Many apologies that you have not heard from
me for a while again. So, what have I been up to in the meantime? Well, I’ve been hard at
work... And on a plethora of exciting projects, an ever-lengthening list which is
almost becoming too long to recount.
I have two part-written books on the go, of
which an extract of one of them I am presently grooming to present to the
‘Erotic Mind Control Story Archive’ (link listed under Useful Resources in the
right-hand sidebar). I am gradually
building up and adding to the frames intended to go in the comic / graphic novel
style publication I have been working on together with my artistic
collaborator, Angela Fox. I am doing a
bit of proof reading for the aforementioned lady (link in the right-hand
sidebar) who has a new book coming out soon (despite being dyslexic I am quite
good at spotting other peoples mistakes and typos, even if I can’t always spot
my own!). I have been adding to and
extending the ‘Beyond the Barred Window’ website, which now boasts many new
pages and sections. And I have even,
more recently, been doing a little image manipulation work for Roger Benson,
whose 1950’s influenced domestic and institutional discipline and spanking
orientated artwork I have talked of enthusiastically before in these pages and
some of which has influenced both my written stuff in the past and one or two
of Angela Fox’s artistic output, notably Roger Benson’s ‘Reformatory’ series. And in the background (should that be
foreground?) I have been beavering away at a commissioned piece – I’m always
open to accepting commissions by the way, especially if the subject matter is
imaginative / ‘different’!
Talking of the ‘Beyond the Barred Window’
website and Roger Benson’s artwork: One new
and exciting development is the possibility of hosting a section on the site entirely
devoted to Roger’s work including such features as occasional polls and perhaps
one or two illustrated written pieces, above and beyond showcasing his
imaginative artwork. I’ll let you know
more, as and when!
Now, in addition to uploading pictorial
content from my extensive collection of eclectic stuff, I have finally started
adding a bit of explanatory text and commentary to the site as well as one or
two written articles – such as the commentary presented below, a piece I
originally wrote for the ‘Well Red Weekly’ ezine some time back. Other pieces I am also busily preparing will
be specific to the website and at some later date I may well include snippets,
fragments and odds and sods from various unfinished (and unlikely to be
finished) stories etc which I will invite visitors to complete or add their
ideas to. Who knows? One or two new collaborations may well be
formed in the fullness of time – I certainly hope so; I need the inspiration to
keep the writing fresh, and myself motivated!
The website is presently receiving 800 plus unique hits per day, so if YOU have any suitable written work or artwork you would like to showcase, I can promise you a wide and varied audience. Contributions always welcome!
Oh! The classic American diner waitress? Just a spurious image I plucked off a website somewhere: I've had a thing about girl's in those vintage style dresses and aprons ever since 'Twin Peaks' back in the 80's... Go figure! But needless to say there will be an extensive collection hosted on the website in due course. I you have any captured from the web or, better still, scaned from magazines, catalogues etc you may own, please contribute. I can always be contacted on Facebook, Twitter or email (which I prefer - I'm old fashioned like that!). Links (like so much) can be found in the right-hand sidbar.
Plausibility
in Spanking Fiction
It has been said
that the skill of the successful fiction writer lies in enabling the reader to
suspend his or her disbelief. This is
rarely more self-evidently true than in the genre of spanking fiction. After all, in contemporary culture (in The
West at least) corporal punishment under just about any circumstance one may
care to cite would constitute common assault at the very least and be condemned
as both mental and physical abuse. And
right from the outset - since we are all agreed we are dealing with FICTION
here - 'abuse' is a term I feel should never be visited (despite its
justifiably outraged utterance, when confronted by some 'real world' case
presented in the press).
For some reason
a term such as 'exploitation' or similar seems ok - as in ' the exploitation of
vulnerable and perhaps naive young women' (a phrase used more than once, in one
form or another, in the 'Reader's Letter's' pages of Janus Magazine in the
past) – but never, ever 'abuse'. In that
way, when it comes to spanking and corporal punishment-based literature the
author is often asking his or her readership not just to suspend disbelief but
also to temporarily suspend ethical and moral judgement, not to mention their
sense of 'fair play'. But then, for many
it is that upturning of what constitutes 'fair play' and the countering of any
moral justification behind the punishment metered out to the hapless heroine
(or hero, if one is that way inclined) that is at the root of much of the
excitement; hence the undeniable frisson when some blameless young thing is
bent over to receive the rod across her tender behind purely for the delight of
her guardian or perhaps to extract a signature from her on an open cheque or
documentation selling off her inheritance from under her.
And the more credible a tale becomes, the more one has to be careful
– speaking as an author - to leave clear some sort of self-justifiable (perhaps
some would say, self-deluding) leeway for the reader to be able to put aside
for the moment any notion of real-world moralistic judgement; or at least
temper that judgement with the knowledge that in fiction it is ok to be
horrified just for the thrill of it. And
make no mistake, even in the absence of gratuitously vivid descriptions of
heartlessly vicious and sadistic beatings (and this author for one cannot abide
such things – even in the cause of realism!)
there is often an aspect of the horror novel present in well-written
corporal punishment-orientated literature, albeit even if only present as a
sort of psychological undercurrent of dread.
Perhaps this feeling or sense of dread may be of the form; 'what if it
were me?' or it might manifest as 'what must it be like for her? or even 'how
terrible the long-term consequences'; but I would argue it is present in one
form or another nonetheless.
I would also argue that many - if not all - the above considerations
are present (as an unacknowledged, unpleasant and hurriedly circumnavigated or
bridged-over shadowy undertow) even in a consensual spanking context or
relationship. After all, ask yourself
this question: what is that lurks behind the chosen roles of the
protagonists? The debatable purely
physiological stimulating effect of a light spanking on the area surrounding
the genitalia aside, what is it that provides the driving force? In one way or another, isn't the answer to
that question simply this; control? What
is going through the mind of the erstwhile 'school master', what is it that is
being acted out in private fantasy?
Something well-removed from the stage setting of the loving, caring
relationship it purports to be being acted out upon, one might conjecture. Externally, in the 'real world' the act might well be consensual – but
internally, in that all-important 'mind-space', it is easily to envisage the
exact opposite being true, at least insofar as the case of the
'disciplinarian.
What is at issue here is not so much the events leading up to the
subject receiving a spanking or other form of corporal punishment - in terms of
what the subject has done to deserve (or indeed, not deserve) the correction
metered out - as under what set of circumstances would a régime based around
corporal punishment be likely to be encountered in the real world. In answering the latter part of that
conundrum we must first decide whether we are considering a consensual or
non-consensual context for our tale (we have already determined that we are
talking about a fictional situation in either case).
If the former – corporal punishment given and received between
mutually agreeable consenting adults – the problem of plausibility largely
evaporates, other than as pertains to excessive severity or perhaps blatant
public exposure and humiliation. But
even then, in the real world the authorities might have something to say;
witness the so-called ‘Spanner Case’ in which the trial judge ruled that
consent was not a valid defence to actual bodily harm (Regina v. Brown et al.
1993 Appeal Judgement). On the other
hand if we are considering the non-consensual context, in which corporal
punishment is applied as a genuine form of behavioural correction, then the
legitimate settings available for story development within the present
timeframe with its judgmental atmosphere of supervisory oversight, scrutiny –
both public and otherwise – and judicial control, become vanishingly sparse.
Within the above arguments we also have to consider whether the
imposition of corporal punishment really is a genuine means to an end – some
form of behavioural modification targeted at reinforcing a regime of strict
discipline – or an end in itself. After
all, there are other far subtler methods of bringing about behavioural change,
which may in itself include the eventual acceptance of corporal
punishment. We also have to decide
whether the setting would best fit the domestic or institutional environment. From everything said above alluding to
accountability and public and government-appointed-body scrutiny, the latter
would seem even more barren in terms of nurturing a tale of reddened late-teen
bottoms if set in modern times. But as
we shall see later, if we are prepared to stretch our timeframe a little the
institutional setting can actually provide some of the most plausibly fertile
ground within which to nurture a climate of strict discipline and petty rules,
all backed up by good, solid over-the-knee spanking and ankle-gripping
caning.
Now speaking personally, and with my reader’s hat on, I prefer not
to have to suspend my disbelief too far – my gullibility is not a never-ending
unbreakable strand of elastic. I know it
is just fantasy – and we should never lose sight of that fact, nor fail to
reiterate it often enough – but I for one would like to think that the
situation I am reading about really could come about. With my writer’s headgear well and truly
wedged in place, I am not at all sure I could persuade my readership to accept
a modern girl or young woman in her teens or early twenties in the hands of
some harsh cane-wielding step-parent not rushing for the door and running to
the relevant authorities. Yes I know the
wicked stepmother is about as tired an
old cliché or stereotype as it is possible to evoke, but - with my reader’s cap
back on again – it is just that little bit more believable than if a blood
relative were to be involved (and far less ‘uncomfortable’ in my view). If we were to delve back far enough in to the
past then the above step-parent (or read ‘legal guardian’ into that if too
uncomfortable with it) scenario – especially where some sort of inheritance is
at stake – becomes far more plausible.
Less plausible, I think – whatever the timeframe – are situations in
which the party under the rod begins to enjoy it in some manner or ‘the tables
are turned’.
To make such a scenario plausible in the contemporary setting
requires, in the first instance (assuming we decide to ignore the illegality
aspect) that the disciplinarian is able to exert some form of pressure or has a
hold over our subject that is sufficient to coerce her to accept corporal punishment
while simultaneously either rendering her unable to go to the authorities or
likely to be disbelieved – or even made to suffer further in some manner – if
she does. The pressure or ‘hold’ the
authoritarian figure might exert in such a scenario I would envisage as
psychological as much – or more so – than physical. There is no need for handcuffs nor bars on
the windows in such a scenario; and such accoutrements might even undermine the
believability of the tale. Rather the
authority figure relies on the power of his or her personality and sheer
charisma to overpower the other’s will, subtly wearing down and undermining her
self-confidence to the point at which she becomes increasing psychologically
dependent on her guardian or whoever.
Little requests couched in language suggesting an order gradually
make way for actual orders that become more and more authoritative tone: “I
really much prefer you in that skirt you had on the other day rather than
jeans, Andrea – so much more attractive!”
gradually becomes “please put on your grey skirt today, Andrea” then “I
want you in that new dress I bought you yesterday” to “I only want you in that
gingham school dress I bought you from now on” and “I don’t want you wandering
around the grounds without either myself or the housekeeper to accompany you –
you know how you can get if you have one of your panic attacks outdoors” and
finally “You know you’re not allowed out of your room unsupervised – get over
my knee at once, girl!”.
In the above you can see the little seeds of doubt being planted
“those panic attacks you keep having” or “you know how jittery you can get
outdoors on your own”. You see the bars
are there, but they are psychological bars and chains, not physical. And these fetters extend far outside the
home. Imagine if you will, the collusion
of a psychologist, a diagnosis written to order and the patient manipulated to
fit the mould: “…And just who is going
to take any notice of anything you say?
Why, I’ve a good mind to take you to the authorities myself; you know of
course they’d have you committed virtually immediately, no questions
asked? And you know what goes on in
those places! …What’s that you say?
You’re normal? Well, that’s
debatable” She laughs “I know you’re
normal, you know you’re normal – but that’s not what it says on your doctor’s
report… Yes, who do you think they’re going to believe?... That’s better! Now, pass me the cane, knickers down, skirt
up – grasp your ankles like a good girl!” .
.
In the past I’ve included all kinds of elements in stories in order
to come up with a scenario of that type, which while perhaps not that much
realistic than some others at least seems possible, although not without
raising certain ethical and moral issues that I know may bother some
readers. For example one of my latest
revolving around the domestic arena involves the exploitation of the heroine’s
benzodiazepine dependence (a prescription tranquilizer) – engineered by a tame
psychiatrist – in order to impose a regime of strict discipline backed up by
spanking and the cane.
And if you think the collusion of a health professional,
psychiatrist, psychologist or nurse is far fetched… Well, that brings me to the wonderful world
of institutional discipline and spanking.
You’ll notice I don’t mention the term, ‘scholastic’, in the same breath
as the word ‘institutional’ at any point – and there is good reason, I believe,
for this. As was mentioned earlier, in
any contemporary scholastic setting one might envisage existing in the western
world any form of corporal punishment will have been outlawed by legislation,
and all parties concerned will know this.
Even if one were to delve into the fairly recent past – at a point
when spanking and the cane were still accepted forms of correction – it is
difficult to see past such done-to-death stereotypical scenarios as the
spanking dealt out for smoking behind the bike shed or the caning earned for
'playing truant' and so on. Besides, it
seems to me that for any spanking-related tale to be imaginative, suitably
punitive and yet plausible (in that the disciplinarian should remain vouchsafed
from busybody officialdom and do-gooder interference) some form of
institutional residency becomes an essential part of the equation. But even the strictest residential
educational institution one might realistically envisage would have woven into
its routine various breaks and vacation periods – time and opportunity aplenty
for any untoward or over-zealous disciplinary procedures to become public knowledge.
Even if a writer should invoke some other form of institution in
which various disciplinary measures might be expected to be in place to
maintain order, whether judicial, such as a reformatory or prison, or even a
psychiatric hospital or care home, the contemporary setting is difficult to
work with – so many safeguards and guidelines in place you see; or so perhaps
one might thin. And yet of the above
examples it is in the world of psychiatric institutions and of ecclesiastical charitable
care homes that we find the most fertile ground for plausible and believable
tales of strict discipline, petty rules and restrictions, over-the-knee
spankings a liberal doses of the cane.
After all: what could be more plausible than that which has actually
taken place? For what has occurred in
the past, history tells us, can happen again – and so often has!
Right up into the 1970s we have had the so-called ‘Magdalene laundries’
– surely fertile ground in which to plant a tale of unrelenting exploitation,
spanking and caning (as has indeed been done – for example, the film: The Magdalene Sisters, 2002 directed by
Peter Mullan - but not yet to the point that the seam has become
mined-out). We are a long removed from
the days of the poor law system, when a particularly fractious and refractory
girl might be committed to the loving arms of the nuns of The Sisters of Mercy
with the stated aim of making her 'more amenable to religious discipline'
simply for having been seen flirting with one too many of the village lads - or
perhaps having ill-advisedly refused the advances of some local dignitary. Nevertheless who is to say – assuming the
reported longevity of the Magdalene laundries is not in question – what remnant
of that system might still survive to this day behind high inscrutable stone
walls somewhere?
Then we have the world of the semi-legitimised experimental
psychology investigation – witness the so-called 'Stanford Experiment' in which
an approximation of a prison establishment was set up in a basement area of the
prestigious Stanford University in the USA. The latter involved an all
male protocol and was shut down after a few days having very quickly run out of
control, those selected as prison guards exhibiting ever greater tendency
towards sadistic behaviour and the 'prisoners' becoming ever more resigned,
even submissive. But what if it had not
been shut down so promptly? What if the
'prisoners' were female (because I prefer that)? What if instead of student volunteers,
members of less traceable sectors of society were to be recruited, the
runaways, the type that those church-run 'laundries' and 'industrial schools'
would once have branded as 'incorrigibles, at moral risk'?
The 1930s right through to the 1970s (with the 50s seemingly the heyday)
seems the most fertile period for invoking the spectre of unethical psychology
experiments – including, but not limited to, deliberately inducing stuttering
in test subjects. But who is to say what
is going on behind closed doors to this day – such scandals seem to have the
knack of remaining buried until decades after the event. There is tremendous scope here: for example,
take the above mentioned stuttering experiment; the protocol was based on
utilizing psychological pressure to induce a verbal stumble or other speech
defect and then capitalizing on it to create further pressure by drawing the
subject's attention to the supposed speech defect. Would it be so difficult to imagine a residential cohort recruited from among
late-teen runaways during perhaps the coldest winter in decades and legal
waivers duly signed and dated. And what
better way to apply psychological pressure than a wickedly pliant length of rattan
hovering over an outstretched palm – and the warning given not to 'stammer over
the reading of the passage this time through, girl'?
Then we come to certain more contentious forms of 'treatment' reportedly prevalent in the contemporary
world of psychiatric care. I am talking
here of so-called 'harassment therapy'.
Although it is true I have yet to come across a reliable, explicit
report of corporal punishment being in use, the utilization of various forms of
physical enforcement has been implied
within contemporary accounts of young women being forced to clean out shower cubicles
- and even toilets - on their hands and knees with toothbrushes and so on. Given such a regime, is it so far fetched to imagine a pretty
inmate draped over a nurse's knee for a hand or hairbrush spanking, her
hospital examination gown peeled back either side of a delectable pair of bare
drum-tight buttocks? Remember too, the
ease with which it was once possible for a young wife to find herself committed
on little more than the say-so of her spouse and a few pieces of silver having
changed hands, perhaps to make way for an even younger, even more delectable morsel,
perhaps to grant her spouse greater control over her estate... Oh the possibilities inherent in the granting
of an enduring power of attorney!
And then we come to the possibilities opening up through today’s
obsession with television ‘reality’ shows, many of which seem increasingly to
be evolving towards the sadistic end of the spectrum in the trials and
tribulations they put their contestants through. But then again, perhaps we shouldn’t overlook
reality itself, not when taking in to consideration the ever-worsening economic
situation in the west, the increasing gap between rich and poor and the dearth
of employment opportunities. In such an
economic climate with an excess workforce chasing fewer and fewer unskilled
positions - coupled with a growing housing crisis - might we not be facing a
situation wherein once again the price of labour becomes cheap enough for live-in
domestic service to become a more common form of employment for a young
school-leaver to find herself in. With
the very roof over her head directly tied to her continued employment, wages
amounting to little more than ‘room and board’ (the minimum legal wage is
easily dealt with by offsetting against room rental coupled with inventively-levied
financial penalties for poor performance) and no hope of further employment
without glowing references, it would not be that
difficult to imagine a few strokes of the cane or a few minutes spent over the
lap of the mistress of the house being preferable to severance.
Having dealt with the setting and the impetus for the imposition of
a regime incorporating corporal punishment, we come to the ending of the
tale. I do sometimes feel I should
apologise for not providing ay form of ‘happy ending’. But happy endings are hard to come by in
story telling where the action by definition would lead to the prosecution of
the protagonists should the story leak out.
That in itself, for some, would constitute a happy ending – the victim
set free, her tormentors left behind bars.
But is that what non-consensual story telling is all about? Given the high stakes, surely the
perpetrators would go to great lengths to cover their tracks and ensure the
secret of their actions remains safe.
But for all time? How? I for one would not like to go down the fatal
route taken by certain other writers of the genre. And for sake of plausibility, given a
contemporary or near-contemporary Western world setting, the ‘she was sold into slavery to an oil-rich sheikh
and was never seen or heard from again’ is out of the question.
And yet many of those that disappeared into the depths of the
Church-run ‘industrial school’ system were never seen or heard from again,
outside of the convent walls – and one does not have to go too far back in
history to invoke the existence of such an institution. Some say the last didn’t perish until the
early 1970s! Who’s to say what might
still survive of that system in some remote location. Then there are the welcoming arms of the
mental health system – it was easier to be embraced within their tenacious
protection in the 1960s (and easier still to arrange in even earlier times).
Personally, I’d rather come across the hanging, open ending – a
glimmer of hope for our hapless, browbeaten and put-upon heroine hanging
somewhere out in the distance, but for now, the prospect of perhaps being
placed into service under the stiletto heel of her domineering guardian, or
cane-wielding, gold-digging young step mother, made a servant in her own
home. Or if ensconced in some
institution, perhaps she is about to face some sort of review panel, visiting
board of governors or government authority inspector with the prospect of
putting her case and turning the tables, of bringing the full might of the law
into her corner – but all the time, behind the scenes… Well, you get the idea!
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