I was subjected to corporal punishment when I went to school in Scotland and it was my preferred form of punishment. Hurt like hell, but it was over with quickly and then I would go on with my naughty ways. It actually became a form of bravado among the kids - who could take two/four/six of the belt without so much as blinking an eye. Hard to hold a pencil afterwards, but you could sure hold your head up among your peers. Tough school, LOL.
Then there were the weirdos like that maths teacher who flirted coyly with the boys, but would belt a girl for dropping a pencil. His nickname was Big Daddy. Ugh. Funny how gross it all seems now, but it was pretty normal back then. Teachers didn't usually beat you as hard as the parents did, and the teachers were at least restricted to belting hands. Then the EU banned corporal punishment. The great teachers were still great. The sucky ones still sucked. And I was still a disobedient brat.
Interesting that the girls were paddled too (though not surprising some teachers got their jollies from doing this--ew) and took as much macho pride in it as the boys did. I had one friend who got a swat for being late to class (she chose it over detention) and was proud of it. There was some of the wanting to prove you could be as tough as the boys going on by then.
It's an interesting fact that for a long time, corporal punishment (caning, strapping etc.) was even more institutionalized in the UK even than here in the states, but it has changed so quickly within just one generation.
Though there is a generation of older men on whom it has left an
indelible mark. They actually have "caning clubs" in the UK that seem to be popular with men from the last generation to be caned in school.
Years ago, I remember Hearing an British MP (who had a high, fluting voice) describing a new law in the UK that forbade parents from hitting their kids with anything save an open hand (not a belt, hairbrush or slipper). I'll admit, I had an attack of the giggles at the thought of spanking someone with a slipper. I wish my dad had used a slipper on me when I was a kid. Would have hurt a lot less than his open hand.
But here in the US, even though we lack the "public school" (I know in the UK, these were actually private schools, like Eton) tradition of caning ala
Tom Brown's School Days, we cling to paddling etc. in some areas in the publicly funded schools, especially the South.
Even a lot of people who aren't otherwise that into kink enjoy a little bit of spanking in a sexual context.
True, and I wonder if anyone has ever studied whether or not being corporeally punished as a child, or being a product of a culture where it's enshrined, affects one's attraction to the game as an adult. Not knocking consenting adults who want to do these things, but I wonder if the same underlying desires might manifest differently in other situations.
