Erotic spanking

Spanking with a paddle in a BDSM dungeon in New York City.

Erotic spanking (also known as spankophilia) is the act of spanking another person for the sexual arousal or gratification of either or both parties. Activities range from a spontaneous smack on bare buttocks during a sexual activity, to occasional sexual roleplay (such as ageplay) to domestic discipline and may involve the use of a hand or the use of a variety of spanking implements, such as a spanking paddle or cane.^[1] Erotic spanking may be administered to bare buttocks or normally dressed. Spanking can involve the use of bondage.

Erotic spankings are commonly combined with other forms of sexual foreplay, such as oral sex, sexual roleplaying and/or ageplay. The most common type of erotic spanking is administered on the bare buttocks,^[2] but can also be combined with bondage, in order to heighten sexual arousal and feelings of helplessness.

Many cultures describe pain as an aphrodisiac. For example, the Kama Sutra, in particular, goes into specific detail on how to properly strike a partner during sex.^[3]

History and literature

Fresco painting inside the Tomba della Fustigazione where two men are portrayed flagellating a woman during an erotic situation.

The origins and scope of erotic spanking and flagellation are largely unknown. One of the earliest depictions of erotic flagellation is found in a 6th century BC Etruscan burial site named in modern times the Tomba della Fustigazione or "Tomb of Flogging" after its depictions of eroticized flagellation.

Representations of erotic spanking and flagellation make up a large portion of Victorian pornography (see 1000 Nudes by Koetzle.^[4]) Hundreds of thousands of engravings, photographs, and/or literary depictions of spanking and flagellation ("birching") fantasies circulated during the Victorian era, including erotic novellas like The Whippingham Papers, The Birchen Bouquet, Exhibition of Female Flagellants^[5][6] or the pornographic comic opera Lady Bumtickler's Revels.^[7] Many well-known people since their deaths have been discovered to enjoy spankings for erotic purposes or emotional gratification including renowned British Army officer T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"),^[8][9] influential English theatre critic Kenneth Tynan,^[10][11] TV broadcaster Frank Bough,^[10] and English writer John Mortimer.^[10]

Practice

Implements

A spanking may be carried out with the use of a bare hand, or with any of a variety of implements, including a paddle, strap, hairbrush or belt.^[2] Other popular tools are canes, riding crops, whips, switches, birches, sneakers, rolled-up newspapers, rulers or martinet. (see Category:Spanking implements).

Costume

Spanking skirt

A spank skirt (also called a spanking skirt) has an additional opening in back designed to expose the buttocks. While the name spank skirt suggests that the wearer could be spanked "bare bottom" without removing or repositioning the skirt, this item may be worn for reasons other than spanking (for instance, exposure).^{[citation needed]}

Considered fetish wear, spank skirts are typically tight-fitting and made of fetishistic materials (such as leather, PVC or latex).

Regardless of the gender of the wearer, spank skirts are usually considered female attire. The male gender role equivalent might be motorcycle chaps.

Other garments associated with spanking as well as humiliation are ruffled or rhumba panties, women's panties with rows of ruffles on the rear panel or outside.^{[citation needed]}

Apparatus

Spanking bench

A spanking bench or spanking horse is a piece of furniture used to position a spankee on, with or without restraints. They come in many sizes and styles, the most popular of which is similar to a sawhorse with a padded top and rings for restraints.^[12]

The 19th century British dominatrix Mrs Theresa Berkley became famous for her invention of the Berkley Horse, a similar form of BDSM apparatus.^[13]

Those who are interested in the practice giving or receiving erotic spankings are sometimes referred to spankophiles.^{[citation needed]} Examples include the poet Algernon Swinburne (as implied repeatedly in his poetry) and the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as detailed in his autobiography Confessions:^[14]

... Miss Lambercier... exerted a mother's authority, even to inflicting on us... the punishment of infants... Who would believe this childish discipline, received at eight years old, from the hands of a woman of thirty, should influence my propensities, my desires, my passions, for the rest of my life... To fall at the feet of an imperious mistress, obey her mandates, or implore pardon, were for me the most exquisite enjoyments, and the more my blood was inflamed by the efforts of a lively imagination the more I acquired the appearance of a whining lover."^[15]

Howard Stern's paddle machine, the "Robospanker", has been used on his show to spank numerous guests,, including Jessica Jaymes, Jennifer Krum, Haydn Porter,^[16] Tabitha Stevens, Victoria Zdrok, and Valentina Vaughn. [1]

Spanking positions

In some cultures, the spanking of women, by the male head of the family or by the husband (sometimes called domestic discipline) has been and sometimes continues to be a common and approved custom. In those cultures and in those times it was the belief that the husband, as head of the family, had a right and even the duty to discipline his wife and children when he saw fit, and manuals were available to instruct the husband how to discipline his household. In most western countries, this practice has come to be regarded as unlawful and socially unacceptable wife-beating, domestic violence or abuse. Routine corporal punishment of women by their husbands, however, does still exist in some parts of the developing world,^[17][18][19] and still occurs in isolated cases in western countries.

Today, spanking of an adult tends to be confined to erotic spanking or to BDSM contexts. The domestic discipline scenario is commonly invoked in erotic spanking, but with a bare bottom or totally nude, with bondage and less direct physical contact being a feature of BDSM.

Spanking can be administered in a number of spanking positions. The choice of position takes into account the spankee's (bottom) comfort in the position for long periods of time, the spanker's (top) ability to swing at the spankee at a comfortable, natural angle, complete access to the spankee's buttocks, the spanker's control of the spankee's position and ability to readjust as necessary, safety, and the amount of strength the top is able to generate from such a position. Positions can also be chosen specifically for added effects such as increased humiliation, elevation and suspension.

List of spanking positions

• Over the knee (safest position)
• Over the lap
• lying
• bent over
• under the spankers arm
• through the legs of the spanker
• Over the spanker's shoulder
• diaper position
• Tied to a tree or pole that is in a safe area outside

See also

Sexuality portal

• Berkley Horse
• Spanking bench
• Flagellation
• Dippoldism
• Algolagnia

References

1. ^ Jules Markham, Consensual Spanking. (Adlibbed Ltd., 2005)
2. ^ ^{a b} Rebecca F. Plante (2006). "Sexual Spanking, the Self, and the Construction of Deviance". Journal of Homosexuality (Haworth Press) 50 (2–3): 59. doi:10.1300/J082v50n02_04. PMID 16803759. http://haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?ID=65902. 
3. ^ Love, Brenda (1992). The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices. London: Greenwich Editions. pp. 113. ISBN 0-86288-223-0 0-86288-223-0. 
4. ^ Uwe Scheid, Michael Koetzle (1994). 1000 Nudes: Uwe Scheid Collection. Cologne: Taschen, ISBN 3822855693
5. ^ Marcus, Sharon (2007). Between women: friendship, desire, and marriage in Victorian England. Princeton University Press. p. 147. ISBN 0691128359. 
6. ^ Mudge, Bradford Keyes (2000). The whore's story: women, pornography, and the British novel, 1684-1830. Ideologies of desire. Oxford University Press. p. 246. ISBN 0195135059. 
7. ^ Sutherland, John (1990). The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press. p. 307. ISBN 0804718423. 
8. ^ Wilson, Jeremy (1989). The Authorized Biography of T. E. Lawrence.  Chapter 34.
9. ^ "Mixed Media". Forbes. 2005-05-09. http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/2005/0905/100.html. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} "Rowan Pelling's sex advice column: 'My lover wants to spank me but I think it's too silly for words'". Daily Mail (London). 2010-01-10. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1183896/Rowan-Pellings-sex-advice-column-My-lover-wants-spank-I-think-silly-words.html. 
11. ^ Johnson, Paul, Intellectuals, 1988, Chapter 13: "The Flight of Reason", Johnson discusses Tynan from pages 324-330
12. ^ Kenney, Shawna (2002). I Was a Teenage Dominatrix: a memoir. Last Gasp. p. 49. ISBN 0867195304. 
13. ^ Stanley, Autumn (1995). Mothers and daughters of invention: notes for a revised history of technology, Volume 36. Rutgers University Press. pp. 585–586. ISBN 0813521971. 
14. ^ Sigmund Freud (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. 
15. ^ Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Confessions of J. J. Rousseau. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3913. 
16. ^ Haydn Porter being paddled by a paddle machine during A Spanking New Year, the January 4, 2007 episode of The Howard Stern Show.
17. ^ Beichman, Arnold, "Where wife-beating is up for debate", Washington Times, 2 October 2005.
18. ^ Haj-yahia, Muhammad M. (August 2003). "Beliefs About Wife Beating Among Arab Men from Israel: The Influence of Their Patriarchal Ideology". Journal of Family Violence 18 (4): 193–206. doi:10.1023/A:1024012229984. 
19. ^ 498A_Crusader (2007-12-12). "Most Indian women okay with wife beating". MyNation Foundation. http://mynation.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/most-indian-women-okay-with-wife-beating/. Retrieved 2008-10-30. ^{[unreliable source?]}

Further reading

• Koetzle, Michael. 1000 Nudes: A History of Erotic Photography from 1839-1939. Taschen, 2005.
• Lady Green, The Compleat Spanker. Greenery Press, 2000. ISBN 1-890159-00-X.
• Marcus, Steven. The Other Victorians. Basic Books, 1966.
• Rousseau, Jean-Jaques. The Confessions of Jean-Jaques Rousseau. London: Penguin Books, 1953.
• Swinburne, Charles Algernon. The Works of Charles Algernon Swinburne. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1995.

External links

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