Spanking

Spanking (or smacking, whacking, etc.) is a traditional form of corporal punishment, applied on the buttocks.

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Definitions

Spanking (not any beating), by today's definition, consists of striking the buttocks repeatedly, usually as a corporal punishment, with either an open hand or various implements including a belt or strap, various types of whips (see flagellation) such as martinet and tawse (traditional in France resp. Scotland), switch or other form of rod, paddle (the US favorite), some curious devices as produced for US masonic lodge initiations (such as the electric so-called spanker, and trickster 'paddling machines'), or still various 'household' objects (see pervertible) such as a slipper (common in Commonwealth domestic discipline, also said when other footwear is used), a wooden spoon, or the hairbrush.

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• In North American English, all posterior discipline is usually known as "spanking". In British and Commonwealth English "smacking" or ?whacking? is used as the general term; with "spanking" usually referring to bare hand discipline (as opposed to implement-specific forms such as caning, birching and slippering), though the American generalisation became acceptable recently, and to erotic spanking. However when the butt suffers on onslaught from footwear on the foot (not wielded by hand) the term booting is commonly used in stead of spanking.

There are many alternative terms, often linked with an implement (such as belting, caning, whipping), but also sometimes used more generally (such as thrashing, dressing-down, whacking, wupping) or using terms for a stroke, such as swat (hence swatting), lick (hence licking) and less common ones including onomatopoeias such as "pop", while there are still other terms for hits (e.g. blow, stroke; cut refer to the effect) - nearly all those terms can of course also apply to beatings on other parts of the body, and even though a term as hiding or tanning suggests administering on the bare these can also be used more generally. Next there are descriptive terms for spanking using a synonym of buttocks and a generic term for (corporal) punishment, such as posterior chastisement, stern discipline, sometimes specifying the degree of nakedness of the spankee, as in panties-down, bare-arse, or bare-bottom punishment.

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• It is striking how the (mainly informal) terminology is determined by the punisher's point of view, with terms such as lesson, medecin, therapy, (woodshed) treatment), even helping, and even -in se unnecessary- adjectives such as firm, (jolly) good, healthy, sound, well-deserved, even (long) overdue; if the spankee is taken notice of, then as helplessly suffering the painfull effects, as in : blistering, grilling, roasting, humbling
• Several languages exclusively use words that directly indicate the buttocks as the anatomical target zone, either plainly as the French fess?? (from fesse = buttock) or somewhat ironical, such as the Dutch billenkoek (buttocks + cake); a similar word pun in English is posterior alignment.
• Sometimes there is another specific term for a spanking on the seat of the trousers, as the Dutch pak voor de broek ('load (of swats) for -i.e. on- the pantaloons'). On the other hand expressions for a bad beating -not necessarily only for a spanking- can precisely refer to the preliminary baring, as 'a dressing down' and the Dutch verbs afranselen ('take off the (back)pack') and aftuigen ('unharnass', i.e. divest).
• Similarly there can be analogous words for spankers, as the Dutch bilslager ('buttock beater') and the French (Fr?re) Fesseur ('(brother) spanker'), both referring to a cleric, especially in the Jesuit order, specifically charged with the professional administration of spankings on the (typically bared) buttocks of naughty pupils in reputedly strict catholic schools; the clergy seems to have had a real reputation as bodily chastizers (there was a tradition of 'mortification' of the flesh, including self-flagellation, not only as penance), for in Paris's St.Lazaire prison the rod was administered on the bare buttocks of criminals by a member of the Lazarist order referred to as the P?re fouettard ('whipping father') as allegedly happened to the writer Beaumarchais.

Scope of punitive use

The two subsections group the various spanking spheres for convenience: the 'domestic' model spanks in a paternalisic mentality, intending or at least claiming to (re)educate the spankees, often 'for their own good', while the 'judicial' model essentially aims to enforce the social code, be it the (formal or customary) law or a substitute order, 'for the common good' (raison d'?tat, social cohesion, public safety and morality...)

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Domestic model

Spankings are administered in particular to children by their educators, i.e. mostly (biological -, step-, adoptive - or foster) parent or guardian and school -, orphanage etc. staff, but also, especially in the past, to other persons considered as legal (and/or moral) minors (sometimes illegally still treated as such), including:

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• wives (by their husbands) and women in general (though girls are less often spanked in traditions where boys are, or at least less often on the bare bottom)
• servants (especially domestics, not by coincidence also called (house)boy or maid; the British Lord Chief Justice declared their corporal punishment, like children, indisputably justified in 1795);
• slaves in the broad socio-economic sense, not just on plantations and in households; even in various postcolonial countries, underage and/or illegal workers, even structural debtors, are still (often illegally) punished, even beaten, at the boss's displeasure in sweatshops, prostitution (the client may even be allowed to spank just for his pleasure) etc.;
• as divinity is often seen as the wise, ultimate 'paternal' authority, its will is often law for the faithfull, and may be enforced -to save the mortal from its wroth, even eternal damnation- by penitence, a word meaning punishment, which can take many forms, also corporal; while self-inflicted flagellantism rarely aims as low as the buttocks but rather at the back for practical reasons (and modesty if performed in public), the sinner who is painfully 'helped' by another believer (often clergy) can well be made acutely contrite in the rear;
• in the minds of colonial authorities, most adult autochtonous freemen were long considered culturally 'immature' and in need of paternalistic education (and sometimes forced religious conversion), justifying harsher and more humiliating discipline (even when no longer acceptable in the mother country)http://www.corpun.com/13933s.jpg, and often it was in line with traditional justice, which often left in place under indirect rule, and ironically only replaced by western style justice after decolonization, as a symbol of the nation?s independence, or the end of Apartheid.
• However the practice has been adopted elsewhere. It is often copied from domestic discipline, as in fraternites and sororities (originally living units where seniors and/or staff wielded the paddle rather like parents at home), and sports and other teams (though now nearly only as 'play' in hazing and rarely as actual coercive sanction) and other initiation context, as with recruits (in military, police and some other professions).

Judicial model

Although non-erotic fiction usally shows or sais corporal punishment for adults as administered above the waist, in most cultures and legal systems it was as least as common to administer on the buttocks, i.e. as a spanking, most forms of judicial and prison beatings (convicts by definition are at the mercy of the auhorities; even today severe punishments, even the dreaded judicial 'Singapore' cane, are awarded to enforce internal prison rules in various countries).

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For obvious practical reasons adults are rarely spanked over knee or lap, rather bending or bound over some object or construction (closely resembling the child's exposure, without the skin contact that is often undesirable or even indecent for the official spanker), in fewer cases standing or hanging (as usual for punishment above the waist) as against a wall or whipping post.

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The very parallel with child discipline is part of the deliberate use of public humiliation as part of punishments. Hence, the condemned is often bared, completely or partly to expose the buttocks, or only covered for modesty, with little protection against the instrument; this is still usual under sharia in many countries. While even the back is sometimes left clad for an islamic whipping, as in Saudi Arabia, in (ethnically mainly Chinese) Singapore and (muslim) Malaysia it is more common to cane the bare buttocks.

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• Often the strong arm of the law -mainly (para)military and police, not seldom charged with the physical execution of corporal punishment- and some similarly hierarchical organisations, has particularly strict internal discipline, usually enforced internally (as by court-martial, or in 'minor' cases simply by the superior officer), which in many traditions entailed punishing the culprit's (often bared) tail-end;
• especially navies, where order must be maintained in confined spaces at all cost, are renowned for stern discipline, and some measure of it not unknown in merchant naval traditions either, but usually only 'boys' (including midshipmen, though) were spanked, adult sailors rather had their back and/or shoulders lashed;
• in general the treatment of boys under arms has at least a measure of the paternalistic 'educational' discipline, often meaning they are more likely to have the bare bottom punished;
• when martial law is imposed (formally or de facto), at home (as in Pakistan under sharia-zealous president general Ziah- ) or under military occupation, such harsh practice is often extended to the civilian population (more difficult to control and/or less respected) as well, even limiting normal process of law; while regular corps discipline is generally conducted within quarters or correctional facility, to 'whip' the masses into obedience public administration is often preferred for maximized deterrence; yet in some cases the accusations of 'war crime'-type abuse are somewhat hollow in sofar as the occupied country often already used similar physical coercion, e.g. Korea publicly caning the criminal's bare behind over a bench before and during the Japanese rule
• Judicial corporal punishment is making a comeback in a surprising number of post-colonial, non-islamic countries, including the cat o' nine tails in various Antillean Commonwealth nations.
• Furthermore there is a wave of reviviving or beefing up of (re)legalized traditional justice, as by tribal chief's courts, and their customary punishments not infrequently include spanking, sometimes even carried out by the regular police force.
• Even where corporal punishment remains illegal, or is very restricted, it rather often is a common weapon for so-called vigilante justice, sometimes tolerated or even legally legitimated by the authorities (as in various parts of Africa, e.g. Botswana), sometimes practiced by rebels (as in Nepal), often remarkably popular with the general public or a large section where official 'modern' western-style justice seems unable to stem crime, as in South Africa.
• Finally, there are cases of 'summary justice' which don't even fit the vigilante logic, but stil intends to enforce a social order by improvised corporal punishment, such as some Bolivian bus drivers using a belt on strike-breaking colleagues http://www.corpun.com/boj00506.htm#16025 on the streets

Position

In its most common usage as a means of domestic corporal disciplining, spanking usually refers to a child lying, stomach down, across the educator's lap — misleadingly referred to as taking a child 'over the knee' (OTK), though literally that is also possible — and the parent or teacher repeatedly swatting the child's backside.

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It is generally believed that this is the safest manner in which to spank since striking a standing child could cause back injury. Spanking advocates argue that the buttocks are the safest place to administer corporal punishment since it produces a sharp stinging pain but injury is unlikely; indeed even the terrible judicial cane in, say, Singapore is applied right there, with protective padding just in case the back, especially the kidneys, get accidentally hit.

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• However there are alternative positions, mainly used for adults (rather too big and/or heavy to put over lap or knee, so the spanker may find it more difficult to hit with full force; also the phyiscal contact with the spankee, who if male often gets (semi-)erect as an involuntary bodily reflex, may be considered unpleasent and/or indecent) but also for more grave and/or formal discipline, even of minors, using an implement.

One option is to have the spankee standing, usually against a wall, tree, or pole. While this means the buttocks are not raised or tensed, which reduces the impact of the hits, and thus the intended pain, severe blows may hurt the spine as it is not free of the body weight as in resting positions; leaning can largely remediate this, especially if the support has a slight inclination.

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If the spankee is made to bend over from his standing position, the painful and humiliating exposure is improved, but the spine risk remains.

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Especially when bending so deep as to (be be able to) grab the ankles or touch the toes, maximizing exposure even beyond the OTK level, forceful blows may well make the spankee loose balance and fall, again an uncontroled injury risk.

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A spankee lying down, on the contrary, is safest from injury, and the least exposed. As a patient well beneath him is unpractical for the spanker, except if the implement is quite long and flexible as a whip, the spankee is often lying on a rather high surface, such as on a table.

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Still another position is hanging from a beam etc., normally tied down, often by the wrists. Again the spine is safe, the posterior exposure reduced, but here the weight on the arms is a discomfort, increasingly painful with duration, in fact also used as a corporal punishment in itself (here accessory), the wrists may be cut by the caughs or ropes.

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A variation is hanging upside down, tied by the ankles; similar in effect for spanking, except the legs thus carry the weight, rather devised for a falaka (beating on the foot soles).

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• An alternative method is to have the spankee (adult or minor) bending over an object. This is rarely done for a hand spanking, but often for serious discipline using an implement, as it frees the hand(s) of the spanker to wield it with greater force, or even take a run (some claim this to be mere show).

As long as it is strong, big and stable enough to hold the spankee and his weight, almost anything can be used as such a pervertible, though a smooth surface is preferable to avoid scaving injuries; however the ritual character of repeated spanking often leads to a firm preference for a fixed spot (as in the expression the woodshed treatment) and object.

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Especially in the informal (e.g. domestic) context, often furniture is used, such as a a bed, chair or stool, poof, ottoman or sofa, table, (work - or other) bench; another example is retained in the expression 'over a barrel' (meaning at somenone's mercy, literally at the spanker's to whom the posterior is perfectly exposed).

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Variations of positions bending over a support for spanking include:

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• the spankee standing on both feet (or kneeling), bending over to rest only the hands on the support (limited exposure and support)
• the spankee kneeling on a high support (e.g. ottoman or bed) and stooping over to place both hands on the floor below (raising the buttocks particularly high, while allowing 'comfortable' support but little spine relief)
• the spankee standing (or kneeling) with the belly resting on the support (very 'comfortable' and safe, less exposed), as in the military tradition of formal spankings of boys, mainly in the Royal Navy (but also in some army units with artillery) were known as "kissing the gunner's daughter", i.e. bending over and resting the abdomen on (a cloth over) the barrel of a cannon ('gun') to receive lashes with a cane (far more frequently used informally, often on the spot or in the gunroom), birch (also the only formal instrument in schools and specific trainings ships) or cat o' nine tails (abolished 1862), either on the seat of the trousers or baring the bottom, so traditional that aboard ships where no operational artillery mouth was present a practice gun was used. However for less formal chastisement the miscreant's stern was similarly exposed by bending or being tied over a nautical capstan or bitt(s) -both also publicly on deck- or inside, e.g. 'brought to the chest', or even ordered to grab his ankles on the spot.
• A spankee is said to be horsed, past participle of the verb to horse (to mount), when either -and thus the expression is used absolutely- hanging by the arms from the neck and over the back of another person (e.g. a classmate) or on the shoulders of two or more colleagues, who thus act as the horse, offering the thus firmly tensed and exposed backside posterior as a conveniently raised target to receive severe punishment, mainly flagellation (such as tawsing) or caning, often wholly or semi-divested (as for a traditional school birching)

The same term can be applied when or positioned over a punishment horse (to bend over and possibly be tied to during the administration of to the. The word and varies synonyms (such as the 'gray mare' used for strapping in the Colorado State Prison in Carson City) refer to the shape resembling an equine; often this is in fact a contraption already known as horse in its original, non-punitive use, such as the vaulting horse (or its smaller version, the vault buck- usually available in schools and athletic clubs; by the way in some languages, e.g. the German bock meaning buck (he-goat), similar constructions are named after other animals), sawhorse etcetera. This is also true of some names of similar apparatus such as the birching donkey and the (small) pony, but these are usually specially constructed for institutional use of posterior discipline. As legislators frequently (e.g. in the British empire) failed to prescribe precise apparatus, a myriad of contraptions have been used under even more names, such as whipping horse, caning bench, flogging frame, tresle etc.

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• A variation that can apply to nearly every support or other apparatus (some models have permanent strapping devices or holes for body parts included) is whether to tie the spankee down; this is not only done to prevent flight attempts or as a symbolic subjugation, but mainly to assure that the exact, well-exposed position is maintained, thus allowing the spankee to concentrate on the pain, paradoxically also sometimes granted as a mercy when a hit in invalid position would not be counted or even punished with extras
• With nearly all the mentioned positions, one more parameter affects the efficiency of the position: the further the legs are apart, the more the buttocks are tensed, the extra sensitive crack in between more exposed and often the genitalia (if divested) embarrassingly visible. This is why experienced discipliners often stipulate the spankee must assume such a position, e.g. each limb along a leg of a punishment horse or lie or stand spread-eagled (as on a saltire cross).

Procedure

Some child specialists say that if a parent must administer a spanking it shouldn't be done in anger (indeed discipline must be rational and consistent, not emotional satisfaction) — and only as a last resort when other forms of discipline have failed. They say that for a spanking to be educational it must be perceived as logical and just: the spankee must know what exactly it is for, the severity fitting the 'crime,' preferably according to previous warnings; and the threat should be systematically carried out, not whimsically, nor the severity altered without justification. Especially with young children, it should follow quickly upon being caught, and some warn against consecutive comfort such as hugging as that might confuse the child, maybe even lead it to think that the beating (and the crime leading to it) earned it the affection. Some recommend preceding the spanking with an explanation to the child of exactly why the spanking will happen — or in the case of older children, having the child explain this reason to the parent — so that the child understands what the misdeed was.

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Spanking is generally considered corrective punishment, without intention of permanent injury; however, such intentions do not always have their desired result. There are questions over what level of pain is appropriate until it crosses the threshold into abuse. Up until the mid-20th century it was perfectly acceptable in most communities for a spanking to cause a child to cry in pain throughout and have trouble sitting down afterward, even leaving stripes or bruises for days, sometimes even lasting scars. Today some (including courts in some countries) consider even mere redness of the skin abusive, though others would call it effective discipline.

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Spankings are delivered over a diaper (nearly only in playfull context emphasizing humiliation, not painful enough for real punishment), over clothing (may be specified, e.g. sport kit; otherwise arbitrarily unequal protection may be unfair, especially in an institutional context with rules for the number of strokes), over the undergarments only, or upon the bare buttocks in increasing order of intended pain (though tight trousers and a wedgie can make a blunt implement, as a cane, feel even worse), and potential humiliation; the latter is greatly increased by witnesses, such as the household, the class, or even a school assembly.

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The removal of the clothing by the spanker may be seen as humiliating as the child is made to experience being undressed by someone other than oneself. It also procures a feeling of helplessness in that the child is no longer in control of the situation.

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Most educators in modern-day Western societies consider avoidable humiliation inappropriate. Others consider the humiliation of exposing one's bare buttocks a legitimate or even essential part of the punishment, as the desired psychological effect is to deter, more than inflicting pain as such.

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As a rule the humiliation resulting from a punishment diminishes as it is used more frequently: suffering the same fate as (nearly) all one's peers is far less embarrassing then being (nearly) the only one to be made to bend over, with trousers down.

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Furthermore the deterring effect of pain can be lessened or even outweighed by macho pride in 'taking it like a man', as attested by the documented pleas of British Royal Navy captains to have corporal punishment under regulations prescribed to be publicly administered on the 'bare stern' and with another instrument then used on the bare backs of adult sailors, because they believed discipline was badly served as cocky boys considered a 'man's punishment' a virile badge of honor, worth the physical pain.

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Buttocks: The buttocks (singular: buttock) are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, including many other bipeds or quadrupeds....

Corporal punishment: Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended as correction or punishment. Historically speaking most punishments, whether in judicial, domestic or educational settings were corporal in basis. The practice is generally held to differ from torture in that it is applied for discipl...

Hand: The hand (med./lat.: manus) is the portion of the arm or anterior limb of a human or other primate, where the appendage terminates. This part of the limb is especially used in grasping and holding. Each hand is a mirror image of the other....