Penny's Punishments (from Janus - 1980s) and a Bit That Didn't Quite Make it Into INSTITUTIONALISED Volume 1

Whilst running through my old files occurred to me that one or two of you might be interested in having a taste of some of my early work that never quite made it into INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1. I had come across the following piece that I had originally intended to include in a flashback scene but that there was omitted when I decided to change the entire style of the thing. As you can see it involves a young woman called Sandra who doesn't even appear in the book in its present form and although it includes a character called Julia she is not necessarily the same Julia as Susan's ‘aunt’ of the same name - who of course plays a major role and will continue to in volumes 2 and 3.

It is written a somewhat dated style that I was following at the time but are now find somewhat ‘stodgy ’- I was trying to recreate the feel and style of certain 19th-century works but chronologically placing the story very much in the present time, or a least the recent past. There is absolutely no mention of corporal punishment in any form in this section but its threat hangs there in the atmosphere somewhere; hopefully, that air of oppression is still present, almost as if we have sat through, stroke by stroke, a lovingly delivered caning.

It is very much unfinished of course; I had a lovingly detailed description of her, that is Sandra's, entire wardrobe in mind as well as the change in her mindset as she is gradually taken through Julia’s stepwise program of progressively more restrictive and humiliating dress.

The whole section, really, was inspired by the letters to the Janus magazine as to read in the 1980s regarding the subject of punishment-dress and the various suggestions people made in the correspondence at the time. It is one of the projects I have under way at the moment, to rewrite and remodel it; this piece, and another similar but more detailed piece that I don't want to air publicly at the moment as it is too close to events occurring in volumes 2 and 3 (and far more overtly corporal punishment orientated) will become the template for a couple of sections of both new volumes, but written in the more up-to-date style that I now Favour.

Speaking of Janus magazine: while searching around I came across some scans from a classic Janus story called ‘Penny’s Punishments (see the pictures scattered amongst this posting - I will be happy to post more if there is any interest). This is one of those pieces that I guess could be categorised under the ‘unfair punishment’ banner in that it is clear that the punishers very much have an agenda beyond merely correcting their charge’s errant behaviour.

The basic premise is that too well of folks have chosen to foster this character, not because of her record of good behaviour but rather the complete opposite - they have chosen her specifically because she has built up a reputation for being difficult. The cane is in use frequently, is delivered hard and for the tiniest of infractions. I seem to remember the point being made that the girl is around years of age (the model, in reality, is probably older) which is above the age of consent here in Britain and so I guess is fine, but the storyline does still sound a little dodgy to the modern ear.

The only concern voiced in the letters pages at the time, though, was that her school skirt was somewhat too long; the consensus of opinion seemed to be that it should only just cover her knickers when standing still. This, though, was a period when Janus and other Spanking magazines could still publish photos of models dressed in what they would describe as school uniform, later the heavy-hand of censorship cracked down (even though often the very point of the story was that it was an adult being made to wear school uniform for the purposes of discipline and humiliation). Magazines such as Strictly Uniforms that came along later tended to get around any potential infractions by describing what were quite obviously various variations on the school uniform theme as ‘college uniforms’ (schoolgirls often became college girls or, alternatively, reformatory girls).

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An Imposition of Uniform (An Unused INSTITUTIONALISED Fragment)

For Sandra there was to be no choice - that had always been the intention, for had not the avoidance of such decision been the entire raison d'etre for the Julia's stratagem. If not for such altruistic reasons than one would have to consider less savoury motives, motives that surely would not fit comfortably within the sensibility of a woman of Julia's status. Notwithstanding these possibilities it has to be said that in the erosion of the girl’s freedom lay some salvation; there was little doubt that symptomatically the detriment lifted with the removal of that freedom was greater than she would suffer through the embarrassment that came with her new attire.

The wardrobe’s design was a merciful one, that the door was mirrored was convenience itself, that it was so internally ensured that, once closed, the dark walnut door spared her its criticism. At least it had done so on that first day, when first she had rolled on the knickers. Full in body, bottle green in colour and of anachronistic styling, yet of some finely woven elastic man-made fibre, they had fitted like a second skin, disconcertingly conforming to every curve, even internally wherein the white thickened lining of the double gusset was moulded to fit snugly, its presence manifested externally as an at embarrassingly intimate longitudinal dimple.

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Overseen by the authoritative Julia she had hurriedly buttoned the blouse. There had been no bra to be found in the collection; Julia had apologetically informed her that her housekeeper had somehow erroneously included all of Sandra's underwear when parcelling her things for dispatch to her guardian and that, for the time being, she would have to do without. This had been much to Sandra's chagrin; she was bountifully blessed of bosom, some might say overly so, even melon breasted.

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Although young, having not quite yet turned eighteen years of age at this stage, she nevertheless desired some support. Some small relief had come with the discovery that the blouse incorporated inbuilt support, although tempered somewhat by the strangeness of this arrangement and the embarrassing result.
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Firmly under-wired half-cups were fully integral to the blouse; the latter's seams were appropriately reinforced where ever it was required they perform the secondary supportive role of bra strap by proxy, so to speak, and the whole support structure was covered internally by the blouse's soft satin-like lining. That the lining did not extend above the supporting half cups at the front had not been immediately obvious; had it been so the consequences would have been made more obvious to her earlier, her reluctance to wear the thing made so much the greater.

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The garment's oddity had been apparent the moment that Julia had passed it to her; still neatly folded and buttoned the integral cups stood upwards as if ready wrapping a female torso, the excess fabric created by the darting, so as to allow for the curvature of the wearers breasts, lay loosely behind and either side of the neat buttoning.

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To one side there was visible a slight change in profile and a glimpse of colour, a flash of gold and a glimpse of green, revealed the position of the breast pocket and what had appeared to be some sort of embroidery upon it, an impression confirmed upon further inspection. This latter feature was to be a source of both puzzlement and embarrassment upon her being proffered the garment, her aunt proudly holding up the blouse by its prominently-puffed shoulders.

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A classically-stylised shield, as might appear in any coat of arms and occupying very nearly the entire area of the breast pocket, was picked out in outline in fine gold thread. At its centre a device with the appearance of an open exercise book was embroidered in bottle-green, while traversing diagonally, and crossing at right angles at the centre, two crook-handled canes were detailed in yet more of the gold thread-work, the curvature of their handles matching that of shield at the left and right-hand top corners. Situated below it and following a downward arching path so as to mirror and wrap around the shield’s curving underside, two lines of embroidered text spelled out a motto in flowing italicised bottle-green: Through obedience comes learning / Through discipline comes obedience. The whole stood out vividly against the snow white, almost pearlescent, sheen of the fine satinised nylon.

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The girl’s feminine curves and particularly her breasts had been Julia's greatest despair. Yet to that concern had rushed another legacy of the past; the constriction of the ironically termed liberty bodice had proved to respond well to the combined complaints of over-tight waistbands and overstretched, straining, bodices. Notwithstanding the additional requirement for stockings - the despondently hanging suspenders demanding employment, an obligation Julia had been more than happy to fulfil - she had nevertheless been more than satisfied with the solution.

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Red cheeked, Sandra had dutifully, almost thankfully, squeezed into the gym slip.
Enwrapped and suitably mortified in gymslip, knickers, blouse, tie and hat, Julia considering the latter straw boater particularly attractive set against the gloss of the girl’s jet black hair, Sandra had squirmed in disconcerted bashfulness, her discomfiture complete and obvious to all: Julia would have had no less.

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The pony tail had only been inevitable, obligatory under the circumstances; Julia had had the ribbon ready and waiting. No special purchase this; she had uncovered several lengths amongst the antiquated school wear. Grey with a diagonal bottle green stripe the ribbon’s oddly broad width, of nearly 6cm, initially had Julia questioning the purpose; the lengths just looked too wide for hair ribbons and the luxuriant satin sheen, although of an obviously man-made fibre, seemed at odds with being part of a school uniform. The boater had answered her uncertainty with its matching beribboned adornment, the latter terminating as two broad tails, long enough, by Julia’s estimation, to reach down to the mid point of Sandra’s back in wearing and each ending in a neatly cut V shape.

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That a girl in her late teens, in truth, a woman fully blossomed, should stand so meekly, that she should so silently accept the adornment of ribbons and bows the like of which she surely could not have imagined outside of some flounced portrait of Victorian childhood is testament to the sheer dominating presence and personality of the woman into whose manipulative hands she had become so securely cradled. As for the girl herself one can only guess as to her vulnerability and as to the nature of that condition. To what extent natural reactive consequence and to what extent artifice I. leave open to conjecture. Suffice it to say that Julia soon had the girl's waist length hair neatly tied back in a ribbon of a width commanding a ridiculous oversized bow and of a length sufficient that, despite this, the excess hung as two tails ending at her mid back.

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In truth Julia had wondered as to the excessive length but being loath to take scissors to such venerable and possibly irreplaceable fabric lest it one day be of further utility, she had experimented with different ways of tying beforehand; the result had been delightful in its feminine girlish sweetness, the girl transformed.
In all the gymslip had fitted well enough in that with the aid of the restrictive underlying liberty bodice – at least the skirt now fastened neatly at its waistband.
The gymslip's bodice, now benefiting both from the underpinning foundation and its own especially elongated shoulder straps, was able to encompass the girls flattened and artificially reduced bust line.

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Yes, it fitted well enough, true, and yet on the girl the appearance gave the impression that somehow she was wearing a much younger, smaller girl's clothes. Even Julia, the architect herself, was amazed at the effect; the girl stood as if somehow squeezed into a much younger sister's castoffs and yet at the same time with a perfect fit. It was if a child's dress, many sizes below sufficiency, had somehow been coerced to grow, to mould itself around a mature woman's figure, albeit one of artificially flattened bust.

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In particular the bodice appeared out of scale. Indeed it was only by way of the skilled alterations wrought by Julia's dressmaker that it was able to fit Sandra at all; the shoulder straps had been lengthened but it had not been possible to do anything to increase the size of the bib at the front and back. Even with the restriction imposed by the liberty bodice beneath, the front bib barely covered the vestigial swellings of her breasts; although what it did cover it did so without hint of strain or tightness.

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The overall image was one of an precociously overdeveloped and overgrown young girl dressed in clothing clearly hopelessly outgrown and several sizes too small and yet somehow, magically, fitting her frame all the same.

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Any pretence of adulthood had drained away. For Sandra, from that moment on until her final enclosure, surrounded about by the controlling swaddling of the institution, that image had become her life, it had become her; some precocious freak of a child-woman, to be castigated, to be controlled for her own sake

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The knife pleated skirt was flared, yes, even wildly so some might say, yet not linearly. Initially upon leaving the waistband there was a curvature to the skirt that closely mimicked the womanly spread of the hips below where after the pleats flared out unabated to terminate at mid thigh. Short, yes, but more than sufficient nonetheless to cover stocking tops that, by dint of the liberty bodice’s somewhat truncated suspenders, terminated only just below the outward swellings of the girl’s chubby buttocks, the welts nestling neatly in the very shadow of the overhang. Thus attired she had been expected to totter out to greet the world or at least that limited constellation through which she now orbited.

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The shoes had been Julia's niece’s own original Mary-Janes, wearable only by virtue of that relatives exceptionally large and disproportionate feet and Sandra's equally disproportionately small shoe size. But here though Julia had laid plans; the shoes she had envisaged were not yet appropriate, nor available, the cost was presently prohibitive, the design and manufacture would take time but it was the look she had decided on for the future. She had already created the design plates and had made discreet inquiries; the design she envisaged could best be described as an exaggeratedly adult high heeled version of the girl's present Mary- Janes, complete with childish T-bar ankle straps and silver buckled fastening yet enforcing a mature but sexually defenceless teetering stance, the child in the woman's body. These would be the girl’s indoor shoes and were to be introduced sometime after the introduction of the summer dress; outdoors she would be allowed her flat soled school shoes.

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Julia had drawn up a timetable, there was a sequence to be followed, step by step; each new imposition would be followed up by a period of adjustment, sufficient for the girl to come to terms with it and reach some level of acceptance, before the next restriction would be introduced. She had decided to risk an element of brinkmanship: each imposition was to push the girl as close to the edge of rebellion as possible and yet be calculated to not quite sufficiently galling as to do so. The girl was to always remain within the coercive limits of the authority over her but at each stage, with each acceptance, that authority would grow still stronger; the girl would be drawn still closer into her lovingly woven web of restriction and discipline.

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This was a process that had been ongoing for a long time and was to continue in this stepwise fashion. Putting the girl in uniform had been inspired, although not originally foremost in her mind; the various impositions she now had planned would constitute the next few steps in securing her hold over her.

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The next stage would simply be to encourage the girl to wear her cape for the first time, possibly out in the garden, a cold day providing the pretext. After that there would be her first trip out of the house wearing the long, outdoor, gymslip - she would leave it up to Sandra whether or not to wear her cape; she already knew the answer. Then, in the home, there would be the somewhat abbreviated ‘home’ gymslip then, after a suitable period of adjustment, the frock, the bloomers and finally the shoes, those deliciously humiliating high-heeled Mary Janes she would have manufactured. The coercive shackles were already in place; this next stage would temper the steel, forge new and stronger chains, but the clinic! Ah yes the clinic! There they would forge entirely new bonds…unbreakable bonds.

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Copyright (c) 2008 Garth. P. ToynTanen