house to myself. This gave me the chance to try a variety of implements although actually getting them to land with much force in the right place was far from easy. I quickly moved on to taking my trousers and underpants down and the self-punishments increased in severity. Now I have to emphasise that I have never had a significant submissive side. Although the fear of a classroom punishment may have started the interest. I was now more interested in knowing what it would feel like if someone else - preferably a member of the opposite sex was on the receiving end of a punishment given out by me.

Does that make me a switch I wonder? I tend to think not although I did get some sort of pleasure from the sensation I was always imagining it was someone else that was feeling it.

And, however good someone gets at, I don't think self-spanking can ever replicate a punishment administered by someone else - it's not just about angles and getting a good swing. It's like trying to tickle yourself - it just doesn't work. I think the very special thing about being on the receiving end of a good hiding is that you're handing over control to someone else - they determine the pace, the individual force of each stroke, and, most crucially, the timing.



Take the image on the right - four fairly hard strokes of the riding crop on a bare butt is quite a tingler at the best of times and in this instance, the first and third landed on exactly the same spot and the second and fourth did as well. And, yes, it did hurt - for all of about five seconds.

As a result, although I still maintain that I'm not really a switch, I'm sure that one day I may succumb to visiting someone to really punish me so I find out how it feels when I'm not in control.

In my early twenties I hung around with a mixed group where it wasn't too uncommon for one of the guys to give a girl a playful swat on the rear (and, very occasionally, one of the girls would swat a boy). We were at a birthday party and one of the girls who I had a bit of a crush on played a prank on me. I responded by giving her a single swat across the behind over her thin summer skirt. Now it wasn't the first time I'd smacked her, she clearly saw it coming and made no attempt to stop it. However, what she didn't know was that someone else had also just played a trick on me and she pushed me over the edge - I was genuinely annoyed, and I smacked her bottom just as hard as I could. Next thing I saw someone else comforting her and she was wiping a tear away from her face. Okay, so it was a bit mean of me perhaps, but however hard it was just one smack on her bottom with a skirt and (presumably) a pair of knickers in the way. I'm sure it stung a bit but her reaction was much more to do with her not being in control and getting more than she was expecting.

Newly discovered website

I'm always interested in fantasy based on recreating real punishments and I really appreciate authenticity - hence sites that try to capture information about real-life punishments in the past are always worth a look. I have no idea how long the Approved School Website has been in existence although there are messages on it's forum dating back to 2004. There isn't a huge amount of content but perhaps a little extra publicity might bring more contributions to this interesting resource.

Major moments

Maybe my interest in spanking and corporal punishment helped point me in the direction of an academic career - once I was in the sixth form at school (16 years old - would now be classed as year 12 in UK) we had quite a bit of free time and I often used it to visit the local library for research purposes. It might have served me better had Corporal Punishment been one of the subjects I was supposed to be studying. I especially remember the excitement when i cam across Ian Gibson's book The English Vice. It was fascinating in itself but was the first real point of discovering that a lot of people shared my interests. (Unfortunately I'm going to be unable to post for around a week - be back then and I'll save up some ideas for when I get back.)

Rubbish holiday snaps

I generally regard myself as quite a good photographer, but I found some old holiday pictures the other day that suggest otherwise. I mean why on earth did I want a photograph of a load of people I don't know making their way up some steps in a Greek temple?
And why did I keep a slightly out of focus picture of someone standing by a tree? Or, worst of all, a patch of tarmac? And while this fountain in Dubrovnik is quite attractive, it's a shame the angle didn't allow me to take it all in.
As for this, I simply have no idea what it was meant to be a picture of...

What can Prince Charles be thinking of...?

It's a question people have often asked about the heir to the British throne, but in this case (admittedly a fairly old and slightly grainy picture) I would have a pretty good guess!

Bums on the run

I think this effort being made by several of the top names (or should that be bottom...?) in the UK spanking scene is worthy of much support. It marks a significant shift in openness about spanking that so many of our favourite girls are openly taking part in this sponsored run to raise money for a good cause. Check out their website and get making donations. I've also thought of a way to help the training involving someone dressed as a headmaster and brandishing a cane chasing after them... any takers? Adele perhaps as you live in my part of the world???

Anyone else having problems with images in this blogger?

When I first started posting I was able to insert small images which, if you clicked on them, could be expanded to full size. Now that doesn't seem to work. Don't think I'm doing anything different and I'm not anywhere near file capacity so far as I can see - any suggestions?

Punished on the hands

I've been meaning to post something on this theme for a while, but was finally prompted to do so by reading a piece on the subject at another blog site (http://www.eltercerojo.net/2007/03/hand_punishment.html).

It really interests me that punishments on the hand make it at all into adult CP-related websites and literature. There is so much written about the reasons why corporal punishment applied to the buttocks becomes associated with sexual stimulation (for both the punisher and punishee) but little of those can explain why either party should find the idea of hitting someone on the palm of their hands could have a relationship with sexual arousal. Obviously the dominant-submissive power relationship is still there but why else does it have a role in CP fantasy?

I think there are two things going on - first is the ever-present schoolgirl fantasy and second is a liking for realism. Even 'though (I hope) people don't want to go out and inflict corporal punishment on a non-consensual basis against an under-age girl, the primary fantasy for many in the scene is based on adults consenting to scenarios based on just such a theme. And, if we value realism, then in the last few years of corporal punishment being administered in British schools it was far more likely, if a girl was to be punished that way at all, that it would be by means of a cane or belt (tawse) across the hands (as seen, for example, in the very realistic BBC school drama Grange Hill in the episode where Cathy was given the cane by the headmistress).

I thought that particular scene was quite severe - not just because of the pain a cane causes on the palm, but making her go through the ordeal with her mother present and watching.

Actually using a cane across the palms is not without some risk of injury and many would argue that such canings and strappings were more severe in terms of pain levels than the same punishment applied to the backside. Add to that the undoubted difficulty of managing to hold your arm out straight in front of you as you see the belt or cane coming down and it may not be the easiest role to play but it undoubtedly has its place.