Musings on the state of spanking
While pottering around the net, Aunty came across a forum thread that began with the following question posed by 'Melanie': "Ladies, do any of you belong to sororities which use the paddle for disciplinary purposes? If you do, what form does it take? Is it bare bottom?"
Now, of course, most replies (those that didn't point out the obvious fact that 'Melanie' was probably a 'Michael' fishing for bare bottom spanking accounts) stated that such activity would never be tolerated; paddles are for decorative purposes only, and besides paddling is cruel. Eventually, one respondent offered that:
"During my 4 years in my sorority, I was paddled probably 1/2 dozen times, never at an official sorority function, but during paddle parties involving sorority members and sometimes fraternity members."And that, readers, is exactly what should be apparent to most of us interested in investigating sorority spanking practices.
Or any real-life spanking activity, for that matter.
The simple truth is that spanking has shifted in our culture, from a form of punishment (or hazing) to a form of recreation. Spanking is fun! What's more spanking is now widely recognized as a mildly erotic activity - even amongst those who not claim spankophilia as their predominant penchant. As such, it has more in common with "spin the bottle" - it's sexy, but it's also a game.
Most pictures and videos posted on sites like Aunty Agony are available because spanking is funny. Old fashioned, disciplinary spanking has retreated underground, as it should, leaving the paddling to drunken frat boys, and the spanking to giggling teenagers at a birthday party.
All of which comes in a round-about way, back to a question posted by Graeme, a frequent commentator on Aunty's site. He says:
"In the ... comic of yester year, 90% or more of the villainous or naughty kids ended getting caned or slippered at the end of the story. I look back now and wonder whether it was social programming in right and wrong."There is much to tease out in this comment, but Aunty would simply suggest that spanking was more frequent in the comics of "yester year" precisely because this was the understood consequence for naughty behavior amongst children of the day.
Traditionally, children's stories end with a moral, such as, "naughtiness will not be tolerated."
Those comic authors were saying: "While we all had fun watching Little Dot doing those naughty things, look at the consequence. Don't try this at home kids!" Or words to that effect.
Yes, there was some "social programming" going on. Or, the comic artists were covering their (ahem) asses, so parents wouldn't object too much about the 'trash' their children were reading.
Modern comic stories have abandoned spanking because society has stopped viewing spanking as an acceptable consequence. It is a cruel and unusual punishment. And it is now assumed to be at least mildly erotic for many practitioners. Children should be exposed to neither of these fates.
So, while the practice continues as a party game, or between consenting adults, spanking's days as a warning to children are definitely at an end.
posted by Aunty Agony at 8/19/2006 06:10:00 PM
8 Comments:
Nice thoughts Aunty, I couldn't agree more.
Bryan
Well picked apart. I find it shocking to think of the kind of pain and trauma that a child would suffer being thrashed. And my scribblings of this week made me think of my Nans stories about my Great Granddad thrashing the be Jesus out of my (late) Great Uncle with a folded belt for having a stutter (speech impediment).
And my Nan telling how my Granddad wasn't shy about using a slipper or belt on my mum and aunt. In much the same way as my own mother wasn't backwards about coming forwards with CP for us as kids (when we were juniors). Lets say it wasn't fun, it hurt it tied you in emotional knots (hatred and despair), and to be fair it didn't work because essentially you are trying to correct a personality by inflicting pain.
I was a little bastard to be sure, and no amount of hidings changed me. What the comics I read let me know (possibly) was that, "that was the way of things (a small comfort maybe)". You tried not to get caught and became well practised at lying your way out of corners. Both of which are negative fruits of CP for children.
My own feeling is, there is no place in modern society for corporal punishment of children, and to extend that, I don't think there is any place for capital punishment either.
And now, given this week’s debates and the above, I have to sit and wonder, “how the hell is a spankophile made? Answers on a postcard please.
Now I’m going away, and I’m not going to make any comments for a week (at least). Bye ;-)
"Melanie's" thread at that forum has apparently been "disappeared." No surprise there.
The greek rhetoric demands ample amounts of hush-hush denials regarding any number of deplorable hazing practices, some of which make paddling look relatively tame by comparison. For example, which would an average nineteen yr old girl fear more, taking wood, even with jeans/undies down, or having to perform oral sex on three or more frat members while blindfolded?
Or sitting in a tub of ice, being forced to drink dangerous amounts of alcohol while eating SPAM, and then when they vomit, are required to eat it? Don't believe it? A prominent woman's college lacrossse team was busted for it just a few years ago. Look it up.
In fact, if you Google for incidents of women's hazing, you'll find some pretty hair raising accounts, all documented. Paddling included. Thing is, there's BIG $ behind many of the institutions involved, so many incidents are "hushed" and don't get national coverage - much like how our "free" press is nothing more than statist propaganda backing the neo-fascist corporate pirates running our country, so the real jaw-dropping issues [which would reveal the truth to Americans] aren't covered in the mainstream media.
Remember that "Powder Puff" hazing in a wealthy Chicago suburb a few years back? That case was sensationalized, but only because of the video tapes. Thirty-some of the school's most popular senior girls - the ones who excelled in academics and athletics - collected numerous five gallon buckets of feces, urine, vomit and animal/fish guts, smeared it in the faces of younger girls, and even forced some of them to eat it, along with paint thinner. Girls were hospitalized for being kicked and beaten, and for contracting infections from consuming feces. This was an annual event, an in-the-open secret, for more than ten years. Imagine the mentality involved with that...?!
The common thread of these incidents is the "family values" at play among girls from wealthy, republican-leaning communities. Go figure....
These type of groups, especially greek orgs, which are comprised of the same devils who are the cool bullies in high school, are generally for creepy Stepford suburban sociopaths whose social stratum is centered around superficiality and pecking order cruelty. Hence the requirement of overt examples of sadism and degredation in order to be accepted i.e. sink to their level.
These are the same ones who go on to comprise substantive roles within soulless Corporate Amuirka. It's all connected. Rome wasn't built in a day, and in our modern example, we're likewise seeing that it didn't collapse overnight either. Yet the ominous writing on the wall looms large.
I have to disagree with what you said at the end of you post ("So, while the practice continues as a party game, or between consenting adults, spanking's days as a warning to children are definitely at an end.") A poll on a TV show a few years ago showed that almost 90% of American parents had spanked their kids at one time or another. When I was a kid (I'm in my mid 20s now) I think most of the kids I knew got spanked (or whipped, or had their hides tanned or butts busted or however you call it) sometimes, it wasn't any big deal. A couple years ago when I was in college I heard a lot of people, guys and girls, from different backgrounds and places mention spanking, having been spanked or that kids should be spanked sometimes (of course there were also those that disagreed with that). I also remember hearing a couple years ago that the state legislature in Oklahoma was reminding parents that it was perfectly legle to spank their kids (implying that it would probably do the kids some good). My point is that you might be a little out of touch. Kids still get spanked (though surely not as much as they did thirty years ago), its still pretty normal, and when its not excessive and for a serious offense its not a big deal to most people. I believe that this is another of those myths that "times have really changed so much" when really times don't change nearly as must as some think they do.
anonymous - I added the direct link to Melanie's thread to the posting. It can be found at: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=59.
I apologize if it appeared I was downplaying cruelty that occurs in the greek organizations, as well as other elite institutions around the country.
I do suspect, however, that the extreme forms of hazing you describe are pretty isolated - the exception rather than the rule.
And the main point of my post - which was focused on spanking as opposed to hazing in general - is that spanking has become an unofficial, party 'sport'.
I sincerely doubt the accuracy of that poll regarding parents spanking their kids. Do you have a link/reference to that? If it is 90%, we would all see a lot more spanking on an everyday basis. And we don't. Also, how did they define "spanking"?
Dear Aunty,
You write:
So, while the practice continues as a party game, or between consenting adults, spanking's days as a warning to children are definitely at an end.
I can agree with you from a social acceptability point-of-view, and I will say a hearty "amen" when it comes to the point you are advocating -- "It is a cruel and unusual punishment.... [that] [c]hildren should [not] be exposed to."
Sadly, though, it's not clear that spanking's days are at an end when it comes to child raising. I am glad that more and more parents believe that it's counterproductive to hit their children, but in the U.S., anyway, the majority of parents hold onto the idea that corporal punishment is sometimes necessary -- it is a principle that many parents accept uncritically, even if they certainly might see spanking or slapping as a punishment of last resort.
I realize that debates over the best way to raise children are probably not what you are looking for on the Aunty Agony forum. I am personally turned off by thinking about the usual form that spanking takes today -- that of harried, frustrated parents hauling off and smacking little toddlers -- so I am happy to state these thoughts and leave it there.
Angie
Pictures featuring big smiles like this one remove any doubt about Auntie's assertion. Spanking does indeed seem to have become a recreational activity. And a prevalent one at that. See also Michael Masterson's site and these more recent ones on Cutiepie's site.
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