Another Note from Judith's Aunt and a Comment from Yours Truly

I am away from home for the weekend and so unable to get to grips with the last lap in finishing off INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2 until Monday afternoon - I still expect to get it in an electronic download form by next weekend though. Meanwhile the correspondence continues stimulated by the "A Well Deserved Regime?" posting - with Judith's aunt recently posting the following commentary (the pic I came upon on the web and thought quite well represented the scene, with young Judith's hair cropped as short as a boy's - as it should be under the circumstances:

"Many thanks for the comments I have received around the options to harshen my niece’s punishment. My purpose is not to make her grateful for the school uniform she has to wear or, behavior permitting, in future the plain and simple clothing she will be wearing in future. Allowing her an opportunity to be out of uniform would not therefore be appropriate despite the physical discomfort of one of the suggested punishments of having her stand and drill without clothing. Rather I want her to become resigned to the fact that she deserves to be dressed in a school uniform or a plain dowdy dress and cardigan because of the misbehavior and ill discipline she has shown. In doing this though I want her to lose none of the feelings of punishment or humiliation which being dressed like this bring (physical discomfort, loss of maturity, enhanced plainness, loss of choice) nor understanding the loss of future opportunities which dressing like this will result in. In particular her absence of friends of both sexes who will not want to be seen with such a plain and immaturely dressed individual – a condition which is likely for the foreseeable future. I have therefore introduced an additional pre bedtime drill on 3 nights per week. Judith has had to dress in summer uniform (this is especially humiliating as she has just made these items) of yellow Gingham dress and her brown V-neck woolen waistcoat with yellow trim and a pair of brown ankle socks. She then has to stand in the garden with her hands on her head as you suggested for 30 minutes. This has ensured she continues to suffer the humiliation and imposition of school uniform but the physical discomfort of some wet and on occasions very cold evenings indeed. After this she receives six strokes of the slipper across her behind. She is then allowed to put on her woolen nightgown before going to bed. As you thought I can assure you Judith does not enjoy a soft comfortable bed, as deserved for someone who has demonstrated such disrespectful and disobedient behavior. Her bed has a solid wood base over which she has a single rough grey woolen blanket and then two further thin but rough woolen blankets on top (she has no pillow).

I have also incorporated some of the other suggestions received into Judith’s disciplining. I told her this was to teach her that if she cannot behave then she will be punished at the whim of others, in this case those of you who kindly offered suggestions. She has her mouth washed with soap and water on every day and receives a tablespoon of Castor oil three times per week. On Sunday she wears her full uniform including hat and mitts all day and I have applied the limitation of one toilet visit only to Sunday. Most humiliatingly I have also introduced the option for her to receive a spanking every Sunday which may be carried out in front of guests if I believe appropriate. On the first Sunday after introduction she was obviously dreading the thought of being spanked in front of my guests and in the event I did not inflict a spanking either publicly or in private so she just endured the discomfort of worrying about what might happen to her. However last Sunday I carried out Judith’s first allocation of public corporal punishment. In front of my friend and her husband Judith had to explain why she was being subject to such severe discipline. I then had her remove her cardigan jacket, mitts and hat and undo her waistcoat and cardigan before making her lie across my lap in a prone position. Even at this stage she was in tears at the shame of her predicament but I continued the punishment lifting her cardigan, waistcoat and pinafore over her back and stripping her knickers (and sanitary pad) to her knees. I then spanked her first with a wooden clothes brush and finally my bare hand until she was crying uncontrollably. The application probably lasted about 10-15 minutes in all during which I reminded Judith of why she found herself in this position and of course that she must obey the rules for application of such corporal punishment. On completion and after she had thanked me for her punishment and my friends for aiding her humiliation, I pinned up her dress and woolens so that her spanked behind remained to be seen and had her stand with her hands on her head and knickers round her ankles in the corner of the room where she could be seen for the next two hours. From the redness of her bottom I would say that the fact she spent for most of this time crying quietly was because of pain as well as the shame of what she had endured. This is obviously an extremely severe punishment but I do intend to use it at least once every 2 or 3 weeks. In order to ensure she becomes even more resigned to her future clothing rules, than she already has over the past couple of months, I am considering whether I should tell her even now my plans for the next stage of her reform assuming she continues to behave in an exemplary way until June. This is that she will continue to be dressed in school uniform at all times (as now pinafore, shirt, tie and cardigan or gingham dress and cardigan) although she will be allowed to appear in public more for at least six further months. This will provide less confinement than her current regime but greater public humiliation which she already finds so unbearable on her Sunday attendances at Church. In addition I will make clear that all of the uniform clothing items she has been making and knitting and will be over the coming months are for her and will be forming a significant part of her wardrobe for many years to come. This should further accentuate the humiliation and discomfort of this work.
I thank you for your suggestions and I hope that the changes I have made although not exactly as you may have suggested you are interested to see they have been considered and used at least in part. As stated I have of course added to Judith’s feeling of punishment and hopelessness by making clear that these additional punishments were added due to your suggestions and not because of specific misbehavior. She is clearly learning to be obedient as she has had no rule transgressions at all requiring application of additional punishment over the last few weeks. She is currently in the study room writing a 16 side essay entitled, “Why I deserved to be stripped and spanked in front of guests, what it has taught me and why I deserve to receive further such punishments and what I will learn from them?” I am sure this will be helping to revisit the humiliation of her experience on Sunday. I was interested by the suggestion that I should use the term “Child” when addressing her and I will consider this currently I usually use the term, “Girl or school girl” but the use of the term child might be more appropriate and demeaning still. I wasn't clear what is or how you use a switch? for discipline so I would welcome some further information on this option/approach? I do not think I would feel a public display of the cane, belts, slipper would be appropriate as the disciplining is for the sole purpose of punishing and reforming the behavior of Judith and not something I would use on anyone else – currently these items however are hung from hooks in the study room so that Judith is ever aware of their availability.
I hope this update is useful and as ever further suggestions which will assist with Judith’s punishment and reform are welcome. I will ensure Judith provides a further update on her future reform conditions in the middle of the year. "

...I have already added my penny's worth last posting (or was it the one before?) as regards the introduction of rubber-lined school knickers with Judith's uniform, but another concern I think should be addressed is the young lady's behavior once she is alone in that rather spartan bed of hers. Not to put too fine a point on it - what is being done to dissuade the girl from falling foul of the temptation of indulging in certain unsavory solitary habits in order to assuage her discomfort? ...Garth.

Yet Another Blog for You to Explore and a Commercial Thing to Help Me earn a Crust

As you will know as much as possible I have always tried to keep this a non commercial affair, the stated aim being to create a forum to discuss and exchange ideas around my writing. But I get little financially from the publication of my stuff and I have to fund my drinking...ahem!...work...yes, that's it - work somehow. Rest assured; I'd only ever feature a commercial site that was relevant to this site's subject matter / readership and I'll only ever host links to two at most (I really hate sites / blogs that amount to little more than banner lists ). I am equally choosy when it comes to blogs to list and while thinking about all the 'Judith's Aunt' stuff that has been discussed (see A Well deserved Regime?, a few posts back) and her mention of putting her niece back in proper regulation school knickers I came across a nice little blog discussing exactly that - regulation school knickers. Called School Gym Knickers (what else?) it features some lovey big hi-res images of the same - and an equally nice young lady to fill them I might add (just click on blog name or look for it in the sidebar blog list to check it out). Incidentally, one wonders whether Judith's Aunt has taken to heart my suggestion to change her niece over to rubber-lined school bloomers, I'm sure they are available commercially...but if not then perhaps the addition of a removable latex knicker liner would suffice.

Talking of regulation Knickers: having visited the commercial site of the same name I was persuaded by the quality of their pics (but as much by their very authentic looking uniforms as anything else, to tell the truth - in particular by the type and variety of gymslips featured in addition to the usual school skirts and by the fact that nurses are featured in a dominant role - as it should be - and also appear in authentic looking uniform dresses...none of those awful 'scrubs' here). I've pinched one of their pics - I chose this one because of the gymslip featured...although you'll have to look closely to appreciate it, the pic is really only a thumbnail. Anyway, check them out...click on either picture or see their banner in the sidebar to the right or the much bigger one at the very foot of the page (way down, past the clock and the visitor-counter log thingy. The other pic is a nice example of school skirt and starched white blouse from the same site I thought you folk might like. I'm going to try to procure some site content from them to feature from time to time.

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As for my own work: I'm off down the Wood Green Cost-a-packet (Costa coffee) for a coffee (amazing!) (say hello if you see me - I'm pretty obvious) and to scribble out a couple of short linking pieces from the book (should be out, at least as an electronic download, by this time next week - all being well - touch wood and all that!). Two posts in one day...feeeew!...And it's Friday the Thirteenth!

Odds & Sods 'n Stuff & a New Blog to Explore & a 'Truth is Stranger than Fiction' Thingy

The builders are in today so as I can't get much done on volume 2 (not that it needs much doing to it now) I thought I might as well do some work on the blog. First of all; one or two folk have emailed asking about various implements. Mention has particularly been made of the Martinet and the switch. While perusing the 'Web for a good example of the former I came across this charming little Paula Meadows / Lynne Paula Russel sketch and a new blog (or at least, new to me) called Beauty and the Birch (click pic or blog name to visit). As is quite rightly stated on that blog; the Martinet is a 'whip-like instrument incorporating a number of thin leather straps' favored by French girl's schools. It is not something mentioned in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1 (click for preview / blurb) but does make in appearance in volume 2, introduced by the secure psychiatric wing, experimental psychology unit's new 'school room' mistress - but there applied to the soles of a girl's feet and the palms of her hands (she keeps a heavy leather strap handy for the buttocks). Where I use the word 'switch' I mean of course the riding switch or crop although it can be taken to mean any thin flexible rod, typically used for corporal punishment of the birching type.

Now for another little bit of 'truth' being stranger than fiction: this being from the New york Times (Hope you can read it ok - just click on it to make it bigger). An eighteen year old chained in a seated position for two weeks? Hand cuffs and shackles biting into her, rubbing raw the flesh for two weeks? Far, far too cruel - it is what straight jackets are just made for. A nice comfy straight jacket, all safe and sound, soft padded medical restraints around the ankles, a nice warm padded floor and equally padded walls to lean against, spoon-fed at meal times, placed on a bed pan as necessary or kept in diapers and plastic knickers - with such care there would be no reason not to extend her detention to three weeks or even to a month or so.

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Perhaps even provide her with company; have her join a young lady already a couple of weeks into her treatment - a snapshot or glimpse of her own future self, so to speak, just to give her an idea of what to expect. No talking, mind - oh no, that would never do! And we don't want her muttering to herself, either, do we? I,d favour plain old fashioned good discipline at this point, but a ball gag, better, a baby pacifier, could be applied or perhaps an elctro-shock collar of the type used to train dogs not to bark.

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And the real punishment? Well that would just be that gentle, tinkling little nursery rhyme or lullaby, playing over and over and over - not loud, just there in the background, in the deathly silence and just above the gentle rhythmic hiss of her own breathing and the occasional creak of canvas and leather and rustling of plastic pants. Playing over and over and over 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Of course one could choose to stop it after a while, perhaps remove the pacifier or other such restraint - it can always be restarted if she speaks. Or on the other hand it could just be restarted anyway, at random intervals and associated with electric shock - just a mild jolt - to set up neurosis / superstitious behaviour in the subject, A useful approach, that - should one require some way to extend a young lady's residence: perhaps an inheritance is at stake or the control of the family business, perhaps she has seen something she shouldn't or perhaps it simply suits someones whim to see her kept under an exploitative regime of strict discipline for its own sake. (Now, where have you come across some of those ideas before - yes, that's right! INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1)

A Short Progress Report & Another Piece of Contributed Writing

Hi folks,
A very busy week this week but here's a short progress report and also a comment posted on 'A Well-deserved Regime' (click to read original posting). First the progress report: as of yesterday afternoon INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2 stood at 230 pages and some 122,000 words, having typed up (well, dictated in anyway) some 3100 words that I had written in various pubs over the weekend. Some of you may recall I said a while back that it would be published mid-March at the latest. Well, it is getting close to that date admittedly but then again the thing is close to completion also. Most of what needs to be added is already written and just needs to be tweaked here and there so all being well by this weekend I should be proofreading in one way or another...

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And now for the contribution; another anonymously written piece, in the form of a letter addressed to Judith's aunt. Once again I have to say that this particular series has only a tenuous connection with the INSTITUTIONALISED series storyline (click on title - left in blue - to read a synopsis / book preview of volume 1 on Lulu) but does have a lot to do with the general concept of 'domestic discipline' and provides quite a nice feel for the atmosphere and the sort of possibilities that might come to exist given the right circumstances -particularly if read along with the other letters making up this thread. (In fact it is the continuation of a discussion that had been taking place on a message board sometime ago and is the result of an invitation that I extended for that discussion to be continued here - as it was being flamed somewhat on that site). Based on this contribution I couldn't resist adding on a couple of pictures that I think illustrate how Judith should be dealt with... oh, and a suitable pair of knickers for her to wear when she is (particularly galling in front of visitors, don't you think?).

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"My Dear Judith’s Aunt -
First before everything may I congratulate you on the steps that you have been taking to bring your misguided niece to a proper sense of shame and decorum.
Then may I offer some very modest suggestions as to how her punitive regime may be improved still further. I hesitate to do so, since you are obviously well versed in discipline and may even regard these suggestions as impertinent. However, as you have requested such suggestions, and have already received correspondence from two others, I will proceed.
Corporal Punishment...
Corporal discipline is a fine old tradition that should carry with it a certain dignity and even majesty. The better class of educational supplier should be able to provide you with a display rack of implements. Typically fashioned in a solid dark wood, the rack can be affixed to a wall and will bear perhaps a row of three vertical canes – thick, medium, and thin – with a brace of fine-quality leather tawses hanging to each side. This tasteful object should be placed in a public area - ideally in the hallway of your residence where it is visible to any casual visitor. What better way to proclaim that this is a house of discipline! The two leather straps should be kept highly polished, which is another regular chore for Judith to perform.
It may well be that, in practice, the trusty old cane and strap kept in the schoolroom are the most frequent visitors to Judith’s hands and bottom. Perhaps grown a little worn and shabby from years of faithful service, they still impart their lesson. But something more presentable should be kept on display. And, of course, on more formal occasions, Judith should be sent to obtain a rod from the hallway rack. This might be appropriate for the formal Sunday punishments in front of your guests. However, to be personal, I think that her Sunday spanking should be just that. A proper small-child’s bare-hand-on-bare-bottom over-the-knee spanking while your guests look on. It would differ from a small child’s spanking in that it would last much longer. Twenty minute sessions will be enough to begin on, but this can be increased later if desired.
It is possible that your guests may wish to take some of the burden of such an undertaking from you, by substituting as spanker some Sundays. If, as I assume, the Vicar is one of those who call on you, he would doubtless think it his Christian duty to relieve you of this task sometimes.
Mouth-Washing...
This little ceremony should not be stinted or carried out in any perfunctory way. A stiff bristled toothbrush should be used to work the soap well in to both the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue. Too mush rinsing afterward is an uncalled for luxury. A standard sized glass just over half full of water will provide more than sufficient for this purpose.
Castor Oil
Should you decide to proceed with this old-fashioned (and none the worse for it) remedy, I will only make one caution. Do not even consider a teaspoon. A tablespoon should be administered at the very least. In Young Ladies’ Academies of old, a full glass had to be swallowed.
Nomenclature...
It occurs to me that, so long as Judith is the only miscreant in your care, there is really little need of her given name. “Child”, as in “Come, Child”, “Say your lesson, Child”, or “Bend Over, Child!” will be quite sufficient of an address, and will constantly re-inforce her true status in her mind. "

A Saturday Tale - and a Few Words of Explanation

It Saturday morning and as I'm writing this lines of red double-deckers (buses) are disgorging those of semi-local shoppers that still have the odd pound or two in their pocket. Not that Wood Green Shopping City (the local mall) is quite the retail magnet it once was - these days its upper level more resembles a pub brawled''s is grin. Anyway, today I'm at the Tollgate, a pub in Turnpike Lane, North London. It has just gone 9 a.m. and the excuse (and I do feel a need one) is purely medicinal. Not that I ever suffer hangovers per se you understand, but I am left somewhat shaky at times after a good skinful the night before. Yesterday evening was squandered in the John Logie Baird pub in Muswell Hill (Yes the TV inventor Geezer - no not that kind of TV, that invented itself. Actually the bloke lived much of his life in Hastings on the south coast - so hands up anyone who knows his connection with this place). Perhaps the word 'squandered' is being just a little harsh - I did nearly - not quite, but very nearly - finish all the right he required to top out INSTITUTIONALISED volume 2. And in my defence I must point out that yesterday morning I typed up another 950-ish words (and close to another 2000 the day before that).

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The reason I am bothering to say any of this is to excuse the delay in adding the text portion to my last posting. As you may have guessed from the title my aim was to group together a series of images that appeal to my taste, that I have come across during my various exploratory expeditions into Web-world and that, to my mind at least, if considered sequentially tell a tale roughly analogous to the INSTITUTIONALISED storyline thus far. I hope the originators don't mind but I've left the crediting details intact so that they should benefit from the exposure in any case (Except the captioned image which someone sent me anonymously).

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From left to right and from top to bottom we have the luscious Rosalyn Young (I hope I've spelt that right) representing the epitome of the domestic face of discipline - what a wonderful little uniform for aaround the home! Then we have that intake/admission procedures scene from the Bars-and-Stripes site - what I like particularly about this one is all the tiny details they have included. There is that 1950s prom dress of course - a delicious confection in its own right, I'm sure you'd agree - but then there is that thick white line marked out on the floor and that young Lady's toes are just touching. What's so important about that, I hear you ask? In fact I'd wager that few will have even noticed it. But that simple white line is what this picture is all about; it is the story it is telling writ large. Note how that line is spaced away from the desk that the young woman facing. It is not the natural place to stand - and to my mind that is the point. It is irritating, petty, frustrating, restrictive - it is all of those things and more, but what it really represents is that young woman's life - at least for the foreseeable future.

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As for the rest you can probably guess - and that's the point really; to mentally craft your own tale. But I have to say that to my mind nothing quite conjures up so much imagery as a girl being caned across the toilet pedestal by woman in a nurse's uniform. The absolute epitome of institutionalised discipline, don't you think! Corporal punishment, petty rules, even toilet training, it's all there written out in that one image.

A Story-Board Montage Skimmed from the Web (See Next Posting - Above - for Text)

Volume 2: Blurb from Back Cover

This is the 'blurb I plan to use on the back cover and/or story-line descriptions etc. I may well have to pare it down for the book cover - we will see.

"St Mary's Hospital School - the motto: through obedience comes learning, through discipline comes obedience. Humiliating enough that it should be proudly emblazoned on the front of the gymslip, the breast pocket of the stiffly starched blouse, the little open-fronted waist-length cape - that fastened so tightly at the throat that she wore on occasion over the top - and just about every other item of clothing to boot. As a statement of intent that fine embroidery spoke volumes; the crossed crook-handled canes as a heraldic device was of particularly questionable value, practically openly stating to the world that here was a young lady subject to the kind of physical chastisement that most would have assumed had long been consigned to history. But then again, the uniform too was a thing of the past, an anachronistic throwback to long-obsolete values and the mentality of seen-but-not-heard, quite-as-a-mouse submissive femininity. Bad enough, then, that she was way past school age - worse still that the institution in question was little more than the outcome of a gleam in a psychologist's eye. Elsewhere another young woman, already resigned to the ugly green and white striped nylon dress constituting her prison uniform, was beginning to appreciate the real meaning behind the nomenclature: Victorian Workhouse. One of three such 'residential controlled environments' shut away in a secure suite within the dark recesses of an experimental psychology unit, itself embedded deeply behind the barred windows and security grilles of a privately funded hospital's secure psychiatric wing.

Both have in common that they are at loggerheads with their respective guardians, both are volunteers here having been persuaded of the advisability of having a financial buffer before starting university, but more importantly before undertaking mounting a legal challenge for their inheritances and rights... the financial return for a 90 day residential clinical trial had seemed too good to be true - perhaps it was. For both these young women it had been far easier to join then it was turning out it would be to leave - there was always some obstruction, some excuse, some extension to their stay justifiable by one clause or another. Both were now learning the hard way that freedom could be as tenuous as a spidery signature scrawled on a crumpled document."