Ideal Homes and Punishment Dress

Thanks go out to 'Orage' for pointing out to me that one of the blogs that I feature in my blog list (see side bar) - namely, 'The Beauty and The Birch' – has posted a most excellent article on punishment-dress taken from an old spanking magazine that I used to read way-back-when, entitled 'Phoenix'. Absolutely classic. I actually have that edition somewhere in the depths of my collection but I hadn't seen it for years, until today. It highlights that other function of punishment dress besides and beyond the humiliation aspect that I usually focus on in my writing – that being the facilitation and augmentation of corporal punishment. Probably the best example of this aspect was the photo set published in Blushes (or was it Whispers) many years ago that involved a reform-school caning applied over skin-tight, thin close-fitting shorts - the intimate fit further benefiting from a cord pulled taut between the girl's bottom cheeks and tied off at the waist band. A saturating deluge of water from a suitably institutional-looking white enamel jug then added that all-important je ne sais quoi. I'm sure most of you know where I'm coming from with this – I have pasted a pic from this set on this blog in the past – but to check out the Phoenix article, click here. I have the full Blushes / Whispers set in my collection and would have chucked in a couple of scanned pics here, but I am in a pub in Palmers Green (North London) using my 'Net book' and don't have access to my full files.

Yesterday I attended the 'Ideal Home Exhibition' in Earls Court, London – the (only) highlight of which was a demonstration of 3D television. It was apparently the 102nd such exhibition, which led me to wonder what innovations would have been on offer in the first few, a golden era when the concept of 'labor-saving devices' probably included girls in service, maids and the like – I shall have to investigate.

Since posting this (last night) I have come across the photo I spoke of above (see above left - obviously). I have the rest of the set in a magazine somewhere - I'll dig it out, scan and post it up if there is sufficient interest. Otherwise I shall be getting on with writing the new volume.