Spanking

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

Spanking refers to the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain without producing physical injury. It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as slapping or smacking. More severe forms of spanking, such as switching, paddling, belting, caning, whipping, and birching, involve the use of an implement instead of a hand.

Spanking is regarded as abusive in some cultures, but as an acceptable form of discipline in others.

Corporal punishment is most commonly used to discipline an infant, child, or teenager. It generally involves an adult - typically a parent, guardian, or teacher - striking the child's buttocks as punishment for unacceptable behavior. Historically, boys have tended to be more frequently spanked than girls. Some countries have outlawed the spanking of children in every setting, but many allow it at least when administered by a parent or guardian. For the legal status of corporal punishment in different countries, see Corporal punishment in the home and School corporal punishment.

In some cultures, the spanking of a wife by her husband is considered acceptable forms of domestic discipline, though the practice is far less common than it used to be. In other contexts, the spanking of an adult can be considered a playful gesture during a social ritual or as a form of entertainment.

Terminology

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

In British English, most dictionaries define "spanking" as being given only with the open hand. In American English, dictionaries define spanking as being administered with either the open hand or an implement such as a paddle. 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.

The word "licks" is also a common term in West-Indian countries, especially Trinidad & Tobago. It usually refers to any sort of spanking or beating or really any sort of physical punishment. Licks can involve "switches" or small tree branches, pieces of cocoyea, or basically any sort of object near by. These can also include belts, spoons, brooms, and even rolling pins.

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

In the home

  Countries that have explicitly abolished all forms of corporal punishment of children.

Main article: Corporal punishment in the home

In many cultures, parents have historically been regarded as having the duty of disciplining their children, and the right to spank them when appropriate; however, attitudes in many countries changed in the 1950s and 60s following the publication by pediatrician Dr Spock of Baby and Child Care in 1946, which advised parents to treat children as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g., babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried. The change in attitude was followed by legislation. Since 1979, 30 countries around the world (at 2011) have outlawed domestic corporal punishment of children. In Europe, 22 countries have banned the practice. And in many other places the practice is considered controversial.

In Africa (not in South Africa), the Middle East, and in most parts of Eastern Asia (including China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea), corporal punishment of one's own children is lawful. In Singapore and Hong Kong, punishing one's own child with corporal punishment is legal but not particularly encouraged. Culturally, many people in the region believe a certain amount of corporal punishment for their own children is appropriate and necessary, and thus such practice is accepted by society as a whole.

Studies have consistently found that:

• Boys are spanked more than girls;
• Mothers spank more than fathers;
• Toddlers and preschoolers are spanked most often;
• Parents from lower income groups spank more often.
• Parents who have more education are less likely to spank;
• Religious conservatives are more favorable towards spanking;
• Some groups, based on cultural and/or ethnic background are more likely to spank their children.

A common method of spanking is to have the child or teenager lying, stomach down, across the parent's lap, with the parent bringing their open hand down upon the child's buttocks. Alternatively, the youngster might be told to bend over, or lie face down across a bed. Spankings may be delivered over the trousers, over the undergarments, or upon the bare buttocks. Those who argue in favor of spanking claim that the bottom is the safest place to administer the punishment, since there is little danger of injury to this part of the body.

Lay opinions are divided on whether spanking is helpful or harmful to a child's behavior. Public attitudes towards the acceptability and effectiveness of spanking vary a great deal by nation and region. For example in the United States and United Kingdom, social acceptance of spanking children maintains a majority position, from approximately 61% to 80%. In Sweden, before the 1979 ban, more than half of the population considered corporal punishment a necessary part of child rearing. By 1996 the rate was 11%, and less than 34% considered it acceptable in a national survey.

On the other hand, most scientific researchers and child welfare organizations oppose it. Some studies have suggested that it does not benefit the child, and can encourage problems like anxiety, alcohol abuse, or dependence and externalizing problems. Various other problems have also been claimed.

Some researchers have been critical of these studies as scientifically unsound and have pointed out methodological flaws in how they were conducted, as well as the conclusions drawn. However, a longitudinal study by Tulane University in 2010 controlled for a wide variety of confounding variables previously noted and still found negative outcomes in children who were spanked more than twice per month. On the other hand, the study did not show a statistically significant difference between spanking once or twice per month and not spanking. According to the study's leader, Catherine Taylor, this suggests that "it's not just that children who are more aggressive are more likely to be spanked."

There is an ongoing debate on whether the sexual deviation "spanking fetishism" is caused by spankings received or witnessed in childhood (or puberty age) or not.There are claims that that some (but not all) spanking fetishes, are eroticizations of childhood traumas.

In schools

Main article: School corporal punishment

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 school discipline in many countries, but it is now banned in most of the western world, including all of Europe, and in Japan, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa. These bans have been controversial, 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; however, in these cultures it is referred to as "caning" and not "spanking".

In the United States, the Supreme Court in 1977 held that the paddling of school students was not per se unlawful. The constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" applied only to those convicted of crime: the common-law stipulation that school corporal punishment be "reasonable and not excessive" was a sufficient safeguard against misuse. However, 31 states have now banned paddling in public schools. Paddling is still common in some schools in the South, where it is often called "spanking".

In India, corporal punishment is prohibited in schools in the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009). Article 17 states: "(1) No child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment. (2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to such person."

Adult spanking

In some cultures, the spanking of women, by the male head of the family or by the husband (sometimes called domestic discipline) has been and sometimes continues to be a common and approved custom. In those cultures and in those times it was the belief that the husband, as head of the family, had a right and even the duty to discipline his wife and children when he saw fit, and manuals were available to instruct the husband how to discipline his household. In most western countries, this practice has come to be regarded as socially unacceptable wife-beating, domestic violence or abuse. Routine corporal punishment of women by their husbands, however, does still exist in some parts of the developing world, and still occurs in isolated cases in western countries.

However, there is no evidence of spanking of men by a woman in a domestic context. This may be due to the relative physical strengths of the two genders and the traditionally accepted role of the husband as the head of the family unit.

Today, spanking of an adult tends to be confined to erotic spanking between people engaging in other intimate activities, such as foreplay or sexual roleplay.

In entertainment

Patrick and John Wayne in a scene from McLintock!.

At times, adult spanking is used for entertainment. In most cases, it is a woman who is spanked by a man.

Yvonne De Carlo was spanked by Rod Cameron in 1945's Frontier Gal. The 1951 film Too Young to Kiss starring June Allyson also featured a spanking. In 1956, Tab Hunter spanked Natalie Wood in The Girl He Left Behind. 1959's Holiday for Lovers had Gary Crosby spanking Carol Lynley. In 1961's Blue Hawaii, Elvis Presley spanked Jenny Maxwell. The 1969 western True Grit featured a spanking for Kim Darby; in the 2010 Coen Brothers remake, the young actress Hailee Steinfeld, playing the same role, was spanked. In 2003's Kill Bill Volume 1, Uma Thurman spanked a young yakuza.

Poster for Kiss Me Kate

1953's Kiss Me Kate included a scene with Howard Keel spanking Kathryn Grayson in public view as part of the musical-within-a-film based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The scene was used in the film's main poster.

In 1963, McLintock! included two scenes of adult spanking in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels. The scene was used in the promotion of the film: at first a poster with the shovel in hand was used but, after protests, a picture with an open hand replaced the original. (Also in 1963, John Wayne spanked Elizabeth Allen in Donovan's Reef.) Both McLintock and Kiss Me, Kate are loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew. In Thunderball (1965), James Bond threatens an uncooperative Miss Moneypenny with a spanking over the phone, "...Next time I see you, I'll put you across my knee, to which Moneypenny replies, "...I can hardly wait." The raising of her eyebrows indicates the threatened spanking is sexual in nature but not entirely unwelcome.

The 2002 film Secretary is a notable example of a spanking film. It is a dominant/submissive-themed romantic comedy-drama film directed by Steven Shainberg. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as Lee Holloway and James Spader as E. Edward Grey. The film is based on a short story from Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill.

Ritual spanking traditions

Spanking of people who have for the first time succeeded in climbing on the top of Mount Triglav

There are some rituals or traditions which involve spanking. For example, 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, with the number of strokes to be administered (always lightly) by the temple staff being 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.

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.

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

According to Ovid's Fasti (ii.305), during the ancient Roman festival of the Lupercalia naked men ran through the streets of the city, carrying straps with which they swatted the outstretched palms of the hands of women lining the racecourse who wished to become pregnant.

In North America, there is a tradition of "birthday spankings" where the birthday girl or boy receives the same number of hits as his/her age (plus "one to grow on") during the birthday party. Birthday spankings are administered over the clothes and usually by close friends or family members, and are generally playful swats not meant to cause real pain.. The tradition is often seen as a sign of good luck and it is said that it is reminiscent of the way that doctors pat the bottoms of newborn infants to stimulate their bodies into action more quickly.

See also

• Spanking implements
• Spanking literature
• Spanking positions
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Erotic spanking

External links

• Corporal punishment at Curlie
• World Corporal Punishment Research
• USA Today article on CEO spankings