T is for T-frame

A T-frame is constructed by using a solid wooden post as the up right, and attaching to it a cross beam so that the finished assembly looks something like a giant letter "T".   T-Frames were used extensively in Europe and the Americas as whipping frames in the 19th Century.

Early whipping posts where constructed from having a single pole erected upright, the top far higher than any person's wrists (when held upright, extended over the head).   But some genius spotted that by tying the victim to a T-frame, arms extended outwards(as opposed to over the head arms) flattened and squared the back, giving a better target for the lash.  And as an added bonus, should the sentence be half the strokes across the back and half across the buttocks, the person so sentenced was perfectly positioned to receive all of them in one uninterrupted session.

As far as I can ascertain, a T-frame lying horizontal to the ground, on trestles or similar, never made it to institutions of corporal punishment.   (The upright T-Frame had, but it was solely for punishment).   The horizontal T-Frame has made its appearance in videos, fiction and custom spanking furniture - for it makes the victim vulnerable to other forms of "abuse".

From adopting the real life T-frame to the spanking scene, it was almost inevitable that X-frame would make its appearance.   Wood slats are constructed to make a frame that looks line the letter "X" and now we have four securing points - two for the wrists and two for the ankles.   And a nice narrow bit for wrapping some securing material around the waist and the frame.   A spread-eagled securely secured naked penitent can be dealt with in anyway that comes to mind, and has become a staple of a certain class of disciplinary scene in which pain may be followed by sexual activity.   The X-frame never made any sort of appearance in real life, but turns up regularly in fiction.

As writers of spanking fiction, we can create spanking benches and whipping frames out of just about anything.   We can dream up of a tree of exactly the right height so that it becomes a substitute for a Y-frame.   With a little bit of misdirection, an overturned wheelbarrow can be put into use as a spanking bench.   And so on.

We might need an excessive amount of description to explain an out of the ordinary spanking implement (as discussed in Q is for Quirt), but when it comes to the furniture used to secure the miscreant, we have a far easier time of it.    And having an unusual spanking bench not only might give a tale a new twist, it can be instrumental in the whole set up the entire piece.    If you are struggling to start a new tale then you might want to try the technique of identifying some unusual spanking bench.   Work backwards to show how it came to be used, and you will be well on the way to fleshing out the finished piece.