Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "Keeping Grown Women in School Uniform..." (see last entry) but as much as anything referring to the delicious subject of written impositions (see for example the entry I posted on this subject back in September - Click HERE to read). He writes: "I hope in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 3 we will see the women kept terribly busy on mind-numbing tedious tasks such as copying out the entire Bible in their finest handwriting, or spending time doing lines and dictionary copying. The corner is god for a woman but she also needs to write for many hours a day. " .....
Well, I can assure 'anonymous' that I have very many such tasks and impositions lined up for them. I have already said that I believe that in the context of the sort of institutionalised environment outlined in volumes 1 and 2 that such tasks as copying out a meaningful text such as the Bible would be deemed to embody too great an element of genuine educational value - ie they could well find interest and distraction in such a task. In such an environment some sort of dictation - to be taken down in their finest copperplate hand and the content of which they are obliged to learn verbatim despite it being nonsensical - is the order of the day. Although the term 'learning' is used here, the institution will of course have gone out of its way to ensure that there is no avenue through which anything might be gained of genuine educational benefit to the young ladies, or that might provide any relief from the tedium of the unit's strict disciplinary regime. It is for that reason that I endorse in the new book (the one that will fit between volumes two and three) the idea of their learning sets of deliberately incorrect and fabricated multiplication tables - they must concentrate fully on their task if they are to escape corporal punishment, thus they are denied the escape of daydream or fantasy in freeing them from the psychological impoverished environment of the 'schoolroom', yet benefit not one iota from the task. In the domestic setting to be outlined in volume 3, however, there is much scope for copying out suitably complex yet tedious texts, as suggested.
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All this has just reminded me; if such as above is your bag then you really must visit the 'Winterbrook Hall blog, that I have mentioned previously. There is the most fabulous piece of writing there - easily the best example of the use of written impositions, corporal punishment and schoolroom discipline I think I have ever read to date. Click HERE to visit / read. By the way; the image above right I have just been anonymously sent via email - origin unknown but it looks like another one of Thorn's to me, judging by the style.
Have you considered the punitive effect of enforced changing from school uniform to games clothes or nightwear repeatedly? I vividly recall my own experience at the girls' boarding school I attended back in the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteThe prefects there were given a pretty full rein to discipline the younger pupils as they wished, short of corporal punishment. As well as the usual impositions and detentions there were always some who favoured some form of humiliating task or activity as a punishment.
If any of the prefects caught you breaking the rules in some minor way you would get told to report to the prefects common room at lunchtime or after school to do some work for them - 'fagging' as it was called - such as tidying up or cleaning shoes and so on. They all 'talked down' to anyone obliged to fag for them but some would be particularly rude just to make it more of a punishment.
Some of the prefects used to like adding an extra layer of humiliation and make you wear something instead of just your usual uniform, such as your games kit, so that everyone could see you were being punished. One prefect in particular liked to make you change into pyjamas. She insisted on them being buttoned up to the collar and worn with nothing underneath. I think she knew just how embarrassing it was like that so that everybody could see who they were.
One time - I must have been in the fifth form - I was ordered to report to the prefects for running in the corridor and Julie, the prefect who was particularly fond of using pyjama punishment was in charge of 'defaulters' that day. She told me go and get changed into my pyjamas and report back with the rest of my uniform neatly folded. On my return to the prefects common room however, she noticed that my knickers were not among the folded clothes I had brought with me and asked if I was still wearing them. When I admitted I was, she ordered me to change back into my uniform there and then. When I protested, she said that as I couldn’t get changed properly she would have to make sure that I did.
Julie stood there smirking as I got changed back into school uniform again. It was so embarrassing in front of the other prefects lounging around watching me as I slowly got dressed, taking care to tuck my vest right down into my knickers, the waistband pulled up and the elasticated legs pulled down, before pulling on the bottle green knee length socks, green and white striped cotton blouse, my fingers struggling to fasten the buttons. It took several attempts to get my tie right before I was able to put on my gymslip with its awkward button fastenings and then finally folded my pyjamas ready for inspection.
“Right, Nicholls, let’s see if you can get changed properly this time,” said Julie. I was dying of shame as I got undressed again and into my pyjamas, aware that the other girls in the room were giggling and laughing at me as I did so, remembering to neatly fold each item of clothing I had removed.
Julie eyed me in silence for a moment and then said “What do you think, girls. Shall we see if she can get dressed a bit quicker this time?”
To my dismay, the other prefects all said yes and so once more I was made to get dressed in front of them. And when I had, I was made to change back into pyjamas again. And so it went on, dressing and undressing, each time folding the garments I had removed, buttoning and unbuttoning, school uniform on, school uniform off, pyjamas on, pyjamas off, again and again until I lost count of the number of times I had been made to get changed from one to the other. After what seemed an eternity I was gradually reduced to a state of weeping frustration, begging to be allowed to stop. It was a horribly humiliating ordeal, made all the more so by the obvious amusement enjoyed by the watching prefects.
Hi guys, this is a bit rude of me to do to send a blanket email out to everyone (I can deal with the hate as everyone will benefit from it ;-)), but it is easier for me to do by going down the new update list. Check the new page out http://spankinguniverse.blogspot.com and if you like it feel free to add it to your blog list. My latest post on my main site details what my goal is, if you like what I have done and link into it, then everyone should get major dollops of hits from it as we will all be sharing the same traffic.
ReplyDeleteYour blog has already been added to the update list.
Whenever you post your link goes straight to the top of the list and the readers will click on that one first. You should have already been getting the traffic today from the link from my own site. So far I have added 79 spanking blogs to the list.
Richard Windsor.
http://spankinguniverse.blogspot.com