Hardcastle inspirations

If there was one thing, other than the letters pages, that drove me to buy issue after issue of Janus throughout the 1980s it was their wonderfully evocative drawings and illustrations by Hardcastle and by Paula Meadows. The small group of Hardcastle illustrations I found particularly evocative, triggering countless fantasies and inspiring many ideas that I have incorporated, or intend to incorporate, within my outpourings. As usual, click to enlarge.

Institutionalised volume 2: a titbit

(Left, taken from INSTITUTIONALISED: volume 2) Staff guidelines posted at the entrance to one of the three, closely linked, small, privately funded, experimental psychology units housed deep in the bowels of the St Mary's psychiatric wing.

As in the other two units, a small closely-knit team of psychiatric nurses have been put in control of the lives of a small group of medical research volunteers.

Hand-selected through psychological profiling for their latent propensity to dominance and their fondness for pretty young girls, here they have been given completely free rein, within a unit setup so as to approximate a Victorian workhouse, over five young women, all within their late teens to early twenties.

A sixth is on her way to join them: Susan Stringer, no longer strictly speaking a volunteer subject but legally now voluntarily committed, a voluntary mental patient ( though striving to deny it, even to herself).

Of course all institutions have to have guidelines to run by. Staff instructions prominently displayed where all can see them, not merely those to whom they directly apply, serves a twofold purpose; the new girl will soon be able to attest to the most major of these. It all about impact, psychological impac ;at the end of the day it's all about forming the right mindset from outset.

The drawing on the right I just found on the web and thought it put over the right atmosphere; although it has little to do with the type of surroundings our sweet subjects find themselves confined to in volume 2: theirs is a far more pristine aseptically medicalised environment. But rest assured, volunteers or not, they’re all kept safely under lock and key; it's just as secure, perhaps more so in its way.

Great gymslip found on the Web

You are most probably asking yourself right now what's so great about this (see left), what possible relevance could this have to the INSTITUTIONALISED story arc?

What is the recurring theme echoing throughout the work? Why, discipline of course. More specifically young ladies, both lovely and vulnerable, placed and kept under a regime of strict discipline. Still don't see what makes these so great? Click on the image on the left for a close-up, check out the fabric...still don't get it? The creases, it's all in the bloody creasing!!

Yeah! That's right! I'm getting all hot under the collar over something that might well come down to having been an unfortunate choice of fabric; I mean, whatever they have used it obviously really, really easily creases! How totally brilliant! Imagine it with a far more tailored look (as outlined in the previous post, see below) but still retaining that buttoned belt (look carefully). Ah! There you are, now you have it!

And now of course all that ridiculous excitement over a bit of creasing becomes clear, doesn't it. Imagine the young lady who might be wearing it, a young woman in her late teens, or even her early to mid twenties, under the threat of the cane should her uniform be anything other than perfectly immaculate at any time! And I mean, perfectly!

The pic on the right is just to illustrate a purse belt as described in the previous post (See below).

Ah! The discipline, the discipline! The possibilities are endless!

Both pics are from http://www.gymschoolwear.co.uk/ ( see interesting sites section)

An inspiring letter published in Blushes magazine (1980s)

Today's offerings are a pair of particularly inspiring (and long) letters published in the 1980s in the quite wonderful, but now unfortunately defunct, ‘Blushes’ magazine.

‘Blushes’, for those that have never come across it, tended to place a greater emphasis on the humiliation and exploitation, in various ways, of the young ladies depicted in its stories and pictures rather than merely concentrating on their caning, spanking or whatever, per se. There was also often greater emphasis placed on the imposition of strict rules, regulations and uniforms etc then was seen in other magazines of the time such as Janus, Swish, Roué et al. The first writer's comments ( left-hand scan) regarding the “dismal, watery outpourings” of the publications of the time certainly rang true in many cases, and in books and novels as much as magazines. The section wherein the writer mentions how “‘Blushes’ readers have wicked fantasies of how they might deal with pretty girls in their charge by way of CP” triggered off a whole series of follow-up letters from other readers outlining all sorts of cruelly twisted and interesting ideas, and the right-hand scan illustrates part of one such reply.

The most interesting and inspiring paragraph of the first letter, in terms of its relevance to the evolution of the ‘INSTITUTIONALISED’ series, is that wherein the writer states: “much preferable is the more hypocritical idea of a girl under[going] a harsh regime to ‘reform’ her. The humiliating uniform is in theory not so much worn for the titillation of her guardians, but as a constant reminder of her station and that she is subject to discipline" (yummm!). When I read that my imagination went into overdrive for weeks, if not months... just what might that 'humiliating uniform' consist of? Clearly, from the letters that followed, I wasn't the only one left feverishly juggling visions, ideas and possibilities.

Click on either scan to enlarge and read.

Introduction and welcome message

Welcome, one and all, to the official

INSTITUTIONALISED

blog and discussion site

The home of Garth. P. ToynTanen, his ideas and, it is hoped, yours!

This is the place to learn more about the author and what makes him tick,to learn more about the influences and inspirations behind the INSTITUTIONALISED trilogy (more likely tetralogy, if all pans out)

This is most definitely NOT the place to discuss anything of a paedophilic nature;the author does not condone paedophilia in any form and where the term 'girl' is used it is as a derogatory term intended to apply to any young woman stripped adult privileges in one way or another.

If you are an aficionado of literature dealing with young ladies undergoing strict discipline, of the imposition and enforcement of petty rules and restrictions, of strict and humiliating uniforms and the enforcementof the same through the judicial application of the cane, the tawse, the riding crop etc as well as less orthodox, psychological methods...then this is the place for you!

This is particularly so if you tend to favour the imposition of discipline within the institutional environment, although there is much to be said also for the more domestic environment if suitably enclosed, secure, and isolated from prying eyes and interfering moderates: Given the right situation and a well chosen and imaginative governess, much can be achieved in curbing a young lady's spirit.

From the outset the idea behind the project was always to go beyond the traditional world of corporal punishment portrayed in the works of authors such as Victor Bruno, Richard Manton et al ( has much as I admire their work) and to attempt to incorporate more of a psychological aspect, both in terms of examining the mindsets of the protagonists, of the disciplined and of the discipliner both, and in terms of the approach to discipline and correction. Corner-standing, impositions such as the writing of lines or rote learning and strictly decreed postural requirements, such as having to sit for long periods with back straight and hands flat on the school desk; all these have their part to play. So feel free to discuss your own view of what discipline means and how it should be introduced to a young lady or young ladie, also how it might relate to the storyline of volume 1 (if it indeed does) or how it might fit into future volumes (or indeed the sort of thing you would like to see included).

It was also decided at the outset that the storyline should incorporate other fetishes interests that, while being strictly speaking outside my own sphere, nevertheless seemed appropriate in many ways as being amenable the imposition of restraint and of control. Various forms of bondage were an obvious inclusion of course, but then there are such subjects such as enforced diaper use, leading inexorably to the inclusion of plastic and latex rubber knickers, bloomers, pants etc. And then there are the uniforms, of course; the latter open to all sorts of discussion, from the physical aspects, the type of fabrics, nylon, serge, the underwear, girdles, corselletes, corsets, stockings, you name it, to the psychological effect on the wearer, whether submissive or assertive depending on the role.

And as all these aspects of control unavoidably involve changes to the psyche the inclusion of certain forms of mind control to the story-arc seemed most appropriate (indeed the entire project was originally stimulated by a series of mind control story ideas published on one of the newsgroups, of which more later). Thus aspects of sensory deprivation, hypnosis, NLP and even the deliberate induction or intensification of certain phobias can be introduced in order to wield control over a young lady; the latter approach while being particularly suitable in the institutional environment is not impossible to initialy introduce within a more domestic scenario.

So you see, there is much that can be discussed here, practically without limit, much that can be incorporated into the continuing story arc; your imagination is the only limitation, within the bounds of what can be logically incorporated in a sensible manner of course.

• What do you like, or dislike, or indeed hate, so far?
• What would you like to see incorporated in the story arc to come?
• What were your interests vis-a-vis the discipline and control of young women?

Let your imagination rip!!!