Too Old To Wear White Socks
(I'll probably add a few pics to this tomorrow or Tuesday - its a bit too text-dense at present)
As some of you may be having trouble finding the cached remnants of the bulletin board I have been speaking about recently (and that has done such a good job in distracting me from my own writing) I have taken the liberty of pinching a couple of the letters that were published on it for your interest, for the sake of posterity (Google doesn't cache stuff forever) and to give a something of a taste of its direction and the potential that has sadly been lost in its demise. If the writers object then I will, of course, remove it immediately: On the other hand should any of the original participants come across this site and wish to use it as a forum to continue their debate, please feel welcome - the floor is yours.
(Left - suitable for a 18 to 20 year old? You decide...for me, well, you know me, I just couldn't resist its inclusion - applied to that age group and under the right circumstances what interesting punitive arrangements are conjured forth ...)
Recently I have found the following link to work – so i'm not sure what happened to the links I posted earlier (click) Too Old To Wear White Socks
The following is a letter posted on a bulletin board recently by a twenty year old woman about her life with her aunt. It is not my work and I have had no input into its writing whatsoever, despite certain similarities some might perceive between the spirit of the thing and certain events depicted in
INSTITUTIONALISED Vol 1. I have, however, taken the liberty of running the originals through my spell-check.
My Further Disciplining [by Judith]
My Aunt has instructed me as part of my punishment and as an example to others to explain my most recent misbehaviour, the punishment I received for it and the future restrictions I have received. I am aware that she indicated the nature of my offence to you a couple of weeks ago but I will begin by specifying this and the circumstances again. I am typing this into the system as a copy of the handwritten 5 side essay I had to complete as part of my disciplining. I am adding only an additional request which my Aunt has proscribed to the end of this message.
As you know from my earlier posting I was, following a 3 month period of punishment, being disciplined as part of an ongoing behavioural improvement plan by my Aunt. I was subject to several restrictions some of which were being removed over time as I demonstrated my ability to behave in an appropriate manner. The restrictions were:
No trousers to be worn in future. Only skirts/blouses and dresses longer than knee length and with long sleeves to be worn. Any additional clothing items to be cardigans, waistcoats and/or jumpers. My clothing to be specified by my Aunt and then to be allowed further independent choice with time. The items to be chosen from the limited wardrobe I now have. Items to be worn buttoned up at all times.
No jewellery or make-up to be worn by me.
Hair to be worn in a bun or ponytail at all times.
Initially to be grounded except when going to work. With good behaviour to be allowed freedom to be out of the house up to a curfew time of 8:00 PM Sun-Thurs and 7:00 PM Fri-Sat
I am to remain responsible for the foreseeable future for all housework.
To be allowed to watch approved TV programmes up to a limit with amount increasing based on good behaviour.
I will devote some of my spare time as decided by my Aunt to lessons she provides to me in dressmaking and knitting enabling me to produce my own clothes.
Just over 3 months into my behavioural improvement plan period. I was being allowed freedom to the new 8PM curfew on Mon-Thurs but was still grounded on Fri, Sat, Sun. On Saturdays I was still confined to my bedroom when not performing housework or on the occasions when my Aunt had sent me to stand against a wall/in a corner with my hands on my head as a reminder that I still had much work to do to earn myself full-time relief from schoolgirl type punishments. In my sewing and knitting lessons my Aunt had shown me basic techniques and had then got me to employ these to make in turn a green Gingham dress in my size and knit a pair of green woollen knickers and a brown woollen round neck cardigan. In all cases these activities were conducted in what otherwise would have been my own spare time. Of course as I obviously had no desire to wear these items my available wardrobe remained limited to the plain items provided to me at the start of my original punishment.
Just over two weeks ago on a Saturday I had been sent to my room. Both because it was warm and because of my own indiscipline and stupidity and with every knowledge I was breaking my Aunt’s rules I undid the top button of my grey blouse and unbuttoned my grey cardigan. My Aunt had been in my room only a few minutes earlier as part of her routine inspection process and I had as usual been made to stand whilst she ensured I was dressed appropriately my skirt seams straight, ankle socks pulled up and straight and of course all of my blouse and cardigan buttons correctly done up. I was also therefore guilty of assuming that I could do this and not be caught and punished – something which my Aunt noted when allocating my punishment. Anyway my Aunt returned to my room unexpectedly and observed me with my buttons undone. As stated unbuttoned clothing is not permitted according to the rules and her reaction was immediate. I was forced to take of my cardigan, and then my skirt and blouse so that all of my clothing including knickers and socks could be subject to inspection. She then instructed me to redress and to go downstairs to the dining room where I could be easily observed and stand facing the far corner of the room with my hands on my head. I was told to consider my actions and what should be done to me to punish my misbehaviour and prevent a repeat of such disobedience. It was clear to me that I was to be severely chastised. I then stood hands on head for about 2 hours before my Aunt arrived and told me to turn around, stand to attention, hands behind my back and ready to be disciplined. She told me that my behaviour was unacceptable and that although I may have thought this was a trivial issue I was about to find out that under the new conditions any failure in obedience would have severe consequences. I was being punished for failure of clothing inspection, disobedience and trying to avoid punishment. She asked me if I had anything to say for myself. I apologised and promised that I did not need any further punishment to be clear of the lessons to be learnt. She said this was not correct that I needed to learn how to be completely obedient and the consequences of failing to do so and proceeded to specify my punishments:
Wear a school uniform much of which I had made myself - green Gingham dress, green woollen knickers, white ankle socks and brown round necked woollen cardigan.
All my work clothing to be worn to be specified again by my Aunt.
Corner time every day including at all times on Saturday when I might previously have been sent to my room.
Frequent clothing inspection – including regular humiliation of being stripped to knickers and socks and further punishment to be applied for any failures no matter how small e.g. sock ribbing not being straight, etc..
Corporal punishment 4 strokes of the strap to each hand to be administered on Sunday afternoon at 3 PM so that I had time to suffer the discomfort of thinking about being strapped.
Grounded except for going to work – to be at home no later than 6:00PM.
No TV and no supper.
Bed time 8 PM
To stand to attention at all times when confined to my room to minimize potential for further uniform failures.
Punishment to last for two weeks.
With this I was send back upstairs where I stripped and dressed in my infant’s school uniform under my Aunt’s oversight. I then had to stand to attention in the centre of the room and was left there. It was still very warm and I quickly realised the discomfort of the woollen knickers I had been consigned to. The thick elastics I had inserted into the waist band and leg holes bit into my skin through the rough and irritating wool. Over the next two weeks I was to grow to understand their usefulness not just as a method of humiliation but also discomfort punishment. Eventually after making supper and doing some ironing I was sent to bed at 8 PM. The Sunday passed slowly and even the humiliation of being made to serve coffee to my Aunt and our next door neighbor in my uniform passed as I thought of the corporal punishment I was to receive. After lunch I was inspected by my Aunt, having to remove my cardigan and dress completely in the process. You really are left in no doubt of your place when dressed as a schoolgirl you are made obediently to take-off your uniform as instructed, having to return stood to attention after each activity and then having to respond obediently to questions and observations. I was then sent again to the corner of the dining room where I stood hands on head until 3 PM. My Aunt then entered carrying a short leather strap about1 cm thick. Her instructions followed and I choked back my fear as my strapping approached. I was ordered to remove my cardigan. I was directed to hold out my left hand palm-up and prepared to receive my assigned strapping. My Aunt reminded me of the rules for application of corporal punishment. 1) You will not move during punishment. 2) You will not squeal or cry loudly 3) You will count each stroke in the manner, one thank-you Maam, two thank-you Maam and so on. 4) When the strokes stop you will remain in the position you have been placed in until told to move, 5) When told the beating is complete you will thank your punisher in the manner, “I thoroughly deserved those [number of] strokes of the strap because of my misbehaviour. Thank-you Sir/Maam. Failure to comply with any of these will result in additional strokes and being placed on report for failure to accept punishment. Is that clear to you schoolgirl?” She then pushed my dress sleeve up my arm so that it was bare from finger tip to elbow and then promptly began the application.
“One thank-you Maam”, two thank-you Maam, three thank-you Maam, four thank-you Maam”. Next my right palm. She struck the full length of the target with the tails biting into the flesh of my arm just before the elbow. I winced as I counted the strokes. “Five thank-you Maam, six thank-you Maam, seven thank-you Maam, eight thank-you Maam.” I was told to stand both palms outstretched. Finally she said “Your strapping is complete girl”. “I thoroughly deserved those 8 strokes of the strap because of my unacceptable behaviour. Thank-you Maam”. I then spent 60 painful minutes with my throbbing hands on top of my head facing the corner in the hall and weeping quietly to myself.
The next two weeks were as humiliating and punishing as I am sure you can imagine from my predicament. This was made all the more so because I could have avoided this if I had obeyed the rules – something which my Aunt reminded me of constantly. The wearing of school uniform was deeply humiliating and as I came home from work every night I shuddered at the thought of how I was to have to dress myself. My Aunt was unforgiving in her choice of clothing for work frequently sending me in dress or skirt and blouse together with two cardigans to be worn all day and in addition my large arran woollen jacket to walk to work in. I spent many hours reflecting on my stupidity both stood to attention in my room and in room corners with my hands on my head. I may be 20 but I felt like I was 9 which is of course exactly what my punishment was made to do. After 14 days during which I did everything to be compliant I was made to stand before my Aunt again. She spent the first 30 minutes chastising me again for my misbehaviour and how she hoped that the punishment I had received would have been sufficient to deter any such future behaviour. I promised her that this was the case. She responded that she had heard this before and therefore she had decided that the terms of my behavioural improvement plan were to be amended both in terms of likely final point and conditions whilst I reached that point. The new aiming points were as follows:
No trousers. Only skirts/blouses and dresses - longer than knee length and with long sleeves. Always to be worn with a minimum of one cardigan at all times.
No jewellery or make-up.
Hair to be worn in a bun at all times.
Curfew at 7:30 PM Sun-Thurs, 7:00 PM Fri-Sat
All housework to be performed by me.
Limited TV (maximum of 3 hours total per week) and only with her approval of content.
All other spare time to be spent in my room dressmaking and knitting to enable me to produce a further complete infant’s school uniform set, a further complete Junior school uniform set and additional work clothing for myself. In addition following her reading of this I am to knit a pair of thumbless mitts.
Every other Saturday to be spent in school uniform as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience.
If I behave appropriately over the next 6 months then my Aunt says she will revise some aspects of this but clearly not all. She also told me I was to first hand write a document outlining misbehaviour, punishment and revised conditions which I would then have to type into the intranet for public display. I can assure you that as well as hopefully providing some information for others wishing to discipline poorly behaving girls that having to do this has been a very salutatory experience for myself. I ask you not to feel pity for me as I was stupid enough to fail to behave correctly and thoroughly deserve the resulting penances no matter how severe they are. I apologise to you all if this is a misuse of this area but in this case I must obey the instructions my Aunt has given me if anyone can suggest a more appropriate location to display my humiliation please let us know as my Aunt informs me that she would be happy to have to repeat this exercise. In addition my Aunt has warned me that if I again fail to behave in any way that even more severe consequences will follow including public display in school uniform as this appeared to be one of the most severe and effective punishments imposed on someone else who contributed to this site.
In addition my Aunt has proscribed that if anyone has additional punishments or humiliations which could be used as part of my current behavioural plan or of a future punishment please describe these and be assured that they will be considered.
Judith
Here is another posting from the same bulletin board:
From an Experienced Mother [about a letter entitled:Office juniors]
I remember when you described your two work colleagues who were office juniors back in the early ‘70’s. Those two young women would have been regarded as minors by their parents and would have not been allowed to exercise many of the legal rights that were available to those past the statutory school leaving age. You said the older of the two was wearing socks until she was almost 19, and had the added humiliation of seeing her younger colleague come to work in tights when she had attained the age of majority. Both these girls, especially the older one, could have been easily forced to remain in socks until they were 21, which was the age of majority until 1970 in the UK. If I had been the manager of either of these girls I would have probably kept them on the most junior grades in the office (with the lowest rates of pay), regardless of the quality of work they produced, and be more likely to promote staff who wore grown up work attire even if they were younger. To me the girls’ appearance would have indicated they were weak (as they could not persuade their own parents they should be treated as adults) and regarded as subordinates.
Some one else answers:
In the early 1970’s you didn’t have the Sex Discrimination or Equal Pay Acts so these two office juniors were probably on very little money, and would have likely had to hand over a significant amount of their earnings to their parents for board.
Were there other officer juniors under the age of 18 who could wear tights, and how did these two girls feel about having to wear socks? Do you think colleagues treated them differently because they were wearing socks? From my memories of the 1970’s it was quite common for young girls to wear shorter skirts than their mothers, and grown ups in general. How did their clothes compare to everyone else in the office? And finally when the older of the two girls turned 18, how long did the younger girl have to wait before she turned 18?
The parent’s must have been concerned that as their daughters were in an adult environment they would try grown up things like going to the pub, smoking or even getting into a relationship before they felt they were ready. How times have changed! I don’t know what the girls earned but it was likely a pittance and after paying their parents for housekeeping there would have been very little money left for clothes. They both always wore knee length dresses and skirts and granny-type blouses which seemed very conservative and old fashioned in the 1970s when nearly all young girls wore short mini skirts and skimpy tops. I suspect that their parents bought their clothes and the girls had no choice in the matter. I heard from a colleague that neither girl was allowed makeup and they certainly never wore any. They looked younger than their years and neither could have been served in a pub or been able to buy cigarettes which maybe were two of the reasons their parents dressed them this way. They both had to go straight home after work and were not allowed to stay out.
Interestingly there were two other female office juniors of a similar age who wore tights, high heels and make up and looked much older. This could not have gone unnoticed by the two girls in white knee socks who were never teased (we were all far too polite) but we ladies would often comment, sympathetically, on their appearance behind their backs. The older girl had to wait until she was almost 19 before she was allowed tights while her colleague who was six months younger was allowed them on her 18th birthday so the older one remained in white socks for about four months longer which must have added to her discomfiture.
More apologies are due for the sparsity of posts but I'm still been plagued by intermittent computer problems, my scanner/printer is down (I bought a new one about six weeks ago but have yet to connect it up) and I have been lumbered throughout most of the past weekend with helping the ‘other half’ with some desk research for an article on bridal wear. In between, what little time as has been left has pretty much been used up grinding away at a sticking point in volume 2, a particularly crucial but difficult to write chapter with several twists and turns and that in all honesty is all that stands between me and the completion of the work. The trouble is I keep coming across things while researching the part that I am supposed to be finishing that inspire new ideas and of course I 
try to get these down on paper while the enthusiasm is burning. Consequently volume 3 is coming along apace even as volume 2 stagnates somewhat. Meanwhile I'm back in the gym after various layoffs due to my surgical improvements, fighting to regain my aerobic fitness even though my strength seems to have been unimpaired and in fact has actually increased somewhat - probably due to the fact that one or two niggling injuries have had time to heal. Drinking is down to an all-time low due to the aforementioned surgical restrictions but then again so is creativity - I'll have to do something about that… and Wetherspoon's have a beer festival on at the moment…Hmm, say no more! 
More apologies are due for the sparsity of posts but I'm still been plagued by intermittent computer problems, my scanner/printer is down (I bought a new one about six weeks ago but have yet to connect it up) and I have been lumbered throughout most of the past weekend with helping the ‘other half’ with some desk research for an article on bridal wear. In between, what little time as has been left has pretty much been used up grinding away at a sticking point in volume 2, a particularly crucial but difficult to write chapter with several twists and turns and that in all honesty is all that stands between me and the completion of the work. The trouble is I keep coming across things while researching the part that I am supposed to be finishing that inspire new ideas and of course I 
try to get these down on paper while the enthusiasm is burning. Consequently volume 3 is coming along apace even as volume 2 stagnates somewhat. Meanwhile I'm back in the gym after various layoffs due to my surgical improvements, fighting to regain my aerobic fitness even though my strength seems to have been unimpaired and in fact has actually increased somewhat - probably due to the fact that one or two niggling injuries have had time to heal. Drinking is down to an all-time low due to the aforementioned surgical restrictions but then again so is creativity - I'll have to do something about that… and Wetherspoon's have a beer festival on at the moment…Hmm, say no more! 
Talking of inspirations I've just come across a few more scans of pages from a long ago sold spanking magazine. I can't remember at all what magazine it is from and from the looks of things the first page or so is missing but I do remember that it was one of those pieces that was partly responsible for encouraging the inclusion both of the institutional setting in my writings and also of some of the medical fetish interest that I later included. So, for those of you who are interested, here they are in order; the first three are arranged down the left-hand side of this post from top to bottom - the last page is on the right. As always; click to enlarge and read.
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