Musings on Outlander

The premiere of season 2 of the Starz original bodice-ripper attracted about 1.2 million viewers - making it a mega hit in premium channel statistics.   And, according to those who claim to know such things, 62% of that audience were women, making it the biggest hit ever for Starz for that particular dynamic.

Unless you have been living in a biosphere as part of your conditioning for some future Martian space voyage, you will have already heard that the episode contained (shock horror spoiler alert) the spanking of the heroine by her husband.   A non-consensual knock-down rough and tumble, until the punishment required by Scottish lore of the 17th Century was carried out --within earshot of the menfolk of the clan.

And that gives us insight into one of the more interesting quirks of our quirk - the spanking was not really, really non-consensual because it was given to an actress who was only pretending to put up a fight.    She was, if you will, a willing victim:  and we spankos do love our willing victims.   The most watched and re-watched spanking videos are those in which the recipient acts as though she is really not enjoying one second of her ordeal - but because we know that she is, it is ok for her to pretend not to, and her pretense notches up our enjoyment a tad or two.

If you have followed the comments section of various articles published covering the stars of Outlander discussing the spanking scene, you would have gained a distinct impression that lady viewers were putting up with it for literary and historical accuracy - and with emphatic distancing from 50 Shades.  And yet the viewing figures tend to hint that the scene was eagerly absorbed with the same rapture as any other bodice ripping hereto before.

The actress pointed out that it was not a real leather belt - but whatever it was made of, it was firm enough to cause impacts - and without being quite as viscous as a leather strap, will have certainly imparted a noticeable sting.   And as she said, despite all prior planned choreography, once the camera started to roll, it quickly got very physical.   I take it that it was planned we should get to see her bare bottom, otherwise those clips would have been edited out.

So, all in all:  more realistic than Keira's pathetic attempt to portray a genuine spanko, less erotic than Maggie being a secretary, and far less painful than Maureen getting her rump soundly bruised by a small coal shovel.   On par, say, with Donovan's Reef (a real spanking in the name of art) or Blue Hawaii (ditto).

Which, by my way of thinking, makes it very acceptable.    Even if it did have to take place within earshot of the menfolk of the clan.