The Spanking Writers

We’re about to send off 2010 at a spanking party with lots of our friends. I’m very excited about this, because New Year’s Eve is my favourite holiday, and I like celebrating it with as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

Annoyingly, I still have flu. This has already made me miss most of the events we’d had planned for the holiday season, and if I’m completely honest, I’m just not well enough to go to parties right now. But I really want to!

Abel has come up with a great plan to make sure I can come to the NYE party. He has declared that I must stay in bed all day today, gathering strength. Handcuffs were mentioned, if I thought of rebelling.

Now, I don’t particularly feel like disobeying, because all I want to do right now is sleep, with short reading interludes. On the whole, being ordered to do what I want to do anyway is great. But I can’t help but imagine what dire consequences might be had if I did disobey.

A thorough over-the-knee spanking comes to mind, with Abel sitting on the bed and me clutching at the bedding, hiding my face in the pillow. Perhaps, he would have to resort to the beautiful leather paddle he has received from Emma Jane for Christmas? It wouldn’t need to be a very hard spanking, given how feeble I am at the moment; I’m sure it would teach me a good lesson.

Then there’s the option of being actually cuffed to the bed. Or tied with rope, which would both allow me to sleep and limit my movement. That would be… awful. Yes, awful. Not at all hot.

But never mind, I’m a good girl, so I won’t disobey. I’ll just lie here quietly, fantasising about what would happen if I wasn’t such a good girl.

I’ve never been one for the strange world of fan fiction – but an example of the genre popped up on a Google search recently, and it made me giggle.

The tale in question is apparently related to the Twilight books – not that I’ve explored those, either – so the background to the writing is pretty much lost on me. But it did rather catch my attention with the following, in which our hero gives his instructions to her personal guard, Jasper:

“I want to arrange a whipping.” he looked up at me with a hint of pain in his expression. The poor man hated violence, especially when it was directed toward the towns people.

Straightening up, he asked, “For whom is this? And more importantly: why?” he didn’t hide the disapproval in his tone. “Because if I find that you are only doing this for your own amusement, I will have no part in it.”

I sighed, “That was once, and it was mainly my parents idea. To show the people what would happen if they rebelled.”

“None the less.” he glared at me as he spoke, “Who? and Why?”

The ‘who’, it turns out, is a maid who’s been disrespectful towards the crown prince. She’s imprisoned, and the speculation as to her fate begins:

“She’s a woman, they can’t stand much pain. She’ll be out by the 5th lash.” I told him and started toward her holding cell once more.

Of course. Girls regularly pass out when I’m playing them, some after as few as three strokes. This lass must be a tough one, if she’ll make it to five before keeling over.

It gets better. The girl’s to receive 15 lashes, it seems. Enough, apparently, for her to be “whipped until death”. Fortunately, the author seems to have run out of steam after six chapters, and we never get to read of her agonising demise.

Sometimes I don’t think vanillas quite get it when it comes to corporal punishment…

The snow is melting, which is great news – but not for the maid who has to clean the floor in the grand entrance hall of His Lordship’s manor. Every visitor to walk in from the outside treads in dirt and sludge, which has to be wiped away instantly, so that the white-and-grey marble shines in the glow of the chandeliers.

The maid works hard, or so she feels. Yet, from time to time the housekeeper comes around to check on her work. Unfortunately, almost every time she finds a flaw to point out – a careless smudge here, an unnoticed puddle there. The maids is growing increasingly grumpy, she feels that the housekeeper is picking on her on purpose – can’t the old bat see how difficult it is to keep the marble clean all the time, with people constantly coming and going? The housekeeper is also growing annoyed: the girl could definitely be more careful and pay more attention.

Unfortunately, it’s the housekeeper who holds all the power. In the middle of the afternoon, after she has had to point out one mistake too many, she arrives into the hall with a long, supple switch.

“Raise your skirts and put your hands on that pillar,” she commands.

“But,” says the girl nervously. “Somebody may see?”

“Somebody may see the dirty smudges on the floor, which concerns me considerably more. Hurry up, girl, do as you are told.”

Praying that the hall stays empty, the maid lifts up her skirts and leans forward against a marble pillar. She hears a swish, and feels the supple stick bite into her skin. She swallows the first cry, but can’t help yelping in pain as further strokes descend, striping her skin. The housekeeper delivers a quick dozen, each stroke as hard as the rest.

“You can lower your skirts,” she says briskly to the sniffling girl. “When I return, I don’t want to see any more dirt on this floor, or your next flogging will be from His Lordship personally. Is this clear?”

It couldn’t be clearer. The girl, wipes her eyes, and picks up the mop again. The next portion of sludge can’t be too far away…

I’m not the biggest poetry fan in the world. John Betjeman, Roger McGough, Benjamin Zephania? Yep. Anything requiring more work on the reader’s part? Then, frankly, I’d rather read prose.

The other day, however, I discovered the following little poem by Latino poet Martin Espada, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst:

“When the Leather is a Whip”

At night
with my wife
sitting on the bed
I turned from her
to unbuckle
my belt
so she won’t see
her father
unbuckling
his belt.

OK, so maybe I’m going to have to re-evaluate my stance on poetry…

Having been flattened with flu for the last two weeks, I haven’t had much spanking excitement in my life. Not on physical level, anyway. Mentally, of course, the fantasies are swirling in my head as warming and intense as ever.

My longing for a spanking became particularly fierce when, a couple of days ago, Abel showed me a new brush he’d bought in an antique shop. It’s twice the length of my hand, solid, smooth and lovely. It looks like it will be astonishingly painful, but it’s so pretty I can’t stop thinking about being smacked with it.

I really should know better. I know how much wood hurts. Particularly thick polished brush-shaped wood, which can be smacked down onto my bottom in quick, merciless volleys – not so much warming as scorching, almost unbearable and fierce… Ahem. Dreadful, I say. Terrible.

I just can’t stop thinking about it.

I’ll report back what it’s like when I’m well enough to do anything about it.

A little treat for those of you who share our fascination with accounts of historical punishments.

Let us take you back in time to New England. October 1662. Persecution is the order of the day. Three Quaker women – Mary Tomkins, Alice Ambrose and Ann Coleman – have travelled from England “on a gospel mission”, where they are hauled before the magistrate.

This functionary, as a prelude to the sentence he was about to impose, told them of the law that had been passed for whipping Friends out of the Colony.  Mary Tomkins replied, “So there was a law that Daniel should not pray to his God.” “Yes,” rejoined the magistrate, “and Daniel suffered, and so shall you.”

The following warrant, drawn up by the priest, who acted as the magistrate’s clerk on the occasion, was then issued.

To the Constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Wenham, Lynn, Boston, Roxbury, Dedhara, and until these vagabond Quakers are carried out of this jurisdiction.

You and every of you are required, in the king’s name, to take these vagabond Quakers, Ann Coleman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, and make them fast to the cart’s tail, and driving the cart through your several towns, to whip them on their backs, not exceeding ten stripes each on each of them, in each town, and so convey them from constable to constable, until they come out of this jurisdiction, as you will answer it at your peril; and this shall be your warrant.

At Dover, dated Dec. 22nd, 1662

Per me, RICHARD WALDEN

The account – on a Quaker website – continues:

The women being thus whipped at Dover, were carried to Hampton, and there delivered to the constable, William Fifield….

This constable the next morning would have whipped them before day, but they refused, saying that they were not ashamed of their sufferings. Then he would have whipped them on their clothes when he had them at the cart; but they said, ‘ Set us free, or do according to thy order;’ which was to whip them on their naked backs.

He then spoke to a woman to take off their clothes; but she said she would not do it for all the world. ‘ Why,’ said he, ‘ I profess I will do it myself.’ So he stripped them, and then stood trembling with the whip in his hand, and so he did the execution.

Others were similarly treated. Take one Mrs Hooton:

Passing through Cambridge on her return, she felt called to exhort the inhabitants to repentance… the instance of the magistracy, she was arrested, and for two days and two nights confined in a “noisome dungeon…”

On the third day of her imprisonment, Elizabeth Hooton being brought before the Court, was sentenced to be whipped through three towns and expelled the colony. The sentence was executed with great rigor; at Cambridge she was tied to the whipping-post, and received ten lashes; at Watertown she was beaten with ten strokes from willow rods; and at Dedham ten lashes more “laid on with exceeding cruelty at a cart’s tail.”

Later, she returned to Cambridge – despite having been banished – with her daughter. They were taken before the one of the magistrates, Daniel Goggin:

Of Elizabeth’s daughter he demanded, ‘Do you own your mother’s religion?’ To which she was silent; and yet they were sent to the house of correction, with order to be whipped. Next morning the executioner came before it was light…

He took her down stairs, and whipped her with a tree-stringed whip…. And taking Elizabeth’s daughter he gave the like to her also, who never was there before, nor had said or done anything. They not only received the usual number of ten stripes at Cambridge, but the same number in each of two other towns lying in the direction of Rhode Island.

It strikes me that I’m missing a trick in my roleplaying experience – I’ve never played a scene in which various gentlemen in neighbouring towns stand by, whips in hand, whilst convicted girls are ferried from one to the other to be flogged at each location in turn. It sounds rather fun. Now, who’s in ready driving distance?

Let’s celebrate this most festive of days by announcing the winners of our fifth Annual Awards here at The Spanking Writers. Unlike other sites, there’s no formal judging process, no consulting our readers: who needs democracy anyway? It’s just our personal view of things in the scene that we’ve admired over the past year. So here goes – in no particular order!

Best new spanking event – the Shamrock Spanking Society‘s fabulous weekend in Ireland in November.

Best book – “The Collector’s Guide to the School Strap“ – a wonderfully quirky, detailed study. (LOL we couldn’t exactly nominate our own second anthology or The Punishment List, now, could we?).

Kinky event organiser par excellence – Jessica, for the Regency House Party, Lowewood and so many more lovely events throughout the year.

Best implement provider – Maui Kink, a Hawaiian company. Superb, original products – and prompt, exceptionally courteous service. Highly recommended!

Most intense spanking scene – Emma Jane’s harsh judicial punishment, at the start of December, which she described amazingly on her blog, “A Painful Awakening”.

Song of the year for kinky people. We really couldn’t decide between Marina and the Diamonds’ magnificent “Obsessions” (from “The Family Jewels”, an album which shares such wonderful perspectives about life) and Pink’s “Raise your glass” – an anthem for all of us who are “are wrong in all the right ways”.

Blog of the year – Pandora Blake’s “Spanked, not silenced” – for outspoken advocacy on behalf of the kinky community, as well as excellent posts on playing and modelling.

Community site of the year – Twitter. It seems strange, perhaps, giving an award to a big site like this – but it really does do so much to help re-enforce our sense of community. (@abeljenkins and @adelehaze if you want to follow us).

Tweeter of the year – @BDSMBadAdvice – genuinely funny and perceptive.

Kinky campaigners of the year – CAAN, the Consenting Adult Action Network, for standing up passionately for the rights of kinky folk in the UK.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and warm Christmas greetings to all of our readers.

Pandora’s fascinating post earlier in the week about proposals to introduce an “opt-in” system in the UK for adult websites was extremely thought-provoking. I was going to comment on her site, but thought the issue was worthy of longer exploration here – as I find myself rather torn in the debate. (Briefly, for those of you who haven’t been following the issue, the government is considering a scheme whereby households might have to specifically request their ISPs to allow them access to adult sites).

First instinct: part of me *could* be concerned that the web permits easy, wide access to porn at a young age – certainly easier, wider and younger than would have been the case in pre-internet days. Would I feel happy if, say, an eleven year old with their first PC started browsing porn sites? Not especially: probably, not at all. Concerns… Might it confuse, corrupt? Might it promote excessive youthful promiscuity, make some younger folks feel pressured into sexual exploration sooner than they otherwise might? Could it encourage behaviour such as inappropriate sexting?

Pandora provides a fascinating quote:

Even the briefest look on Google Scholar will show you that there is not a lot of rigorous academic research in this area. Arguments about porn, such as arguments about sexualisation, are usually values rather than evidence based. There is certainly no consensus in the academic world about young people and porn.

Indeed. The lack of rigorous research concerns me as much because of the lack of evidence that porn *doesn’t* corrupt as for the lack of evidence that it does.

Does government have the right to intervene in some areas on the basis of age? We already have limits on drinking and smoking, for example, where youthful consumption could be damaging to health. If there is a case (note that ‘if’ carefully) that porn could have adverse effects, then why wouldn’t one protect young people in the same way?

Is “everything goes” an acceptable approach to the web? Internet content is already restricted in some ways: I guess most would agree that porn involving young children, for example, should be outlawed. And it’s worth remembering that the current political debate is not actually about a “porn ban” – the emotive phrase used in the title of Pandora’s post: it’s about restricting access to some information for some users, a far less swingeing measure.

Is this the next step along the “thin end of the wedge”? I’m not sure it is. Yes, I’m wary of censorship, deeply distrustful of government – and the police, when entrusted with powers that are too broad, too open to misuse. But does restricting access to porn for a certain group create a precedent that would readily morph into censorship of other types of site – say, on grounds of ideology? I’m not sure that, in a democracy (with all its flaws), it necessarily or particularly does. And, in any case, is freedom of expression a sacrosanct right? It’s general accepted that it’s not for hate speech – if the views being expressed would hurt or victimise – say, on the grounds of race or sexuality. So I don’t see there being a clear line here either.

What of the practicalities – if people live in a shared household, for example? Pandora observes that “You’d better have a good relationship with the housemate whose name is on the broadband account”. Indeed. Their name is on the account. If they pay, they choose. (And at what point do practical inconveniences give way to more important principles, anyway?)

Does everyone have an absolute right to access everything on the web, irrespective of their age? If so, isn’t existing parental control software (advocated by Pandora in her post) itself an unacceptable infringement on the rights of young people in the households where it’s used? Should we be seeking to ban those products?

And hasn’t, in any case, the line of unfettered access from all devices already been crossed long ago? I have no idea how it works, but I do recall my mobile provider wanting proof that I was over 18 before allowing me access to adult sites.

But… then an entirely contrary instinct kicks in. Naturally wary of government; instinctively opposed to censorship (for who decides what is and isn’t to be censored?). A believer in people taking responsibility for their own actions and choices. Concerned lest – in those shared households I mentioned earlier – new rules such as this would put those adults wishing to view ‘adult sites’ in an unfair position: why should they have to explain to others that they’re interested in looking at certain types of content, to ensure that their housemates don’t block access?

And I’ve long held the view that the web has been an immense force for good in many lives (my own included), by helping people to understand and embrace their sexual orientation and preferences. I’d echo Pandora’s comment, which rings pretty true for us too:

I get letters from kinky people who are grateful to me for helping them feel they are not alone. I hear from mature individuals who are only just beginning to discover the vocabulary to think about their desires, or to start to come to terms with them. I am so lucky, they tell me, to have become aware of my sexuality so young, to have accepted it and be able to find so much joy in it, and help other people make peace with themselves.

Yet even our blog has the usual disclaimer – “This blog is for adults only.” I even sometimes wonder whether that’s an appropriate statement, when we know folks who’ve found comfort and, ahem, inspiration from what we write before they had reached ‘official’ adulthood. And it’s clearly nonsensical to ban younger people from seeing porn before their eighteenth birthday whilst they’re of legal age to actually have sex!

So, compared to Pandora, I see it as a less black and white issue – but share her view that it needs more widespread discussion. Much as I admire her and her eloquent opinions, I’m perhaps less vehement in my opposition to any exploration of the issue by the government and ISPs. But I don’t think I’ve yet read a persuasive, evidence-based case either for or against. I recognise the importance of the debate – but I’m confused. And that’s why I’d really value our readers’ contributions.

PS apologies to those of our readers missing Haron’s contributions; she’s been suffering from flu for the past week, so I’ve been writing a little more than my usual share of our posts!

There are times when scenes are planned meticulously, discussed days, even weeks in advance. Yet some of the very best are more spontaneous, such as one I played recently with HH as my fellow schoolmaster, and Catherine and Emma Jane as pupils. The basic idea – a detention scene, the girls in uniform – had been floated before lunch; by the time we were ready to play, they’d found themselves in trouble for repeated misbehaviour during the week. Six demerits? A Sunday detention – which, according to the established protocol, would inevitably finish with a dose of corporal punishment from both supervising masters.

HH and I disappeared to plot as the girls got changed – and soon two (quite adorable) young ladies were knocking on the door of the detention room and being told to sit next to each other at the long table. We’d provided pen and paper, we explained, so that they could each write letters of apology for their misbehaviour – to be displayed for all to see on the school noticeboard.

I was loving the scene already – the easy, unrehearsed dialogue that HH and I improvised, the reactions of the delightfully demure pupils. And the writing task worked even better than I’d hoped, the girls concentrating intently on their letters – and, as they did, seeming to inhabit the personae of those naughty schoolgirls who’d committed the offences they were dreaming up as they wrote.

We made them swap the letters and check each other’s work for accuracy before making them stand and read their own – quite fabulous – confessions aloud as we sat stony-faced, disapproving of their respective litanies of transgressions. [You can see the letters themselves across at the Art of Punishment, HH's blog].

Then to the punishments. HH and I had determined the order and the implements for  these before – HH going first (as I’d done so in another lovely scene the day before), with a paddle he particularly wanted to use, leaving me with a rather nasty tawse (which we’d actually given him a year before). Not that we hadn’t filled the table with various other implements besides, the slow and careful selection adding to the tension for the girls…

The paddling looked nasty – a mean implement, used hard, each girl bending over a table in turn with her skirt lifted. Catherine went first for her six licks; EJ followed, earning an extra one for non-regulation knickers. I winced from the sidelines, admiring his technique and their bravery.

Then my turn. I knew they’d expect me to punish them in the same order – so changed it, calling a freshly-paddled and slightly tearful Emma Jane straight back out, before giving Catherine her six of the best. Best-ish: I wanted this to be hard, but not *too* severe – leaving them feeling chastened rather than beaten. Each stroke clearly hurt, though, as I wanted it to do – punishing, imprinting my and the school’s disapproval.

With a final lecture, they were sent back to their dorm to change into weekend attire… and then, before they could close the door, we were back out of character and into caring hugs. Perhaps twenty, thirty minutes had elapsed – of the most excellent roleplay, with trusted and trusting partners: a simple scene that I’ll remember with delight for a long time to come.

One of the lovely things about writing here for (almost) five years has been forming such close links – online and for real – with so many other bloggers, including many folks who’ve been regular contributors here prior to (and since!) setting up their own sites.

As a result, we have a wonderful community of online friends – pretty much all of whom link to one another. And I’ve perhaps become lazy when it comes to seeking out newer blogs – scarcely, as it is, having time to read all of the ones that already feed into my Google Reader.

So I’ve passed a pleasant few hours in recent weeks, in hotels and airport lounges, making myself follow links a little more randomly than usual, in search of a few spanking blogs that we haven’t linked to previously – and which some of you might not have come across either.

Here goes with a few that I liked – with a warning that some are NSFW, so be careful where and when you click!

• A Libertine’s Spanking (http://victorianspanking.blogspot.com/) (I confess that I rather prefer the phrase in the URL – “VictorianSpanking” – to the “Libertine” title)
• “Notes from the workshop” (http://notesfromtheworkshop.wordpress.com/) by our friend Ian of The London Tanners (whose products come especially highly recommended)
• “Blossom and Thorn”, by Season and Michael (http://seasonandmichael.wordpress.com)
• Fluidity, by Kate (http://loreleikate.wordpress.com/)
• “Rebekah’s Submission” (http://rebekahp-submits.blogspot.com/)
• “Sexuelle”, by Elizabeth Forster (http://perfumedkisses2.blogspot.com/)

One other to particularly recommend is “This Kinky Life” (http://thiskinkylife.wordpress.com/). This has been around since 2008, but it’s been updated by Emma Enchanted (a regular commenter here) rather more regularly of late, and is well worth reading.

If there are any other blogs out there that you write – or read – that you’d like to add to the list of recommendations, please do comment!