Spanking

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Political cartoon from 1860 depicting Stephen A. Douglas receiving a traditional "over-the-knee" spanking from Columbia as Uncle Sam looks on approvingly.

Spanking is a form of corporal punishment that generally consists of striking the buttocks. The recipient is usually a child or teenager. It is usually administered by a parent or by school staff. However, the term applies no matter who the recipient is.

In North America, the word "spanking" has often been used as a synonym for an official paddling in school^[1], and sometimes even as a euphemism for the formal corporal punishment of adults in an institution.^[2]

In British English, most dictionaries define "spanking" as being given only with the open hand.^[3] However, in common usage, a spanking may be given with a hand-like implement such as a hairbrush or a slipper. In American English, dictionaries define spanking as being administered with either the open hand or an implement such as a paddle.^[4] Thus, the standard form of corporal punishment in US schools (licks with a paddle) is often referred to as a spanking, whereas its pre-1997 English equivalent (strokes of the cane) would never have been so described.

In Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, the word "smacking" is generally used in preference to "spanking" to describe striking with the punisher's open hand, rather than with an implement. Whereas a spanking is invariably administered to the buttocks, a smacking is less specific and may refer to slapping the child's hands, arms or legs as well as its buttocks.^[5]

Some countries now prohibit spanking as a form of discipline, even by parents, and many organizations dedicated to the health of children nowadays oppose it. They believe the young person does not benefit from being spanked and might even be harmed. Other groups, such as some parents' groups, maintain that moderate spanking is a useful disciplinary tool in the context of a stable family life. Opinions remain sharply divided, and there is absolutely no consensus on the issue. Academic research findings are inconclusive, and hotly contested (see Corporal punishment in the home).

[edit] Etymology

The verb "to spank" has been known in English since 1785, possibly onomatopeic in nature.^[6]

English and several other languages have a specific, common verb for "spanking" that relates it explicitly to the buttocks. Thus in Latin the only word derived from "culus" (buttocks) was "culare" meaning "to spank", similar to the Italian "sculacciare"; in Spanish "azotes" or "nalgadas", from "nalga" (butt); in French, the verb is "fesser", also from "fesses" (buttocks).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] In the home

Spankings are most commonly administered to children by their parents.^[7] In much of the western world, this kind of punishment is nowadays more likely to be given to younger children than to post-adolescent teens.

Historically, boys have tended to be more frequently spanked on average than girls.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

[edit] In schools

School corporal punishment, usually delivered with an implement (such as a paddle or cane) rather than with the open hand, used to be a common form of discipline in many countries, but it is now banned in much of the western world, including every country in Europe, and in Japan, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. These bans have not been without controversy, and in many cultures opinion remains sharply divided as to the efficacy or suitability of spanking as a punishment for misbehaviour by school students.

Formal caning, notably for teenage boys, remains a common form of discipline in schools in several Asian and African countries, especially those with a British heritage such as Malaysia, Singapore, Tanzania and Zimbabwe (although it is not very often referred to as "spanking" in those cultures). For details of individual countries, see School corporal punishment.

In the United States, corporal punishment with a wooden paddle applied to the student's buttocks has been held by the US Supreme Court to be lawful in schools.^[13] More than half the States have banned it in public schools. Paddling is still common in some schools in the South.^[14][15]

[edit] Women

In some cultures, women have historically been spanked by the patriarch of the family or the husband. This is now regarded as tantamount to wife-beating and in modern times it has become socially unacceptable and is considered abusive throughout the developed world. Corporal punishment of women by their husbands, however, does still exist in some parts of the third world.^[16][17][18]

[edit] Non-punitive and voluntary spankings

Spanking exists in spheres of life distinct from punishment. Note the issue of legal consent, which may or may not represent a defence to charges of criminal assault.

[edit] Folkloristic spanking traditions

In Latvia there is a tradition of spanking on Palm Sunday (called Pussy willow Sunday) morning. The spanker sneaks into the potential spankee's bedroom and wakes him or her up. The whipping is done with pussy willow branches or (rarely) birch. This ritual spanking is often applied to the bare buttocks. ^[19] Sometimes spanking is done in early morning with aspen tree birch, while people are sleeping naked or in nightgown.^[20]

On the first day of the lunar Chinese new year holidays, a week-long 'Spring Festival', the most important festival for Chinese people all over the world, thousands of Chinese visit the Taoist Dong Lung Gong temple in Tungkang to go through the century-old ritual to get rid of bad luck, men by receiving spankings and women by being whipped (as in the Ancient Roman -unisex- Lupercalia); the number of strokes to being administered (always lightly) by the temple staff is decided in either case by the god Wang Ye and by burning incense and tossing two pieces of wood, after which all go home happily, believing their luck will improve.^[21]

On Easter Monday, there is a Slavic tradition of hitting girls and young ladies with woven willow switches (Czech: pomlázka; Slovak: korbáč) and dousing them with water.^[22][23][24]

In Slovenia, there is a jocular tradition that anyone who succeeds in climbing to the top of Mount Triglav receives a spanking or birching.^[25]

[edit] Birthday spanking

There is a custom in some cultures to spank a person for fun on his or her birthday. Customarily, the person receives the number of smacks corresponding to his or her age. Often included is "one to grow on," a final swat harder than the rest.^{[citation needed]} A "coming of age" spanking on a person's 18th or 21st birthday is a particular tradition in some school or college settings in North America. A similar custom applies for the 18th birthday in Poland ("18-stka Pasowanie") when the celebrant receives 18 hard whacks on the backside with a belt; there exist online numerous video clips illustrating this custom.^[26]

[edit] See also

• Spanking implements
• Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (Attorney General)
• Paddle (punishment)
• erotic spanking

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Look up spanking in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Corporal punishment at the Open Directory Project
• World Corporal Punishment Research