SOM Summary

In our journey to learn how to use the Spank-O-Matic machine, the most important thing was that some patience was essential.    We had some difficulty in finding a compatible compressor (but Paul did email saying that he might ship a free spare connector with his product to make shopping for a compressor easier).

Another delay came from the way phidgets uses .net as a pc to pc internet connector.    When that technology is employed for the remote triggering of USB connected devices, the success rate is high.   But when it fails, it can fail totally.   The most common reason is a firewall or two getting in the way, but sometimes even taking the risk of completely switching off firewalls might not work.

The use of TeamViewer10 was, for us, a complete success:  but carried with it the minor risk of allowing one partner total access to all the files and programs on the other partner's PC.   Still, if you are going to allow someone to ream your butt, your confidence level in that person should be high enough to accept they will not hack all your data files.

We found that actually using the SOM - once everything is set up - is also a learning curve in its own right.   There are little things like the compressor coming on at what seemed to an outsider to be quite random times to recharge the air tank.   It is not - whine/crack, whine/crack, but whine/crack, crack, crack whine/crack.crack whine/crack, crack, crack, crack sort of sound effects.   The whine is not excessive, but can be intrusive if conversation is ongoing during a whacking.

The standard model comes with a paddle - very thuddy and capable of leaving a lasting reminder of a session:  particularly if higher levels of impact had been used.   For more stingy cracks, you need a home made birch or even a garden cane to be attached to the arm:  you can jury-rig the assembly or use a connector manufactured to take most cylindrical handles.    Slightly disappointing was that switches, thonged whips and floppy paddles are not suitable:  the SOM arm needs to meet firm resistance.

Getting the right combination of implement and strength is not intuitive.   Very light swats with a birch are far, far stingier than harder ones.   You just have to accept both parties are going to have to test at different levels until the ideal effect is reached.

As a long distance machine, the SOM is perfect for domestic discipline and spanking for spanking sake sessions (2 uses that baffle vanillas) - but has some drawbacks as a device to initiate an erotic love making session.   Your partner is many miles away, and face to face contact is limited to what is achievable with a Skype session.

As a short distance machine, it is the most wonderful companion.   If your partner - for whatever reason - does not have sufficient arm strength or stamina to give an effective spanking, SOM can be fine tuned to give you one that either gets the blood flowing lustfully or brings genuine tears of remorse to your eyes.

The SOM is not a toy in the traditional spanko meaning.   It has the ability to seriously damage a bottom and needs to be treated with according respect.   Having said that, when used as part of a SSC scene, it is wonderfully effective.    The only possible drawback is that when your partner has one, you may spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about your next upcoming session.   Which while a delightful preoccupation, may interfere with other real life activities.

The SOM Saga 8 - Not ready to sum up, yet

Today, I was going to put together a recap of what we had learned on our voyage of discovery, but then I learned we have gotten ourselves another opportunity to experiment tomorrow morning my time.   Her bottom is still a little tender, but not so as to postpone a chance like this.

So I thought we might include that upcoming experience to add to the sum total, and then do the recap.

But for now, my distant partner and I have to endure another toe tingling period of anticipation.   Hers, she tells me, has a faint hint of fear in it for she now knows it is going to be a session that "stings like merry hell".   But she really would not want it to be otherwise.

What a delightful dream to sleep on...

The SOM Saga 7 - Birched!

The first duty of a spanker is to fully meet the needs of the partner, before all other considerations,   A complaint I only recently learned about is that some spankers are such wimps, they cannot bring themselves to spank their partners "hard enough".

So - my partner has for various reasons a need to suffer an occasion "bad girl" spanking and, as yet, the SOM had only delivered ones at the harder end of a "good girl spanking".   The manufacturer, very wisely, had provided a paddle that could sting effectively.   But not savagely.

What was one to do?

Well, it is relatively easy to acquire half a dozen or so birch saplings that are relatively straight and about a meter long.   Ascending a tree with a knife in one hand is tricky, but if motivated enough any young woman could achieve in a satisfactory manner.

Turning half a dozen saplings into a birch rod is also relatively easy.   Half way along the bundle fasten them together with tape or ribbon.   Half way from that point towards what would become the handle, another encirclement of tape and ribbon.   And then to the very end to wrap four or five times around to make the handle itself.

The paddle is detached from the SOM arm by unfastening two bolts.   And the birch rod can be made secure using those holes and extra bindings around handle and arm.   It is generally agreed that the correct downswing for a birch rod is about a 45 degree angle to the ground - very easy to adjust the SOM to deliver at that angle.

Unless you want one hip to take a lot of the action, it is necessary to ensure that the partner being spanked is far enough from the SOM that all strokes land squarely on the bottom.   During the early light test taps, it seemed to me that my partner was too close to the SOM.   However, she was adamant that she was not and declined to make any further adjustments to her position.

And during those tests, a surprising discovery.   A test tap at 20% made her give a distinct, if subdued, squeal of pain.    That was not expected.

So to the main sequence.   Traditionally females faced a maximum of 36 strokes of the birch, and three dozen does have a nice ring to it.   But if 20% was wince worthy, 50% was more than enough for this first trial run.    And that was instantly obviously true.   She held the position of her bottom in place so that there was no risk of a stroke landing in a very wrong place, but her head constantly tossed and her curses and yelps were quite emphatic.   Furthermore, even through a grainy Skype tablet connection, the change from pale pink to quite red was easily discerned - and the crisp sound of swish and crack was a joy to a spanko's ears.

We had not attached the rod to the arm with any professional fixings, so it was not really a huge surprise when the arm and rod parted company on the 30th stroke.   And truth be told, thrity was probably quite sufficient for now.    She climbed to her feet with the demeanor of one who had been thoroughly chastised.   Examination revealed extensive marking to the buttocks - and to the hip.   She had been too close, and promptly vowed not to let that happen again.

We chatted for half an hour or so, while she put this latest beating into context with all priors ones.   It had not produced any tears, despite "stinging like merry hell".   But it was clearly on the "bad girl" side of the equation.

There were six left, and she wanted to try a modified position to see if she could keep the tips from bending round and hitting her hip.   Just six to give?   I set the level to 60% and delivered them one at a time.    The effect was definitely more significant, and she voiced painful noises of the ow! kind.

More than six at 60% was taken off our agenda.   That was not only likely to cause serious damage to her bottom, it would reduce the rod to a frazzle in no short order.   We have some more rods in reserve, but waste not want not is one of life's more useful adages.

The aftermath chat confirmed that the birch is a very painful implement, and would easily take over has giving her her worst/best good hiding ever.   So we agreed the terms of future sessions, and that we should wait at least a week for the bottom to become robust enough again to face some more discipline of a very sharp kind.

In sum, it is very possible to turn the SOM into a birching machine.   And in short, you should do so only if you know what you are doing, with a partner you totally trust.    The combination of SOM plus birch is one that could do serious harm to a pair of delicate buttocks.

Post Script - After 24 hours the marks have not started to fade, and are very tender to the touch.    Be warned.

The SOM Saga 6 - Thrashed

The test run took place last Saturday morning, and through external circumstances, the first thrashing could not happen until Monday  - or today, at the time of writing.   The anticipation was sweetly delicious and truly forecast how good the actuality was going to be.


The delivery angle of the arm had been turned to horizontal (a quick process) and she now bent over a rail to take the swats on the lower part of her bottom.   A quick set of short tests established that a full 100% stroke was well within her pain limits, and so I, one stroke at a time, delivered a long and thorough spanking.

After it was over, she was slightly breathless and was bright eyed not from tears forming, but from that excitement that comes from being on an adrenaline rush.   We discussed spankings in general and the one she had just received in particular - and I got to learn first hand the difference between a "good girl" spanking and a "bad girl" one.   She had just had about as good a "good girl" spanking that one could ever get.   But since the strokes were delivered at full force, the question arose if her SOM could ever give her a "bad girl" spanking:  should it happen that our needs coincided on such an ordeal being appropriate for her.

And then it struck her - on Saturday, a setting of 70% had stung more than those today set at 100%.   Was it possible that a downward swing, gravity assisted, was more intense than a horizontal one.

Only one way to find out.

The equipment was reset for a downward swing, and she assumed her horizontal position on the bed top again.

Towards the end of this session, her buttocks went into involuntary clenching that indicated they were real zingers.

And afterwards she told me that she had been given a sound thrashing.   A delightful thrashing that would occupy her thoughts until the next one was delivered.    But the bruises now forming on each buttock had arrived with not a hint of tears forming in her eyes.   We were still on the "good girl" side of the equation - but the wow factor had reached a new high.

Even though we had not gotten to  a "bad girl" spanking, we were well on the way to it.    We have one more day to see if we can reach that final target, before taking a week or more break.   And tomorrow is that day.

Incidentally, if your SOM is freely standing on a smooth floor, it can mover a fraction of an inch forwards on each spank.   Not a great deal, but it gets noticeable if you and your partner are set for some sort of mini-marathon.    A simple wedge cures it.

The SOM Saga 5 - Mobilzation

The first piece to fall completely into place was the discovery that TeamViewer 10 works perfectly on both machines.   When both PCs run the application, and the remote one has the correct temporary password for access, the person operating the remote PC is given a screen that perfectly mimics the host machine.   You don't have your copy of the SOM control panel - you have access to the one on the PC connected to the SOM itself.  So phidgets and tightvnc did not work for us:  no matter, the new application is spot on without any need to tweak any firewall.

The second piece was Skype could run in parallel with getting in they way of any other piece needed in our long rang spanking experiment.

We started in a voice only conversation - and having voice turned on seemed to make her more nervous than any threat of an imminent spanking.   Text is easy for all and sundry:  but voice to voice can make one feel far more exposed.   For those not used to it.

Now that I had control of the SOM, and she would get into a position where it would whack her, it was a task that took less than a minute to determine how strong a swing was that was within her pain limit yet strong enough to induce a wince.

Time for a full try out.   She switched on her video and assumed the position.   A slight pause, for I made her unassume it long enough for her to remove the protection her jeans were giving her.

I decided for this trial, I would simply let the automatic program give her 15 very firm whacks, and we could take stock of what they had done to her butt.    There is an initial fairly loud noise from the compressor as it fills the air tank - but then it  goes quiet until the tank needs reloading.   So for about 20 seconds the only noise was that of a paddle whacking into her bottom.  And then for short periods, the compressor whirred into action to re-prime the paddle.

After the fifteen she gave herself a mild massage, and told me that the first half of the test had been very successful.   She got back into position, and took a second set of 15.   And the markings on her bottom were very clearly visible to me through the wonders of Skype.

After about fifteen minutes she told me that the sting had faded to virtually nothing, but the after effect of the thud effect suggested there might be mild bruising in her near future.   A very, very satisfactory outcome.

So - a couple of observations for things that might be better for the next time.

She lay flat on the bed and got a downward stroke from the paddle.   Which worked perfectly, except that this position keeps the sensitive "underhang" of her buttocks completely out of risk of being smacked.   On promotional videos for the SOM, participants bent over a desk with a horizontal slap brought:  which brought that area of flesh into play, with suitable reactions.    She will experiment to see if she can set up the same position for herself for our next meeting.

I used the automatic screen and became virtually a spectator.   From now on, I shall use the manual screen so that each stroke is delivered when I decide, with the force that I think would be the most appropriate.   I might have her camera point to her face so that I can see how effective it all is.   You don't necessarily have to watch the color of a bottom change to know how much impression you are making on your partner.

And since TeamViewer 10 puts my mouse and keyboard as if they were connected directly to her computer, perhaps it would be wise to set up a separate account on that computer which has no access whatsoever to her personal files.   Not that she has anything to hide, and not that she has any reason not to trust me - it is just that I would feel more comfortable in an area that is devoted to one single task.   Oh - the application generates a fresh password very session - so getting access once does not give a key to go browsing any time one gets an itch to do so.

The SOM Saga 4 - Practice

So - image the position where you are sitting at your PC on one continent and your spanking partner-in-crime is sitting on another - and she is sitting by a perfectly good SOM, its muscles full of crompressed air.

Alas, the only way you can communicate is through one of the various text message systems.

You have every hope - and it is a realistic hope - that you will gain control of the SOM control panel so that you can give her the perfect spanking from such a long distnace.   But for now, all you have is instant text.

Well, if nothing else, it seemed like it was a good time to test that the SOM would work properly.

The whole reason that the submissive partner wanted the dominant partner to take control of the SOM was that she was such a wimp, that no form of self spanking was conceivable,   Given a direct command to operate the SOM, and she would obey it to the letter,    But she was not going to formulate that command herself - because that was just self spanking in disguise.

To the practicalities of carrying out a test session.   When you are on the "manual" screen of the SOM, the power of delivery is on a % scale - and as a side effect you get to learn what PSI the muscle is using.   On the "automatic" screen, the setting is in PSI and a scale gives you some hint, but no precision, as to what that means as a %.

My thought was to give my partner a set of figures to enter into the automatic screen and with one push of the button, a full session of blistering would ensue.   But early days require some caution:  the machine has the capability of inflicting serious bruising: so  we needed to move gently up the scale.

Rather in the manner that happens in my tale "The Punishment Program", I sent a specific set of figures for her to type into the automatic input boxes.   And we turned the PSI down to a reasonably safe level.   The whole spanking was encapsulated into one set of instructions, and six of the best looked like a reasonable start.    She typed in the figures I gave her, got into the ready position, and on my command, hit the Start button.   She reported a couple of minutes later that she had been given six very gentle pats on her bottom.  My initial guess at the right level of PSI to use had been way low.

At least they were some sort of spanks.   And she had pressed the button when told to.   Not a satisfactory end to the test, but it all made a promising start.

We were definitely making some sort of progress, and things looked as if they could only get better.

The SOM Saga 3 - Disconnected

The SOM2 comes with a feature that makes long distance cooperation possible - the SOM2PC software allows one partner to send commands to the second partner's PC in order for it to deliver one or a set of spanks, even if that second partner should be on the opposite side of the globe.

To get the SOM2 software to work, you have to install a free widget called phidgets:  which actually handles the P.C. to P.C. communications.  The SOM panel on one partner's screen sends a "message" through phidgets, which transmits the message onto the host P.C., which then carries out that command.

The network screen on both machines is identical:  you enter an ISP of interest, a "passphrase", indicate whether you are the host or are connecting to the host.   And that is it.   To slightly confuse the issue for a few moments when first entering this screen,  is that a dummy ISP is already displayed:  you have guess that you need to type the real ISP over the top of it.

Then you press the "connect to host" button and after ten seconds or so you might get an error message which means the host said the electronic communications equivalent of "Sod off!  I'm not interested"   (Not the exact words, but that is what they mean in human terms).  Which is exactly what happened when we tried our first link up.

Many, many, many experiments failed to remove the error message and allow access.  

Research suggested firewalls might be to blame.  Both computers had the SOM2PC and the phidgets added to the exceptions file.   No change.    The firewalls were switched off on both machines,   No change.

So - Both machines had the extremely efficient but not without risk TightVNC software downloaded onto them.   One partner would be able to actually take over complete control of the other computer: hence the risk element inherent with this solution.

And then something significant happened.   Trying to connect using the TightVNC   resulted in exactly the same sort of error message.   Perhaps it was not software, but a hardware problem, that we faced.

A chat with an IT specialist seemed to be in order, and an appointment was duly made.

The SOM Saga 2 - Hosed

Assembling the hardware that makes up a SOM is "a doddle" according to one end user, and really does not need the on-line video to show you how to do it.   All up and ready in no time at all.

However, the SOM2 is powered by an air-compressor.  This gives a more swing than an electric motor, and allows for far finer tuning of the power of any one delivery.

The machine does not come with an air-compressor:  that you have to buy yourself.   This should be no biggie for they are not expensive pieces of equipment.    Since you are more likely to use your SOM indoors than out, you are virtually driven to get an electric air-compressor which will definitely keep costs under control.

All you have to do, is connect the hose pipe attached to the SOM to the socket in the air compressor.   The instructions that come with the machine contain this gem of a useful bit of advice: 

1         Incoming air line.  Pressurized air provides the power for the SOM II system, and comes to the head unit through a thick black rubber hose with brass fittings permanently attached to the head.  This hose ends in a male quick connect fitting that mates to the female fitting supplied on most compressors or available at hardware stores as “industrial” style.  International owners may need to seek out fittings that match up appropriately.  Attaching a quick connect pair involves pulling back the collar on the female, inserting the male firmly, and releasing the collar.  The fitting should lock together making an air-tight seal.

What this really means, after some lengthy experimentation is that American air compressors come with a clip, or collar, that readily connects with the SOM2 hose, but if you get an air compressor in a foreign country, you are very likely to be out of luck. So American consumers need not worry unduly.

But an air compressor is an air compressor and there just has to be some way to make it fit a SOM, isn't there?   Not necessarily.   The first air compressor had the SOM hose swirling about quite freely.   A helpful web site suggested a coupling device to act as a bridge between the two.   Despite the diameters appear to fit the couplings parameters, air still escaped at a rate to stop the paddle arm getting enough to flex its muscles.

The second air-compressor - purchased locally - fared no better.   A trip back to the shop revealed that neither of the first two air-compressors could ever have worked with the SOM - the respective specifications were totally incompatible..   C'est la vie.

The third and final purchase of an air-compressor was one that fitted perfectly.   A simplistic test run of this third purchase showed that the only real noise came from blasting some air into the SOM for the next paddle stroke, and that that noise was considerably less than a paddle slapping a butt with any degree of real sting.

Incidentally, when testing the SOM without a paddle, only the lowest settings should be used.   Part of its integral structure, the SOM needs a stroke to come to a definite stop to prevent internal damage:  which is why you should not use a light whip or switch as the implement of infliction.

Still - we now have a SOM2 set up in a private part of the house, and its muscles flex readily with a supply of air pressure.  Nothing else could go wrong.   Or could it? 

 

The SOM Saga 1 - Blocked

If you are physically separated by double figure time zones from a potential partner, the likelihood of mutual play of one sort or another seems somewhat daunting.   Unless, of course, one partner has - or can acquire - a Spank-O-Matic 2 (aka the SOM).

The concept is delightfully simple - one partner sits at a local P.C. console - taps an icon on the screen to hand, and then in a different continent, the SOM delivers the precise intensity of whack to the rump of the second partner - the intensity that was just decided by the first partner

But it is a voyage of discovery.   And some potential interesting moments on the way.    The American manufacturer of the SOM dispatched a discretely cardboard carton to Europe and a few days later it arrived in a Customs warehouse a few miles to the East of London.

When it arrived there, a Customs officer could have been heard asking, in the local argot, of the team: "Here, what is this?"    He received a circle of shrugs by reply.    "Here, what is this?" (or the equivalent phrases in email terminology) was addressed to the eager would-be importer.

The only way around the impasse, it was agreed, was a face-to-face encounter.   "Yes, but what does it exactly do?" was the question eventually posed.   The officer listened to the reply with a remarkable stony face, and his nearby colleagues studiously took on the air of those who had not managed to accidentally eavesdrop.

"Right," said the customers office with a certain twinkle in his eye.  "I shall deem that this device is a personal massager.   That way you will not have to pay any import duty on it."    There was a pregnant pause.   "But you will, of course, have to pay V.A.T."

There was an exchange of cash from one party and the box from the other.    The SOM was now ready to go to its new home.

.The right angle

Allowing for minor variations within each position, there are precisely six different positions that a person who is about to spanked can assume, and the most significant variation is the angle the legs make with the torso,

The first pair of positions is when there is no angle at all between legs and upper body:  the victim lies flat on the floor, flat on a bench or even flat on a table.   One variation has the legs together, and in the other, the feet are shoulder width, or more, apart.    Video buffs will recognize this position as being favorite of the Russian video producers:  flat on a bench or upright at the whipping post.

Now, there are two main areas of the bottom which get spanked:  the "meat" that is the center of each buttock, and the "under-hang", that area that lies between the crease at the top of the thigh, and the meat above it.

In this first position, whether legs are apart or not, all the spanks will land squarely on the meat of the bottom.   To all intents, the under-hang is effectively taken out of play, except for random strokes from an extremely flexible instrument.   Which is why this position is possibly less popular in real life than it is in some movie studios.

The second position is when the thighs are at right angles, or thereabouts, to the upper body.  This is the automatic position assumed by someone across a knee, or standing to lie atop a desk (or even the back of a buggy cart).  And in this position, both meat and under-hang are both readily available to whatever implement of choice is being used.   The whole of the bottom, from cheek top to cheek base is open to chastisement - and the legs together or apart simply increases the ability to land slaps on the more sensitive area of skin that lies towards the very center of the bottom.   When the cheeks are splayed, the flesh on the inside of each cheek turns slightly outwards, increasing the chance of each yelp being substantially louder.

And finally, we have the position when the angle is substantially less than 90 degrees.   In position 2, the head was level with the backside, now it is considerable lower.    The easiest way to achieve this position is "touch your toes" or its American counter-part "Grab your ankles".    But there are variations, including the simple kneel on a chair and put your hands on the floor.   One film studio has a spanking bench with a hole in its center for the head to be poked through - an out of the ordinary but quite effective manner of achieving position number 3.   And the diaper position is a variant of this, save the person being spanked starts by lying on their back.

The act of assuming position three flattens the under-hang to such an extent that for all practical purposes, the meat becomes largely irrelevant.   The under-hang has become almost the entire target to be punished.   The aftermath of paddling videos, particularly those that replicate school paddlings, end with buttocks thoroughly bruised from top of thigh to just under the meaty part of the buttock.   And this is the whole point of a touch your toes caning as well - the welts will lie across the lower, more sensitive part of the bottom.   Not only does the position make the penitent take the most submissive posture readily available, the punishment is slightly more effective than that received in position 2.   Again, legs together or apart simply increase or decrease the amount of central area flattened to be part of the target area.

As a spanking author, you will be able to engineer your characters into which ever position your plot suggests, and your only issue is how much time you will devote in your narrative to describe what the assumed position has done to make your victim more accessible to the torments, or pleasures, to come.

If stuck for a new plot motif,  you could try a spot of reverse engineering.   By whatever method, start by choosing one of the six positions.   And furniture, implement, clothing.   Then try to work out how these two came to be in this exact tableau and work outwards to what started it and what happened afterwards.   That she is stood spreadeagled at a T frame to have a dressage whip applied to her rump suggests all sort of plot devices than those that result in her touching her toes awaiting for a rattan cane to reduce her to tears of pitiful remorse.

Not a cure-all, but one tool that you should have in your writer's bag, and understanding the anatomy of the six basic positions will avoid you describing an impact that simply could not have happened in real life.

Another spanking survey

The next spanking survey is under construction.

It attempts to quantify exactly what it is that the average spanko does to fulfill the foible, and tries to identify any differences between those activities dependent upon how far either side of puberty the spanking interest developed.

Every single facet of the survey will be as anonymous as possible.   The software itself does not know who took part by any traceable  method known to computer forensics, and the questions themselves are not tied in any way to the respondent.

I would like to know if you - yes you, dear reader - would like to suggest a question to be included in the survey.    If you do - and you want to be anonymous - simply use my contact form and use a fictitious email address.   There is no internal gadget to test the validity of the email address you use, only that it is correctly formatted.    Nottellingyou@nowhere,com works quite fine, even if email sent to that address will never get delivered.   (You can use a real one if you want to enter into a conversation with me, but I promise I never ever get cross with people who use false names and addresses).

I would hope to launch the survey early next month.   So if you have a suggestion, please do send it soon.

No butt about it

I mentioned recently that most humans, spankos included, are quite shy in respect of all matters in respect of our own anus.   That we each have one, in most polite conversations, is avoided even more avidly than any topic that might reveal to our stunned listeners that we can get turned on by spankings.

Reading about them is relatively OK - because reading is a very private affair.   And perhaps espying one in a spanking video might be quite acceptable for the same reason.   Indeed, more than one spanking video actually depicts the pain being delivered directly to the victim's anus:  which was no turnoff for the victims depicted in those videos.

Fascination with the anus is not a spanko trait.   There are a number of case studies reporting that some vanilla females can only achieve orgasm by way of anal sex:  and not because they are over the top kinky.

In male anatomy, the prostrate gland lies within the colon, and inch or so from the anus.   The prostate gland, among other functions, sets of the erection and massaging the gland is one way to ensure a long lasting one.

In the female anatomy, the vagina and the anus are interconnected by so many different nerve paths, the family of them are grouped together under the term pudendal nerve, which is not a singularity, but a network.

It has been suggested that spankos who pick up the fascination when very young, do so because of those two factors.   A boy contracting his buttocks gives some pressure to a (as yet) switched off gland and it sends a "meaningless" pleasure signal to the brain.   Likewise a girl contracting her buttocks causes her vagina to send a similar not understood pleasure signal to the brain.

The pleasure comes from sex circuits that will not be activated until puberty, leaving the child in total disbelief that the thought of pain can be so pleasing.

When we are grown up (ie past puberty) then the connection between anus and sex organs is more clear to us.   And those connections lead to all sorts of activities in which anal stimulation is part of the sex act itself.   Even unto a cane whacking it with enough force to give a mild pain sensation.

So perhaps you can now see that those ladies who can only get an orgasm from anal sex are not some sort of freaks:  it is just that their body chemistry relies more strongly on the way our anatomy is built than others.

What can we take away from all this as spanking authors.   The inclusion of some acts that involve the anus are more likely to increase our reader's pleasure than turn them off.   As always, plot motivation and style of writing are more important than the clinical detail.

Provided, as always, the activity is taking place between consenting adults in a safe and sane way.

If  writing about a non consensual spanking simply describes abuse, you really need to get to terms that writing about non-consensual anal play amounts to a very ugly form of pornography.   By my way of thinking, that is.

A tricky method

One of the joys of being a fiction author is that we can devise devices of utmost cunning without ever having to show that they would work in real life/

Before the Robo-Spanker and Spank-O-Matic machines hit the market, many a spanking author had used automated devices as implements of punishment and/or erotica without once having to file patents for a real life marvelous invention,.   One could write, say, "as the crank shaft rotated the paddle swung back and forth with precise and vicious efficiency".   That such a contraption could not possibly work was irrelevant - for our reader cared little about the mechanism itself, but the relentless pounding it was delivering to a bottom that truly deserved such rigorous treatment.  All the downside of the invention was set aside under the doctrine of "willing suspension of disbelief" for the promise of an upside of delightful consequences.

We really can get away with almost anything in the world of fiction.   Take nettles.   Delightful plants in the fact they can inflict a sting well on par with just about any implement that might come to a spanker's hand.   But - oh! - the complications.

They need to be quite fresh - old stale bunches are as useful as a bundle of wet noodles when it comes to inflicting a smartness intended to awaken the senses totally.   Also, the sting only gets injected on light taps - grasp a nettle leaf firmly and it will not hurt one little bit.   And we ought to take into account the stems are so soft and floppy as to make them very awkward to use..

But in fiction, we need not take time out to consider why something should not work - only how we can get it to work by making everything come out without mishap.

Pulling a bunch of nettles out of the ground to whack against a bare bottom perched atop our knee would, if you ever tried it, present all sorts of practical problems - from keeping the leaves well away from our own delicate areas, to applying swats lightly enough to draw a howl.   And so on.

Well, we writers just tell the reader that it worked out perfectly, and they will rejoice in the thoughts of  the results of such wonderful improvisation and not start cat-calling and jeering at just how impractical it all is.

You decide that the ordeal will take place in the open air?   No problem - give your hero a huge mansion, a desert island or, if everything else fails, the luck of the devil, and no-one who should not will not come running at the sounds of her yells and her cries for mercy, for pity's sake.    Really fresh leaves suggest the nettles are still firmly in the soil.   No problem, your hero uses a handy hoist coincidentally located just where it needs to be so that with her srists and ankles secured to its hook, she can be lowered, bare buttocks first ,\\, into the awaiting jaws of stinging foliage.

I suspect that when we take such huge leaps of fancy, we should append a warning tag like they do to most TV adverts in which cars are pushed to the limits of their automotive prowess - you know the sort of thing "Professional driver on closed circuit - do not try at home."    If your hero lowers your heroine butt first into a nettle patch, you might consider appending a not dissimilar warning to your epic masterpiece.

Playing away from home

We marry our partners because not marrying them would be the worse thing that could happen in our lives.  In general - I suppose there are still some marriages of convenience, but in this modern age so few as to be left out of the equation.   Being free agents, we enter into marriage because of all that our partner brings to complete the partnership, and regardless of any defects and faults that may be in the offing.

Which is why, for a number of reasons, we spankos end up marrying partners who are totally and rigorously committed to the vanilla side of the equation.   Should they be coaxed into experimentation - and often we don't even bother trying any such coaxing - the experiment is so clearly a disaster, it is never tried a second time.

We accept that our soul mate is not into spanking, and that means there will be no spankings within the marrage.

But what about outside it?   At what point does fulfilling a fetish stop being innocent entertainment and conduct that counts as infidelity?

Morality is not easy.   Despite the attempts of the ancients to instill a unified code of correct conduct for human beings, morality is still a very personal scale of what is wrong and what is right.   Most of us agree, even if only from a passing nod to the Golden Rule, that stealing is wrong.   But any Tax Inspector will tell you that it is estimated that over 90% of tax returns show a liability to taxation than a more "correct" application of the tax code would have resulted in.   And I am talking about blatant inflation of allowable expenses or reduction in declared income to achieve a lower taxation burden.   As it is almost universal that you do not steal a widow's wedding ring for personal gain, telling lies on your tax return is fair game.

So - having a spanking partner outside of marriage.   If you follow a Calvinistic or Puritanical way of thinking, you are definitely in breach of your marriage vows.   And if not, the justification for satisfying your personal needs gets easier and easier the futher away you move from such arbitrary ways of thinking.  Unless your relationship is so open, that the two of you have come to some understanding of what, and what is not, permitted and permissible.  But since forgiveness is often easier to get than permission, perhaps the matter has not yet been broached.

In the absences of such an understanding, the first question to ask is whether your partner actually knows of your interest in spanking.   The nearer the answer to that is "yes", the less deceipt that is likely to be in play.   Second, if your partner caught you in the act, how angry would that partner be?   The more certain the act would be forgiven and forgotten immediately, not only the less likely you deed would be seen as an infidelity, the less need you ought to have from keeping it a secret.

As one of my vanilla partners said "I don;\'t care where the hell you get your appetite from, provided that you always eat at home."    Now, should you be -unlike me - one of those whose spanking activity invariably leads to an erotic episode with your spanking partner:  well, perhaps marrying a vanilla was not the best decision you have ever made in your life.   But you knew that without me being so tactless as to remind you of the fact,

In all things marital, we constantly interface with people outside the marital bond:  I think both partners are entitled that the other do nothing in any of those interactions what would  be seriously upsetting.   For, to be quite candid, I would be seriously ticked off with my better half if I discovered she was indulging in her secret desires with some third party because she was too shy to tell me about her need for such indulgences,   And under the sauce for the goose precept -  knowing that keeps me within the clear and understood rules that my partner and I  live our personal lives by,

Sleep perchace to dream

From somewhat limited discussions on the topic, spankings rarely turn up in the dreams of spankophiles, and when they do, the dreamlike qualities of dreams make such spankings quite unrealistic.

The first problem comes from the way dreams actually get processed by the somnolent brain - a repeat of the same event turns out differently the second time.   If, in a dream you go out of a room and return back into the same room, the room will have changed substantially during the few dream moments you were outside of it.   This is not some oddity, it is the way in which dreams work.   Suppose you were able to look closely at the back of your dream hand while dreaming:  it would not look like the one you see during the day:  the dream one would be an almost fluidlike surface, constantly changing in pattern as you look at it.

And there are at least two huge problems with dream spankings.   A dream arm cannot "move" through the air at the same speed as a real life one.   If you carry out a spanking, it will be delivered in slow motion by a leaden arm.   A similar sensation is also felt when you try to run:  your dream legs cannot move as quickly as real life ones, and you will experience "lead-legs".

Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to feel pain in a dream, except as an echo of a real pain the body is experiencing at the time.   If you go to bed with an un-spanked bottom, no dream can give it any sort of realistic tingle.   If your butt should be freshly spanked, then your dream might possibly reflect an existing pain sensation, even though it cannot create a new one.  

The personal dynamics of a dream spanking can easily reflect your conflicted attitude towards your own interest in spanking.   If, like the vast majority of us, your liking for spankings is a closely kept secret, letting the cat out of the bag in a dream is just as difficult as if it were to occur in real life.  The horror of those people you know - who have turned up in your dream - learning your secret might be so strong as to wake you up as efficiently has having had a more traditional nightmare.

In sum, dream spankings rarely bring any deep pleasure to a spanko.   Once in a blue moon, you might experience one that was as good as watching an on line video.   Treasure the moment - it might be a long time before you get a repeat performance.

Fandom fiction

There is a sub-genre - virtually exclusively in the hands of amateur authors posting to free story sites - of using famous characters from TV, film or written work and using them in a tale. 

There are several levels of psychology going on:  particularly in the world of spanking fiction. 

The easiest one to understand is that the author does not have to spend any narrative on setting up who the characters are, and how they are supposed to interact.   If you should elect to have Hermione Granger subjected to corporal punishment by Professor Snape (a tale that really exists on one forum) you do not need to spend time on descriptions or motives.   Your fellow Harry Potter fans know exactly who these two are, and why Snape would wish to inflict grievous damage to Miss Granger's hind-quarters.   However, you need to keep the tale posted only to some rather obscure site - J.K. Rowling's legal team would have no problem in swinging into action if they had a case you were making profit from copyright infringement.

But if you are safe from legal jeopardy, then it is just a matter of tweaking these pre-set characters to react they way you want.   In Book One itself, Hermione (with good intentions) did set fire to Snape's cloak.   In your tale, you might add that she later discovers that the ancient student code of corporal punishment for students - who cause actual bodily harm to staff members - was not included in the re-write.  That student law is still valid, despite the intent to repeal it.   Being that sort of girl, she demands that Snape follow the rules exactly as written.   You could even give Professor Minerva McGonagall a serious frown as she warns Hermione that the pain will soon fade, but not the memory that Snape will have seen her bare bottom.   See how easy it is!

The second theme is that you can fantasize about just anybody, and make them do your bid and call within the confines of a fandom piece.   Perhaps you think that Haley's mother should have taken a hair brush to her rump before now.   Voila - in your tale that is exactly what happens.   And when you watch all future episodes of that TV comedy series, the relationship of those two onscreen figures will, in your mind, be tempered by that good hiding Mom once gave her teenage daughter.

For the readers of fandom fiction, their motivation is less obvious to me.   Full disclosure - I do not enjoy reading fandom fiction.   But I can make some guesses.   Once the book, film, series is over, then there will be no more from that source.   So it is just great that some other sources take over to explore what and how your favorite characters continue after the "official" media is done with them.   People go to, for example, a Harry Potter fandom site for the sheer delight of new thoughts and ideas being expounded - provided that all of them stay in role forever.    Try to explore Snape's feminine side, and you might find you have become most unpopular on the site.

So fandom fiction gives us rapid access to existing personae and lets them follow our script, provided they stay in their original roles.   A not total waste of time, but you should only write stuff for sharing it with fellow enthusiasts, and for free.    Having said that, if your piece gives you a fully fledged outline for a professional piece, all you have to do is rewrite it with brand new characters.   Granted, they will need fleshing out:  but all the hard work is already done.    For a wordsmith, this is going to be one of those easy-peasy assignments.

The bare truth

Pander me for a while while I take us through one of my own favorite experiences and themes for spanking fiction.   She is comfortably across my knee, skirt properly lifted, and is ready for her bottom to be turned from relaxed ease into one that has been well chastised.

A question worthy of exploring from a narrative point of view:  Who pulls down the panties?

A very short space of time for the act to take place, but so many delicious dynamics can come into play - particularly for written narrative or video.

If I simply pull down her panties, an aspect of my dominance has come into play, and if she does one of her submissiveness is in effect.  Either is pretty cool, depending on the circumstances and each has its own impact on heightening the ensuing pleasure.

Unless it is a discipline spanking and she does not want it to be on her bare bottom.   It goes without saying that if I have decided it will be on her naked bottom, then that is how it will happen - but we face a temporary act of defiance by her.

If I tell her to take down her panties and she flatly refuses, we have some sort of physical or psychological battle on our hands.   And, rankly, the only way of overcoming it is to give her enough pre-spanking spanks to make her change her mind.

On the other hand, if I try to pull down her panties and she twists and writhes in a vain attempt to halt the proceedings, at most she has only delayed the inevitable by a few seconds, and during that delay has repeatedly shown me just how soft and malleable her buttocks are.   Which is no bad thing.

So - in real life - a SSC spanking that may (but perhaps not) lead to a romp of a more erotic nature, telling her to pull down her panties as no downside and increases the amount of her submission to my authority.   And a punishment spanking almost demands that I assert my authority by pulling them down regardless of any protest.

In fiction, you may want to use this moment to clarify the respective roles of your two characters.   His act, or demand, says something about the authority he has over her,   And her compliance or rebellion something about her acceptance of that authority.

A ploy worth having in your back of tricks to flesh out the emotions and sensations swirling around a spanking scene.

Feeling guilty

Some spankos feel guilty - not because they have been caught red handed and know what is going to happen to them - but about being spankos.

When one part of society points at a different part of society with a different world view, the part pointed at can be made to suffer in all sorts of unhealthy ways.

A classic example - even in today's enlightened society - is the way groups of heterosexuals treat homosexuals.   Largely based on misreading holy scripture, some religions tell gays that they are willfully sinning against God, and will spend all eternity screaming in hell fire for making the wrong choice.   (This is not the blog for discussing this at length - but if the word "eloah" really, really meant "Abomination" (which it doesn't), the modern meaning of abomination was given in the 13th century.    Whatever the ancients meant when they scribed that what might possibly be described as a homosexual act, it was eloah, they were not talking in the words of Roman Catholic homophobes).

Anyway, the conservative religions have dumped so much guilt onto teenage homosexuals, that a counter group has been set up to reduce the number of suicides among teenage gays.   Honest - if you want more detail, Google for "It gets better" and you will see what the good guys are doing to reduced one harmful effect of not understanding scripture.

Back to spanking.

One topic that turns up pretty regularly on self help psychological forums is a request from someone on how to "get rid" of a spanking fetish.   The reason why spankings have become part of the sex drive vary - but almost always hark back to childhood spankings - but instead of healthy acceptance to embrace the foible, the writer wallows in the guilt of having such "unnatural" desires.   Fellow writers (who seem to have no formal training in psychology advise "ignore it and it will go away" strategies.   All very sad.

SSC spankings between adults is quite delightful and - apart from some mild bruising - does not damage the participants in any manner that should cause alarm.

I think we are seeing a spill over from the anti-spanking brigade.   Those fanatics are so self assured that no good can ever come from swatting a child - despite all the evidence to the contrary - that their propaganda has spilled over into the area of what makes the "correct" set of sexual preferences.

It behooves us all to try to engender the notion that being a spanko is no cause for shame.   The problem is, I guess, the vast majority have secrecy ingrained into us, that even talking about it is a task that simply cannot happen.

The big turn on

Spankos get turned on by spankings - that is taken as a self evident truth.   But when you ask spankos what it is that turns them on, you get different answers.

As you probably already known, the largest sex organ in the human body is the brain,   All pleasure, taste, sight, tactile, orgasmic, whatever, happens inside the brain and the trigger outside of the brain simply initiates a pleasure sequence deep inside the head.

Virtually any nerve system in the body can trigger the pleasure circuit to tingle.   Hence, let someone with a foot fetish loose on a suitable pair of feet, and watch near ecstasy take center stage.  Horses for courses and other useful adages come to mind.

Some hypothesize that the sight of buttocks turning red is linked to some primordial mating signal in the manner of some primates who still use colored hind quarters as an indication of readiness to mate.   But that tends to overlook the fact that most spankos are way less primitive than the average human being.

Another theory, that does not stand very close scrutiny, is that a body in agony mimics that of a body in high sexual stimulation:  groans, moans, wild shaking of limbs...    I did say, it does not stand very close scrutiny.

So what is the one big trigger?    There isn't one.    Whatever reduces you to a whimpering wreck of sexual delight may be the biggest turn off that the next in line has ever heard.

It all depends upon what stimuli trigger the pleasure circuits in any one brain, and the personal journeys of each of us has brought us to our own personal vision of heaven.

There are some common experiences and they can lead to some generalizations.   The prostrate gland in the human male lies near the outer end of the colon:  pressure close to the anus could cause the colon to contract in that areas, causing the prostate gland to feel as if it were being massaged.  An act virtually guaranteed to cause an erection.   So some come up with an equation that goes along the lines of spank = contraction = massage action = pleasure sensation.   And for some, but not all, that does happen.

Likewise, within the nether regions of a lady, the vagina and the anus are closely coordinated in sensations by the pudendal nerves.   Which gives another formula spank = contraction of anus = contraction of vagina = pleasure sensation.   Again, true for some, but a great universal truth,

The tactile sensation of hand on bottom, from either side of that equation, is not unpleasant.   The dominance/subservience of a spanking can trigger all sorts of deep tingles.   And the simple memory of how prior episodes led to great relief can, just by itself, be sufficient to set us off down that path once again.

From surveys, we on the dominant side do get higher when the spanking is "supposed" to be unwilling, and those on the submissive side have reported that the dominant's pleasure in what is going on far outweighs their own.

Even so, there is an unwritten SSC contract binding us all, and we breach that to slake our own lust at great peril to our own relationships.   Only when fantasizing in fiction can we ever cross that bounday line.

Resistence is useless

It would seem to me that we have two sorts of submissives on the spanking scene - the pacifist and the fighter.

The pacifist admits defeat as soon as the penalty is spelled out - goes across a knee or a desk without a word of protest and hangs on in until the final spank has finished its blistering effect.

And the fighter kicks and yells and does everything possible to delay the inevitable - and even once it has started, continue to delay its conclusion for as long as humanly possible.

And each has their role to play in our fantasies.   The noble heroine, going to her fate, can engender both sympathy and empathy.   And if nothing else, the bottom will be an easy target.    On the other hand, a wild cat brat flatly refusing to take her punishment strongly reinforces the unwilling victim aspect that acts as added pepper some of the time.   And wriggling about does give one more opportunities to see forbidden charms than when staring at a stoic and solidly clenched pair of thighs.

Video producers love fighters - simply for the fact that overcoming the struggles is taking up chunks of recording time that otherwise would have to be filled with ad lib dialogue, and we all know how bad that can turn out.

But you might have spotted the RealSpankingsNetwork and Pain4Fem are making fortunes with simple "Come here - assume the position - take that" shorts that are very low on talk, very low on resistance and very high on pain infliction.    And while English Spanking Classics still make their videos available for sale - full of tantrums and jumping around - they are virtually out of production.

As writers we can feed our readers what makes them tingle - and all the evidence points to them preferring spankees who grit their teeth and take their whacks.   Grunts of pain are well within order - but "keep your hands off me, you brute" goes into a zone most readers don't really care. for.

The age gap

The perceived wisdom of heterosexual marriage - at least in the UK when I was a lad - was that the husband should be slightly, but not excessively, older than the wife.   Exceptions abounded all over the place, but were always seen as being exceptions to the rule.   A wife "too young" was either indicative of a gold digger in action, or a dirty old man getting his wicked way, depending upon your point of view.   A wife "too old" was usually indicative of a mommy's boy achieving his ideal partner.

And this seems to have spilled over into spanking fiction:  the participants in an adult relationship that is SSC are expected to be of about the same age:  and in the genre of erotic spanking, in their youthful prime.  When the shorthand M/F is used, he may be excessively dominant and she excessively submissive, but woe betide you if you make it clear there is a huge age gap between them.   Particularly if the action after the spanking turns into a sex romp.

The same sort of unwritten rule seems to apply to discipline, in real life as in spanking fiction.   A male  disciplinarian is expected to out-age a female penitent, by some degree, however small.   M/F is back to our heterosexual marriage rule, M/f is dad whacking his teenage daughter and M/g is a teacher whacking a young schoolgirl.   (Point worthy of note - any /g tale is fraught with potential difficulty and having a very young girl get spanked is more likely to get you hate mail than a growing band of followers) - of course, your mileage may vary.

When we have protagonists who are F/f and F/g the age gap is instantly obvious.   F/F has some interesting age considerations in play,  You might find that if the two ladies are of similar age, you have no need for narrative to explain their relationship and that the bigger the difference in age there is, the more detail you have to deal out.   However, should your tale have some twenty year old young woman taking her hairbrush to a forty year old's bottom, you really will have to spend a lot of time showing how such an unlikely outcome came about.   On the other hand, it does not need anywhere near as much work when a 40 year old teaches a lesson to someone in her acquaintance who is only 20 years old.

The scenarios of M/m, M/b, F/m and F/b clearly have no problems dealing with the inherent ageism we spankos seem to have.    And when it comes to M/M and F/M, we are in area where I have no personal experience or observation to share with you.   I suspect that the dominant party "ought" to be about the same age or slightly older than the submissive one, but really don't know for sure.   But even as an outsider looking in, I think that if you write about a 20 year old young woman taking a cane to a 40 year old male, you will need a lot of set up to get the reader to be comfy with the situation. 

The hole truth

You need to be quite adult about this - we need to have a talk about some of the human orifices.   They have an impact or your readers' sexual drive, and thereby could impact your writing.   And it is not impossible you might get to understand yourself a little better.

There are over 60 types of sphincter, or anus, in the human body but only one that we can readily identify:  to such an extant that the word anus has, for the vast majority of us, become to mean that one.   The one that everyone has, but very few ever get around to talking about.   The possession of an anus seems to be a bigger secret than having a spanking element to one's psyche.   By far, the item most often stolen by shop lifters are hemorrhoid treatments - because being caught stealing is far less shameful than letting a store clerk of an embarrassing medical condition.

At the other extreme, some people get a great deal of innocent pleasure from wearing "butt-plugs" - a sort of dildo that is inserted into the anus and left there for a while.

Which makes the topic of anuses a tad tricky for us writers of spanking fiction.    The slaps are being delivered in close proximity to an anus - in some forms of extreme BDSM to the actual anus itself - and as writers we can narrate about it or turn a blind eye to it.   Which is more correct?   It depends.

There are three words that are perfectly permissible in "polite" fiction:  penis, vagina and anus.   Provided that very few adjectives are added to any of those three nouns:   too many adjectives and the line has been crossed taking our work outside that which is considered polite.   And if you use any of the common crude terms instead of the scientific nomenclature, you have instantly become "impolite".    Indeed, lots of adjectives with crude terms and you meet one of the more common definitions of pornography.

Writing pornography is perfectly OK - provided that you do not try to sell it to people having disguised and promoted it as polite fiction.   That would be some sort of breach of trust in the unwritten contract between author and reader.

If your target audience is one that expects you stay within the confines of polite society, then mentioning the existence of the anus between the buttocks should only occur if, for some reason, it is germane to the story.   And even then, only a passing reference.   If you are writing to those who enjoy pornography, describing in meticulous detail the spankee's anus and what happens to it during the course of your tale is not only warranted, omitting it would - for some readers - be something of a let down.   Your readers,  your writing.

That is enough on this topic for today.   It might interest you to know why the anus is part of the sex drive, and that is a topic I shall return to in the near future.

Implement of Choice

Quite often, simply by selecting an implement with which to punish a bottom, an author leaves it at that.   The protagonist delivers ten crisp cracks of a crop, and the reader is left to connect the dots.   A double edged sword, for the reader may make the beating meet some unstated ideal, but the reader may end up with a bottom that looks nothing like the one you imagined at the time of writing.

This is because the same implement may have different effects depending upon how it is used.

There are two main spanking motions:  back and forth in the manner of an oak paddle, or swished across the bottom as in the manner of a prison strap.    The outcome will be quite different.

A birch rod used as a paddle is fairly tame - and the sorest part of the victim's body is more likely to be the right hip rather than the bottom itself (the tips of the birch can curl around the butt, and it is where the tips land that cause the greatest pain).   A birch rod used with a whipping motion is a different matter altogether - this is the Victorian way, and it is designed to draw blood quickly and efficiently.   Six of the best of a birch used in a spanking motion might produce a yelp - six with a whipping motion is almost guaranteed to produce screams of pain.

And so it goes on.   A plimsoll (a British gym shoe with a flat rubber sole) used with a spanking motion caused a schoolkid to return to their desk with a sullen frown.  Used with swish would have the same schoolkid hopping up and down in a very lively manner, before returning to their desk with eyes brimming with tears.

Some implements - of the whip family, such as quirt, sjambok or buggy whip - are clearly meant to be used with a whipping motion.   And when so used, were constructed in such a way that the blows were likely to break the skin.   As authors, we might not want our characters to end up with bloody bottoms, but if we do not spell it out clearly, our readers may read the scene and conclude that a blood fest is what we intended.

Some implements - of the stiff paddle family - can virtually only be used with a back and forth spanking motion.   Dependent upon size, weight, and strength of arm, the most likely outcome is a pair of severely bruised buttocks.   If extensive bruising is not your intent - and more important, not an effect your readers relish - when you decide a paddle is going to be the choice of implement, you need to take time to make it clear that the size, weight and/or strength of arm is such that the bottom will tingle a healthy deep pink, and not turn black.

And then we have those that can be used either way.   A garden cane used with a spanking motion is going to sting like merry hell - but one used with a whipping motion will raise welts of a much more serious nature.

So, unless we do not care what our reader thinks has happened to the bottom under duress, it behooves us to give enough clues that the picture in the reader's mind is the one that we wish to draw.

Hold out your hand

We spankos prefer it when the bottom is the target of punitive action - it is what makes us what we are.

But not exclusively so - which raises an interesting question at what point does the infliction of pain to some part of the body lose any interest for us.   Up front, I would say that tooth-ache has nothing of interest to the vast majority of us.   And a migraine is largely of the agenda of pain sensations that set off our internal tingle.

But what about a young lady holding out her hand to have its palm strapped or - more rarely - given one or more stokes of the cane.   Well, the sight is no stranger to most of us.   Because the practice was so wide spread in post-war English school discipline, it does make an appearance in both literature and video.   Is it erotic?   Sometimes, I guess.   A person holding out their hand for pain to be inflicted upon it is about as submissive an act as any one can imagine - right up there with touching one's toes for a similar fate to be inflicted upon a backside.   Submission is definitely among our possible buttons, and getting the palm of one's hand caned or strapped was, in real life, as about non-consensual as it ever got.   The actress is a willing victim, but when in such a posture of complete submission it is easy to pretend that she is not.

Blows across the shoulder and upper back turn up so often in videos of a more punitive nature, that the producers know they have tapped into a money making line.   Before getting, say, 25 strokes of a quirt across her backside, the recipient first gets 25 across the back.   It is not clear to me why a back whipping can intrigue, particular when a bottom one is going to follow, but it is common enough as to be standard fare.

On the other hand, blows inflicted elsewhere to the body simply do not interest me that much.   Frontal whippings are not part of my personal foible, and inflicting pain on the private parts, for me, is quite a turn off.

So my works almost invariably lead to a female getting her bottom spanked.    And there is very little deviation from that one outcome.   For my readers, this is just fine - they want to read about ladies of varying ages getting enjoyable or unenjoyable bottom warmings, and they know that is where my tales are going to take them.

For you and your readers, you need to decide if you are going to stay mainstream, or fill a niche.   And once you have so chosen, there are enough potential readers to keep you happy.

Hello, my little spanko...

As you are acutely aware, even though the internet has torn down the curtain to reveal that million upon million of us (up to 20% of all adults according to some) enjoy some aspects of the spanking scene, we are extremely shy about telling others that we have our foible.

Which makes meeting up with like minds a little difficult.

Suppose, for the sake of illustration, you were a man seeking a female companion - you could not possibly start strike-up conversations with the line "Hello little girl, you look as if you have been naughty.   Does your naughty bottom deserve a spank or two?"   Well, I suppose it is not impossible, but even if you happened to be chatting with a spanko, the chances are that you will have turned her right off getting involved with you.

If you think about it, exactly the same difficulty arises for vanillas trying to pick up other vanillas for some vanilla styled sex.   An opening line of "Would you like to go to bed with me?" is one fraught with rejection of all manner of reasons.

Vanilla or spanko - we all have to dance some sort of dance first.    Except vanillas do not have to introduce the topic of sex into the negotiation:  that is somewhat something of a given when two start the tango that might lead to a bedtime romp.

We spankos do not have spanking as a given in the negotiations:  there is a 50% chance our new colleague has no interest in spanking activity whatsoever, a 25% chance they can tolerate some as a sort of "slap and tickle" approach to foreplay, and 25% are hoping against hope that you share the same burning desire that they do.   Bringing up spanking gives you a 50/50 shot of it being a turn off, and the same chance it might lead to a butt getting a whack or two.   While those are not bad odds, the act of tossing the dice means that we have to show our interest, in outright breach of the secrecy we need according to paragraph one above.

So - what can we do.    Well, first we can hang about on chat forums;  that gives us anonymity while revealing our deepest secrets.    But that is a less than stellar way of finding a real life partner to share some real life activity.

We could attend a "munch" - a meeting of spankos for entertainment and meet up purposes.   But any recovery attempt to deny our spanko nature is doomed to failure.   Another certain breach of secrecy.

We really are left with simply trying to broach the subject while in a one-to-one meeting, in such a way that both parties can do a recovery if the other is clearly not a spanko.

Arm yourself with suitable seques into any topic that makes no statement about what you are hoping to hear.   Television becomes a topic?   There have been masses of TV startles lately - you should be able to bring one to mind without it being on the lines of "Amy clearly loved getting spanked by Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory.   How about you?"      Your own childhood days?   Aw come on - you have to be able to say something about how today's anti-spanking policy is affecting the public behavior of children.   And that gives a good reason to ask your companion what sort of discipline they got when they were younger.   Which might be an interesting topic in its own right.

If your partner makes some sort of mild gaffe, you have a chance to introduce the lame joke, with a very broad smile,  "It seems that you were not beaten often enough or hard enough when you were younger - and it now shows."  Not a rib tickler, and not brought in as such - the reaction to those words might tell you so much about your new potential partner that you will both know how the land lies.

In the manner of a cast member of "Astronaut Wives' Club" you might simply give a friendly swat to the rump of your acquaintance.   An annoyed protest can be countered with "Sorry - I was just giving your bottom a friendly compliment for being so attractive."   It allows you to recover from a hostile response, and move forward if the response was clearly not of a hostile nature.

Now - we would not be having this discussion if being a spanko was not seen as needing to be a carefully kept secret.  Maybe we should all join in some sort of world wide coming out campaign.   And the act of coming out might bring very pleasant surprises in its wake.

Bound to succeed

Sometimes the person about to be spanked is first securely tied to the bench - or other item acting as a spanking bench - before the first stroke is administered.

In the real life world of historic non-consensual beatings, such an act was often part of the ritual:  one example - before a bosun did everything he could to impart serious pain into a miscreant's backside, the victim would be secured across a cannon, so that escape was impossible and the entire ordeal would be completed in one session.

Partly for this reason, some domestic discipline scenarios have a similar ritual - the penitent is secured so that a full measure of discipline may be administered.   But, I suspect, only partly.

Nowadays, I would hazard all adult to adult spankings are completely consensual:  for those that are not lead to rapid appearances before some criminal court to be asked to explain just what one was thinking.

But sometimes the pretense that it is not consensual adds a peppery tingle to the session.   So a second reason that a person may allow themselves to be secured by wrist and ankle to a frame is that, to some degree, the beating is out of control of the one on the receiving end.   There is trust that the caning, paddling or whipping will stay within the bounds of being reasonable, but it is no longer possible to simply stand up and walk away if it is not.

But many of those with a liking for spanking also have the fellow foible of bondage.   When a lady willingly touches her toes to be dealt with in an appropriate manner - that act of submission carries many level of overtone in it.   And to demure to being securely fastened is one of the ultimate acts of submission.

So - when one adult secures another prior to a beating, there are many forces that have come into play:  the submission, the non-consensual nature, and that it is not impossible that pain thresholds might be crossed.   A heady mixture - so heady, I am among those who agree it is one that should only be shared by partners who have earned complete trust in each other.

It would be a disaster to find that your newest, most charming partner is actually an utter sadist once you have made it impossible for you stop any more pain being inflicted.   Only the most dedicated masochist would enjoy such a session - and, to the surprise of vanillas - very few spankos who enjoy being on the receiving end meet the definition of having masochistic tendencies.

If your writing takes your characters into being tied up and spanked, it does not have to turn into a Mood Pictures pain fest.    The delights, sensations and emotions of being secured and whacked can be explored in depth, without the victim having to endure some sort of torture session.   Just a very intense one.

Even in our wildest fantasies, having one eye of it all being SSC is not a bad idea.

We all have a role to play

Vanillas often wonder why spankos sometimes go to - in their words - laughable lengths by taking part in elaborate role play, as part of their spanking activities.   Two consenting adults - right? - so why not just let the whacking begin?

First, role play allows a ritual to be introduced into a session that adds to it something extra to simply grabbing a partner and whacking away indiscriminately.   By way of example, if your ideal spanking includes scolding before and during, and corner time afterwards - unless into some very serious domestic discipline arrangement - both parties need to play some sort of role where such activity is expected, tolerated and, at some level, satisfy an internal need.

Second, it is very easy in role play to take on the pretense that the person getting the spanking does not wish to be spanked.   We all want to think, at times, the person being spanked would prefer to be elsewhere other than on the receiving end of a good hiding,   So, when husband and wife play the roles of schoolmaster and schoolgirl, it is not (necessarily) to pretend that the wife has returned to virginal purity, but that when she gets punished, she is a most unwilling victim.

Third, role play allows us to explore and revel in experiences out of our normal everyday routines, and even out of our own lifetimes.   Imagining what it might have been like if in a prior life you had been a warder at Bridewell, and really had to deal with prisoners in a formal and brutal way when they broke prison regulations - well, unless you try it, by role playing, you will never know.

And finally - and possibly the most important reason - role play can set up a situation where there is gong to be a spanking purely for the spanking's sake,  And nothing else.   If a wife is playing the role of a school girl, for her teacher to indulge in sexual activity afterwards - as her teacher - would be beyond the bounds of the role play in an all usual circumstances.    Other than in more racy erotica, any school teacher who had sex with a student would do so at extreme peril for their continued liberty - and if nothing else, that background nag would probably take all the enjoyment out of the affair,.

Four very valid reasons for role playing - but each one guaranteed to make the average vanilla shake their head is amused disbelief.   Still, one of the sure fire ways to recruit a vanilla to our ranks is to get them to first take part in a role play session.   But we shall leave that notion for a future post.

A question of gender

There is a shorthand convention to describe the participants in a spanking scene:  F=Adult Female, f=Young Female, M=Adult Male and m=Young Male.   Thus, a mother spanking her daughter can be shortened to F/f and the standard adult relationship is M/F.

You can play around with the letters to see if you get inspiration for some new angle you have not worked on before.   For example, is it possible to write a realistic scenario for bb/FF? - or, if the idea turns you on, could you create some quite fantastical episode where two lads end up walloping the backsides of two mature ladies?   M/Fffffff  suggests a headmaster who is tasked with caning several schoolgirls and their teacher to boot.    Highly improbable but not completely unworkable.   And so on.

It was in this way that I found one of my one road blocks in writing spanking fiction.   If find if I write a  F/M scene, it comes out awkwardly unrealistic and M/M is just downright impossible for me.    Not that I have anything against real world instances of M/M discipline, nor M/M as SSC conduct between consenting adults - it is just that I find no personal interest in writing about such events.  And when I constructed a plot that made a F/M scene inevitable, I had to find a collaborating author to construct something that was realistic and entertaining.

But I am not alone in this outlook.   Surveys suggest that a mere 2% of spankos want to read or view M/M spankings, and the number looking for such material is considerably smaller when the respondents are vanilla.

You need to take note that for entertainment purposes, the majority want to read about /F and /f spankings.   If you are catering for a niche audience, you don't need to worry - but if not, you ought to keep in mind what the average spanko reader wants, if you are going to rely on repeat readers.

Most of the time, our readers want and expect the person being spanked to be a female.   I am not a qualified psychologist, so can only surmise that the "normal" human mindset - that puts males into a more dominant and females into more submissive one - echoes a widespread belief of normal behavior, and therefore one that is more acceptable, in material meant to entertain us.

Try to imagine, for example, the final spanking scene in McLintock! with a role reversal - Maureen O'Hara now chases John Wayne all around town and eventually whacks him with a coal shovel,   It would be very hard for that version to come across as light-hearted and as natural as the scene we actually got.   I suppose it is all part of the human condition.

The F/F and F/f formats are more widely read, for it is a female bottom that gets whacked.   M/M and M/m are less easily read, for the majority of us really do not empathize with any degree of relish the thought of a male bottom getting whacked.    There are exceptions, but few and far between.

So if you should find that you are inspired to write a f/M, of a m/M tale that is not parody, but a serious attempt to entertain, do not be overly surprised if your readers do not praise you lavishly.

When did it start for you?

It is now seen that spankos divide into two distinct groups:  those who got the first inkling of their interest before the age of 10, and those who acquired it during or after puberty.

I am in the process of constructing a new Spanking survey to try to highlight all the differences between the two groups (suggestions for interesting questions greatly appreciated) but for now, I would like to discuss one that seems to be pretty widespread - but definitely not universal.

We find that vanillas do not understand - indeed cannot understand - the idea of a spanking just for the spanking's sake itself.   Particularly if no element of discipline is involved.   She has a need to have her bottom slapped hard, engenders such an outcome and that is it.   No erotic play of any kind, no sex - nothing.   The spanking was the be all and end all of the incident.

In discussions with fellow spankos, there are some of us who also don't really understand a spanking for a spanking's sake.   It is, in their world view, a prelude to sex or part of foreplay and for them even a discipline spanking is too far outside the SSC equation.

So far, all the spankos I have come across with this mindset are what we might call "late starters" - they acquired the taste at or after puberty.

And that makes a great deal of sense to me.

The 75% of us who started young, tended to find the idea of a spanking to be quite delightful, but the practice to be very unpleasant.   It happens, but it is rare, that young spankos actually put themselves into trouble simply to get another spanking.   It is the thought, not the deed, that intrigues.   (There are a number of theories as to why the young body acts like this, but that is for another post).

After puberty, the 75% of us find that our existing spank drive often gets wrapped around our new sex drive.   And actual spanking activity can take place without any sense of fear or loathing.   A correspondent told me that for the longest time in early teen-hood, she thought the words spanking and masturbation were synonyms.  We have two separate drives that often intertwine, but they are separate.

The 25% latecomers had a sex drive in place before the spanking one got built.   Again there are a number of theories to explain how this comes about, but they all try to show the mechanics of adding a spanking drive TO a sex drive.    Latecomers do not have two drives, the have one which has two distinct featues.

Thus, some of us have two drives and a spanking for a spanking's sake satisfies the one completely, and the rest have only one:  and for them, usually, a spanking without sex just seems somewhat incomplete.

p.s.   If you do have any thoughts on questions to try to reveal other differences, do drop me a line.

Innocent bystanders

In times gone by, it was common for corporal punishment to be carried out in some public place, so that citizens could see justice being done, take heed that such an outcome could be in their own future if they strayed too far, and to make the ordeal more unpleasant for the sinner.

Indeed, at most school's in the UK when corporal punishment was still permitted, the ultimate sanction was to be caned in front of the whole school.   The only crime that seemed to merit such a public setting was that of stealing, and about once a year we would be assembled in the main hall to watch someone caught shoplifting getting a public beating.   And learned to refrain from helping ourselves to goods freely available to the light fingered when visiting department stores.

In the main, domestic spankings were private affairs, conducted behind closed bedroom doors.   The yells and yelps of the wrongdoer alerted the siblings to how severe retribution could be, but, usually it was a private matter between parent and child.   There were exceptions.   Notably, Bridget Bardot was once spanked in front of her entire family for having caused a valuable antique vase to get broken, but she was an exception, not the norm of how things were done in the recent past.

Public spankings of an erotic nature are a different matter.   The spanker and the spankee are there to enjoy themselves and part of the enjoyment is a group of aficionados looking on with the tingle that might come from the echo of someone else getting a sore bottom.   I have never actually attended such a session, not as participant and not as onlooker so I can only surmise that you need to overcome a fair degree of embarrassment in order to fit in comfortably.   Erotic spankings are usually meant to lead to more intimate activities, and I am reasonably certain that the more intimate activities were not part of the entertainment watched by the audience..

For us authors of spanking fiction, setting up the plot so that a spanking - whether consensual to some degree or not - leads to interesting possibilities in examining the emotions of all concerned.   From that felt by an elder woman, grimly pleased to see a young hussy getting her just deserts, through to pleasure felt by some males when they watch a female bottom bouncing up and down, through to the humiliation burning at the wretched wretch getting thoroughly paddled.

There are so many possibilities for us to explore, I shall return to this topic again in the near future.    In the meantime, do experiment with putting your spanking in a public place and see where that plot device leads you.

Making scenes

Stories without any scene setting abound among spanking authors:  we are drilled into the standard plot (there is going to be a spanking, there is a spanking, there was a spanking) that using up valuable white space with petty descriptions of where it all happened seems, to many of us, to have a very low return on investment.

So we get sloppy:  she is caught smoking, gets sent to the headmistress's office, has her backside caned, and rues the sad adventure.   There is no need to spend time and effort describing what a school looks like, what a musty dank corridor leading to the office looks like, or what impact the oak panels have in casting a solemn countenance to the tragic events.

And - full disclosure - I have done the same.   Admittedly, in the torrid little pot boiler "Atonement", the leaving out a scene setting paragraph was one of the deliberate mistakes you were supposed to spot.   But in other would-be "masterpieces", the omission was just careless idleness.

Now, you do not need a huge wad of material to set up a scene,   Tolkien spent over a whole page describing a hole in the ground - an exceptional whole in the ground mind - but some of our tales take less than a whole page in total.   We need to cut our dress according to our cloth, to coin a phrase, for it would be a tad peculiar to spend the whole narrative in setting up a scene and not going anywhere with it..

A scene setter needs to give the reader enough background material for the rest of the tale to have substance.   And we need not go to lengths.   For instance, suppose you want to describe a beating in the manner of the way one might be dished out in the  Royal Navy - back in the days of George III.   You don't have to overdo it.

Eight days out of Portsmouth, HMS Banshee, a 120-gun ship of the line, was in full sail as she ploughed South through light swell en-route to join the sixth flotilla in the Indian Ocean.   Her sails were a brilliant white in the morning sun, and her pennants told the world at large that she carried a Commodore as officer in command.   Two frigates and one supply ship maintained station to her rear.

And that is quite enough to show that the action is aboard a military war ship, far out at sea, on a bright sunny morning.   Even so, some rather dreary research was necessary to avoid making a huge error in the set up. 

But it does not take many words to set out the store of what is to follow.   If you are working on a school girl gets the cane for smoking tale, I really think it behooves a few opening lines to lay out the red brick stones of your old all-female academy, shiny from a light rain shower.   And those oak panels in the Headmistress's study are surely worthy of a mention - they have been there for years and years waiting for you to acknowledge how solemn they make the scene.   But the best thing, your readers will be more comfy in understanding where your narrative takes them.

Warming up the bottom

Mainly from the influence of spanking videos, and a long established practice among consenting adults, the "warm up" is a standard part of the spanking scene.

And so it should.   When two consenting adults decide to liven up their bedroom romp with a slap or two to the rump, a full blooded whack with a riding crop - as the opening slap - might not lead to the marital bliss initially hoped for.   A set of light slaps inures the buttocks from later harder smacks, and one cane move slowly up the scale, at all times keeping on the "right" side of the partner's pain threshold.   Erotic spankings never really hurt, even if the final few swipes would bring a nod of acknowledgement from a Royal Navy bosun of years gone by.

On the other hand, if some wrong doer is being punished, warming up goes completely against the intent of physical discipline.   The aim is to instantly and significantly cross the victim's threshold of pain to try to ensure there is no repetition of the behavior that caused the punishment to be imposed in the first place.   The whacks do not have to be excessive - they simply have to be effective.   It is not absolutely necessary to use a fearsome weapon to impose the necessary degree of compliance - a bare hand may smack with enough force to make the resultant yelp of annoyed pain to be genuine, and to cause contriteness.

There are two complications you might need to deal with as a spanking fiction writer.

The first is the "willing victim" syndrome.    The young lady (or young man in today's egalitarian society) may want to enjoy all the sensations of being an unwilling victim, but only because they want to feel those emotions.   And in real life, as in fiction, the wielder of the cane walks a very tricky line of wanting each stroke to be just a tiny little over the pain threshold, but not too far as to invoke a safe word.   The beating has to be painful, but not overly so.    In this situation, it is not a genuine warm up that takes place, but as the victim's bottom gets sorer, the pain threshold moves, and the strokes need to become firmer so as to keep the same small degree ahead of the pain threshold.   In real life, it can take partners years to get this exactly right - but the characters in your story can rejoice in the fact you will always be right on the money for the intensity they need for every single stroke you describe.

The second complication comes from watching too many spanking videos.   There are some that depict real good hidings, but they usually last less than five minutes/    So for longer videos different dynamics apply.   Partly from the fact that a lot of discipline actresses in longer videos need warming up before the real action begins, and partly from the director's need to fill a lot of time with some sort of relevant action.   Either way, a penitent is likely get a hand spanking on her skirt, followed by a paddle or brush on the seat of the panties and finally a strap or cane across the bare backside.   For those who want pure discipline, when watching such a video, the fast forward button quickly gets the viewer to the action they want to watch.   However, when reading a tale, skimming forward is not so precise.

In sum - if you write about consensual spankings, a warm up sequence is virtually mandatory.   And when waxing lyrical about punishment spankings, a warm up should rarely if ever be part of the narrative.   

But as always, cater for you readers above any other consideration - if they happen to be avid advocates of warm up activity come what may, their need completely trumps any advice of mine of a more general nature.