Letters from Blushes 11

Dear Sir,

For as far back as I can remember, I have been most interested in certain special aspects of sexuality, in particular, spanking and all forms of C.P. for girls. There is a great deal I want to say in this letter indeed it has been brewing in my mind for a few weeks now and I just hope that I can relate all my ideas and opinions with as few omissions as possible memory permitting. Hopefully not too exotic, and hopefully sparking off ideas in your magazine people who have the power of transforming fantasy into print, if not reality.

Blushes while not, I must admit, perfect stands head and shoulders above its competitors, for I believe a few simple reasons which I’d like to mention later. Mostly, I am interested in the variety of unusual methods that people do it seems use, and could use in punishing recalcitrant young ladies.

Tom G, of Cambridge in his letter in Blushes 6 hit one of the nails on the head when he mentioned the fact about the number of magazines available on the CP market and how one could be led to believe that there was a vast and varied choice. I whole-heartedly agree. In my opinion they’re all pretty bland. Really, when it boils down to it, the pages of the majority of these magazines from month to month are filled with the same predictable things. Usually plumpish, sometimes downright plain-looking models, and usually wearing the by now well cliched stockings and suspenders and an ‘attractive’ pair of strappy high heeled sandals getting their bottoms whacked with something as inane as a hairbrush. All this and usually little more for an average of £5 or more. I do realise and accept the fact that this kind of thing to some may be the very epitome of erotica, but variety really is the spice, and I’m a bit fed up shelling out my money on publications that give me the feeling that I’ve read them already. Please don’t get me wrong, this criticism isn’t aimed at Blushes itself, indeed for a magazine yet in its infancy, the quality of the pictures and attractiveness of the models makes Blushes stand head and shoulders above its competitors. I have a theory about why a lot of the models in CP magazines don’t appear to be fantastically attractive. Quite a number of models possibly find the idea of appearing in a spanking mag too weird, distasteful and ‘kinky’, so the magazines are left with no option but to take what they can get.

So how Blushes can manage to find the lovelies is anybody’s guess. The main reason I’m writing this letter is because I believe Blushes to be about the closest magazine to my tastes that I have found, and so possibly the only one which may listen and appreciate my ideas and requests. While quite a number of people are satisfied with the quality of CP magazines as they stand, an equal amount I believe, if not more are probably about as fed up as I am. Now I only buy the two best in my opinion, one of which is Blushes.

Without further griping, I think it best to try and relate my tastes and ideas of what a good CP publication, should be about, and hopefully I’ll try and refrain from being too exotic.

To begin with, and I’d be extremely interested in any other readers ideas, opinions and experiences on this ‘fetish?’ if indeed anyone has any, I’ve always, for some reason liked to see girls in tartan (not for any sort of Scottish patriotism or anything), I just find it a big turn on, especially mini kilts, tartan knee-socks, sashes, highland dance pumps, black plimsols, or as used in combination with or clothing as punishment dress etc. I think clothing immensely important within the context of CP, enforced exhibitionism as a humiliation punishment, short skirts which leave the thighs bare for a good hard slapping whenever the young lady deserves it. Incidentally, I don’t think models appearing in magazines should be permitted their own choice of clothing whatsoever, unless of course she does happen to be genuinely masochistic and she happens to have a penchant for wearing extremely humiliating clothes, as revealing as possible. A nice pair of patent black leather shoes worn with black stockings rolled down, not under but just halfway over the knees can be very sexy, but I think a lot of the shoes worn by models (probably their own) a bit samey, usually strappy high heeled sandals, and a bit of variety would be nice, more gym shoes for instance, worn with or without socks. In your last supplement you asked for readers’ requests, well I’ve got just about hundreds, some perhaps a bit exotic for a ‘spanking’ magazine, but I’d really love to see a girl in mini kilts being put through a strenuous punishment PT session with a gradual striptease as she starts to sweat a bit until she is completely naked, (or perhaps left with just a pair of black plimsols or knee-socks for titillation) hot and dishevelled. Maybe some marching drill would be a good idea, her movements being dictated by a whistle and cane equipped instructor.

Variety really is the spice as they say, and to be perfectly honest, the ideal magazine for me, and I suspect quite a few others would be one which encompassed the whole range of CP and discipline for ladies, which so far, to my knowledge seem to have been largely neglected. Really, rather than just reading about spanking, I’d also like to read of such things as nude P.T., punishment dress, enforced exhibitionism, bondage, excessively strict regimes, cold showers, unpleasant manual work, marching drill, the punishment of one girl by many, i.e. perhaps a step-daughter who is constantly at the beck and call of the rest of the family having to do most of the housework, humiliated in front of other guests or visitors, having to wear specified clothes etc.

Reich Girls wasn’t bad hinting as it did to stringent Germanic CP marching drill, nude PT and naturism, but really, I feel, it was just another story in the usual Blushes theme of elderly men once again in the authority of young ladies, and I feel that more exertion and obedience should have been demanded. I do however think it a great idea that you use mostly gentleman of more mature years in your photos, but how about a mature-looking severe lady or two for a change to apply the discipline to the recalcitrant, bare, girl-flesh?

Lastly, I have a few suggestions that I and possibly others would like to see in Blushes.

1. A lone girl wearing leg warmers and nothing else undergoing a lengthy strenuous, humiliating PT lesson in a bleak, oppressive gym hall.
2. Dancing. A sailor girl doing a hornpipe on board a ship while people call out whichever articles of clothing they would like to see removed!
3. A coffee table tableau, in which a naked girl is forced to remain in uncomfortable, humiliating penance for the delight of all the family and invited guests.
4. A sweat-soaked girl is given obedience training by a whip-wielding stepmother or guardian on a sawdust covered floor.
5. Shot-drill. Two or three attractive young ladies in full punishment dress undergoing a good hard session of this fine old discipline with a riding crop employed to keep them on their toes!
6. Sweeps Girl. A period piece photo showing a cute, barefoot girl dressed in raggedy dungarees and covered in soot looking tearfully into the eyes of her cruel employer.
7. A good idea, I think, for a regular feature in Blushes would be if you could somehow get a model to appear regularly in each issue undergoing a different punishment each time, as requested by readers, i.e. having to muck out a cow-shed, or horses stables, or, taken on a long jogging excursion, something new and unusual every month, some punishments nastier than others, and I’m sure you’d soon collect quite a backlog of requests, eventually getting round to pleasing just about everybody. I’d love to see the look on the girl's face each new photo-assignment as she is told of each new request she has to fulfil. Perhaps you could start with one of my own suggestions?

Maybe, my suggestions may appear a bit exotic and over the top for a ‘spanking magazine’, (I prefer the description CP magazine), but if they are looked at honestly, they aren’t all completely unrelated within the context of spanking CP and discipline, yet one is rarely able to read of such things, even in bondage mags which seem to favour endless, samey pictures of tied up ladies. Anyway, hopefully you will consider a few of my ideas and suggestions, as I do realise that Blushes with its more imaginative and atmospheric approach, is still in its formative stages, and perhaps is open-minded enough to really listen to readers’ requests rather than just use them to fill magazine space like so many others do.

J.C., Scotland

P. S. May I recommend a series of books by an American writer called John Norman called the Gor series which can usually be found in the science fiction or fantasy section of most good bookshops. I used to read a fair amount of science fiction a few years ago, but had never paid much attention to the Gor books thinking them to be a sort of poor man’s Conan. To my surprise, on closer inspection, they were full of bondage and slave girl erotica, with most of the females being sort of sexy beasts of burden, and sexual playthings!

Dear Editor,

I noticed in one of your latest editions you asked for ideas on improving your publication, well here are mine. Although your magazine is far superior than your closest rival in choice and number of models used, it is still found wanting when it comes to the real ‘nitty-gritty’ of a CP magazine i.e. lack of real weals across the buttocks shown in vivid detail. This should be the highlight of all CP magazines. The results of spankings are shown fairly well, but even when they are caned the weals are not highlighted. A classic example was the Blushes Supplement 2 whipping horse, what a brilliant idea and the models were perfect (incidentally does the blonde girl appear in any other CP videos/mags?) however, your photographer never caught the cane on impact, the spray effect would have been excellent. Also we never saw the ‘results’ which must have been a brilliant bright red.

Also you could run ‘competitions’ where the prizes are ‘A day in the Blushes office’ or attendance at a photo session. I have ideas for scenarios like, The Union Jack, Doctors Prescription, Corporal’s Punishment, etc. Could we see more female to female CP? But to sum up, more stripes on more bums please.

K.B.

Dear Sir,

Judging by the numbers of reader’s letters you have printed requesting more concentration on the various aspects of schoolgirl discipline, I feel that the majority of your readers will have been well pleased with your issue Blushes 8.

The story After Hours is a really brilliant piece of descriptive writing of a schoolgirl being caned. The photographs that go with the story are wonderful. The model used really looks like a big schoolgirl. She has a fine figure without being fat in any way, and a nice large bottom. In some of the pictures where she is standing in front of the seated Headmaster, who is holding the cane in his hand, she appears to be smiling. I am sure she would not be, the sight of the cane would have wiped any smile off her face. She would be feeling very uneasy, and looking concerned and worried. I am sure we all want our schoolgirls to be frightened by the cane, and look as though they are too. Apart from this the story and photographs are the best on the subject you have ever produced. I liked the way the girl is made to do as she is told. Holding her bottom up in an elevated and most uncomfortable position. Displaying her bodily charms as she strives to lift her buttocks even higher in her eagerness to please. The muscles of her thighs and calves taut and strained with the effort.

In one part of the story the girl is made to stand up and hold her hands out for the cane as a punishment for daring to touch her inflamed bottom. More I think could be made of hand caning, for the truth is it is very painful and it was in fact the way girls were punished in Convent schools and their like.

May we have some middle-aged models as lady teachers to contrast in appearance with your lovely young model schoolgirls. Many school marm types are known for their severity in the handling of young girls. Perhaps being jealous of young girls, they enjoy making the girls suffer, or by humiliating them in front of male teachers by threatening punishment with the cane.

Many readers would be interested I feel in a story and photographs of a girl being caned by a headmistress while one of the male teachers seated in comfort looks on. The headmistress is called to the phone, and while she is away the girl who has been told to face the front sneaks a look over her shoulder at the watching male teacher. When the headmistress returns, the male teacher reports the girl for turning round and she gets six extra strokes for disobedience. Six hard strokes for such a trivial offence is severe, and the girl knows that the male teacher could have said nothing, but he chose to report her certain in the knowledge of what the consequence of his action would be for the poor girl. This theme of a male deliberately getting a young girl into trouble with an elder women of authority is an interesting one. Sometimes the male whose report gets the girl punished is not present when it is carried out. The girl however is aware that it was because of him that she got the cane, and afterwards she is taken before him — while she is still in a distressed and tearful state — and is told to say that she is sorry and ask his forgiveness. This she does standing before him her skirt and knickers being held in the headmistress’s hand.

In Blushes 6 I liked the story A Fireside Chat. By the size and packaging of the pill the girl was made to take, there was no doubt as to the reason for it. No wonder at the sight of the plastic-enveloped packet in her guardian’s hand the girl’s nipples began to stiffen. She knew well what big girls are given little pills for.

Another pill that makes an impression on girls is the laxative pill. The results of being made to take strong laxative pills are not pleasant, and can be used as a punishment; so of course can the enema.

Well done Blushes, I look forward to all future issues.

P.R., Northampton

 

Dear Editor,

Congratulations on your magazine which is well presented. I was not keen on the Reich Girls features, so you missed my money on those issues. However all other issues featuring schoolgirls are good, especially the last Supplement issue.

Your video Sally’s First Lesson is exceptionally good. I’ve also seen Half-Term Punishments but that is less to my taste. The girl in Big Girls Do Cry is not BIG enough for my liking at all, so I haven’t seen that one. Let’s have more like Sally’s one, her bottom is made for spanking and caning. One small criticism is that the teacher himself should lower her knickers with her pleading ‘Please sir please not bare, they are only very thin knickers, please no sir please don’t pull them down.’ His reply is ‘nonsense girl, utter nonsense, thick navy blue school knickers offer far too much protection, besides all punishments here are given on the naughty pupil’s bare bottom, you are no exception.’ Also I feel someone should shoot a school video with a progression of punishments. In other words it starts with the schoolgirl’s form mistress calling her to the front of the classroom and humiliating her in front of her classmates for a clearly defined offence against the school rules. Perhaps 100 good hard smacks are applied across her bare bottom with plenty of humiliation attached words like ‘I would expect to do this to a junior girl here Dawn Adam, but not to a larger more well-built 18-year-old senior pupil like yourself. What would your boyfriends and indeed the school chums of your own sex make of it all now Dawn as you lie across my lap bare bottom up awaiting a good hard spanking.’

‘Please Miss Chambers, please don’t humiliate me any more and please oh please don’t spank me too hard I promise to be good in future.’

‘We shall see about that but for now you are to be well spanked my girl for not obeying the school rules.’

Next day Dawn commits the same offence with the same form mistress so she gets the slipper (use a rubber-soled lighter weight slipper than in the Half Term Punishment video) or the paddle is most effective perhaps some strokes, touching her toes at the front of the class.

However that doesn’t work either because she commits the same offence next day so is frogmarched by Miss Chambers to the headmaster’s study. He is most upset being disturbed and feels that the teacher has not handled the situation at all well. However, Dawn is caned by him on her bare bottom 12 of the best, bent either lengthways along his desk or better still use the trestle as in the wet bottom punishments in Supplement 2 or a proper vaulting horse. The school desk used in ‘Sally’s’ videos was really excellent. Try and make the 12 strokes really sing and sting, don’t give as many light strokes as ‘Sally’ got even though I counted about 100 strokes, 12 real stingers is much more effective.

Of course the ultimate is that as they leave Dawn in tears and clutching her well-caned buttocks the head whispers to Miss Chambers to call back at 9 pm for her own comeuppance for not keeping her class in order more efficiently. The teacher herself being spanked and caned finishing it off nicely.

I do wish spanking magazines could use more ‘Dolly Parton’ type girls than ‘Twiggy’ types. At one time they always did, but all the health food nuts seem to have spoiled it for us larger men who favour larger women. It seems we get quality not quantity these days.

I feel you should cut down a lot on your photos and give us longer stories. Remember the girl must never enjoy her punishment and the reason for the spanking or caning must be clearly defined with lots of reminders throughout and after the chastisement, as well as before. This is not always done, and it seems like the girls at times are beaten for the sake of it, which doesn’t give me any pleasure.

Well I’ve had my say now I hope you find the comments useful.

D. Cameron, London [surely not...... no it can't be]

P.S. Another good idea for a video is to follow the progress of a Victorian schoolgirl’s punishments into her working life as a Victorian maid.

 

Dear Sir,

Please excuse the format of this letter but I’m short of time. Having just purchased Blushes 9, I felt I must congratulate you on your best issue yet. I had intended to put down a few suggestions, perhaps even write a piece like the literary masterpiece from ‘a CP fan’. However, unlike a CP fan, I can find little to criticize! Therefore, I just include a few notes and ideas, written as I think of them and obviously on a purely personal basis, obviously everyone has their own preferences and you can’t please all the people all of the time!

• The best set of pictures was, by far, Next Weekend with the near naked blonde stretched deliciously over the antique table for a caning! Pages 32, 33, 35 — unbelievable!

• Agreeing with a CP fan, let’s have more shots of the same scene from different angles.
• Why no knicker shots!? Here I disagree with a CP fan; knickers are sexy! However, leaving said undergarments on the table was a nice touch.
• Love the high heels, adore the stockings/suspenders.
• Personal preference, but I must confess to virtually ignoring the written articles and just seeing the great photos. Perhaps we could have a supplement full of just pictures with just a few captions — after all you no doubt take far more photos than you actually print and it must be very difficult to think up new stories each time and also more expensive!
• I also liked the ‘over the library-steps’ shots, the ‘knickers and white-tights’ schoolgirl (although the camera angles were weird, and you cut-off her feet too much) and the changing room series — am I right in saying she’s the same girl as in Supplement No. 2?

The knickers and white-tights schoolgirl

• If it is the same girl, I applaud your actions. I cannot understand why other magazines find super-sexy girls then only use them once. I’ve nothing against seeing the same girl in several issues. Whilst I normally don’t like schoolgirl shots with socks, flat shoes and ‘sensible’ knickers, this delightful girl looks incredible in just socks and shoes.
• Re: the videos Interviews and What Bottoms Are For, I agree with a CP fan that there is not sufficient emphasis on the discipline side. Let’s see more firm instructions from the punishers.
• Finally, make the videos as good as the mag, let’s see more girls caning girls and fewer schoolgirls, more nurses/secretaries etc.

Keep up the good work.

John R.

R.S.V.P. — School for Spankers

Good, old-fashioned school discipline is not dead! John Hotten, Blushes’ researcher, presents an exclusive report to Blushes.

Are spanking clubs a figment of overheated spanking magazine writers’ imaginations? I had always thought so. As one spanking magazine editor once put it, what girl with any regard for her safety would put her bottom into the hands of a group of complete strangers? A spanking club, not some phony rip-off joint but a genuine and enthusiastic circle of spankers meeting regularly. A lovely idea. Too bad!

After years of fruitless searching, I had entirely abandoned the quest when suddenly, patience brought its reward. There I was, by good fortune, in on the birth of a private spanking club. A club with headquarters in an anonymous block in Central London, run by an intimidating school mistress, Miss Brown, in long black dress, white blouse and striped tie, a genial male Schools Inspector with a special interest in maintenance of disciplinary standards, and a superbly convincing Headmistress in flowing scholastic gown and mortar board! A club offering school desk, punishment book, gym-knickered spankings and a triple dose of caning in the Headmistress’ office to the accompaniment of much official tut-tutting. Lines are also imposed and extra cane strokes awarded for any spelling mistakes.

Don’t take my word for it! The Editor of Blushes has listened to the original tape recording of the club dealing with a mischievous ‘schoolgirl’. Blushes’ readers are assured that the dialogue quoted below is a faithful transcript of an early portion of this tape. The club kindly provided me with discreet photographs of its female principals and I am in active, not to say heated, negotiations with the club for release of actual photographs of schoolgirl punishment sessions. Watch this space!

Of the principals of the ‘School for Spankers’, if such it may be dubbed, your researcher was especially fascinated by the Headmistress. This lady had a keenly sympathetic feeling for the role of Head, combining regret over the necessity to apply corporal punishment with a genuine acceptance of the inevitability of using corrective discipline on wayward school pupils! It came as no surprise to learn that she had really been a school mistress in Scotland and had substantial experience of punishing naughty pupils, albeit with the strap rather than the cane. It was immediately apparent to me that here was a lady whose background would be of great interest to Blushes’ readers and I am delighted to report that she eventually agreed to be interviewed for Blushes. First hear her in action as Headmistress of the School for Spankers, and then contrast this with her reflections on corporal punishment as a real-life school mistress.

----//----

Extract from a tape recording of the ‘School for Spankers’ dealing with a schoolgirl found guilty of cheating in an examination. The girl was disciplined by the Headmistress and Miss Brown, the school mistress, witnessed by the Schools Inspector and your researcher.

Miss Brown: Pick the pen up.

Schoolgirl: Yes, Miss.

Miss Brown: Write what I say. ‘I have been insubordinate and I readily accept and, in fact, welcome’ — put WELCOME in capital letters — ‘the punishment that is to follow.’

Schoolgirl: I’m not sure how to spell ‘punishment’, Miss.

Miss Brown: You might get an extra two spanks for a spelling mistake, mightn’t you? Read it to me.

Schoolgirl: I have been insubordinate and I readily accept and, in fact, WELCOME the punishment that is to follow.

Miss Brown: Add ‘Yours obediently’ and then write your name in capital letters. Then move in front of the desk and bend down…

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! And one for the wrong spelling.

SMACK! Now get up. What did you say? Bend down. And don’t be cheeky. I don’t think you’re in a position to be cheeky at all. Put your hands on the table and just think about what you’ve been doing. You’re in the wrong. You’ve been cheating. It doesn’t give your classmates a chance, does it? Just be quiet and stay where you are. I’m going to ask my colleague to continue with your punishment. Headmistress?

Head: You’re going to get another six now, girl, with my cane. Now stop that blubbering. Bend right over. You’re a lucky girl that you’re not getting them all together. We’re very kind in this school. We don’t believe in punishment for punishment’s sake! SWISH-THWACK!

We give punishment when it’s deserved! SWISH-THWACK!

And your punishment, girl, is richly deserved, isn’t it? SWISH-THWACK!

Isn’t it? Isn’t it? SWISH-THWACK! She thinks ‘maybe’! Well, I think we’d better start again and you will count for me. SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: One. SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: Two. SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: Three! Ooohh! SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: Four! Headmistress, please, no more! SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: F-f-five! AAAAH! SWISH-THWACK!

Schoolgirl: Six! Can I go now, Miss?

Miss Brown: The Headmistress may have finished with you but I haven’t. Come across my knee, come on. Hang your head down, low down, as low as you can get. you snivelling brat, get it right down. ‘Yes, Miss’, how pathetic! Right, kneel down. I want you to kneel HERE! Now, across my knee, that’s right. I hope you realise the severity of what you’ve done. And as this is your second misdemeanour, SMACK, SMACK, pull your knickers down. SMACK. You realise it offends me and makes my hand very sore. SMACK. How far are we? Are you counting? SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. Seven. SMACK. Eight. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. Twelve! So why don’t you just behave? Do you think about other people ever? What about your classmates? Are you stupid? Are you an imbecile? Why do you need to cheat? Don’t you do enough work? I’m going to turn you over to the Headmistress. I’ve had enough of you, you make me utterly sick. Kneel down. Kneel down. Bend down, put your head on the floor. Think about what you’ve done.

Head: Now you’ve had time to think about what you’ve done, haven’t you? Have you come to any decisions about your behaviour? You think you might go on cheating in exams, do you? You’re letting the whole school down. We don’t have girls like that in the school.

Schoolgirl: Please, Miss, I don’t want to come back for another punishment.

Head: We haven’t finished with this punishment yet! How many strokes have you had? You are here to receive 18 strokes of the cane, of which you have received six. So bend over. Well, I’m finished talking, you’re going to get your punishment now. SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!

Schoolgirl: Yeeee-owww!!

Head: Now you have been punished for this OFFENCE, it’s more than a misdemeanour.

Miss Brown: Let’s see that little pink bottom. Pull your knickers down and let’s see that little pink bottom. Go and stand in the corner and put that book on your head. Now how important do you think you are? You’re a very cheeky girl. Headmistress, can you have a word with this girl? I can’t seem to control her at all!

Head: I’ll see what I can do. Right, girl, pull your knickers up and turn round. I’ve been hearing several reports about your insubordination, is that correct?

Schoolgirl: Only because SHE said so.

Head: ’She’, girl? We have manners in this school! To whom do you refer?

Schoolgirl: Miss Brown.

Head: Yes, Miss Brown. Miss Brown is a very good teacher, girl. She has taught girls for many, many years and got them through exams year after year without any of this kind of trouble that you have brought to the school. Do you think it’s fair on Miss Brown, girl?

Schoolgirl: Yes, because she let me get away with too much.

Head: That is NOT TRUE, I have known, personally, Miss Brown to give you six of the best, almost every day. Is this true?

Schoolgirl: Yes, but it didn’t really hurt, Miss.

Head: It didn’t really hurt! Well, perhaps this time, girl, perhaps this time you will feel it, because I am going to administer the punishment. Turn round here. Bend over. Perhaps, Miss Brown, you will assist me.

Miss Brown: Yes, I think I should. SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

Head: Now, Miss Brown!

Miss Brown: You have to be taught for the good of the school — SMACK, SMACK — that you will — SMACK — not cheat — SMACK — at exam time — SMACK, SMACK — any more. SMACK We have a lot of applications to come to this school, and what is worse than cheating is thinking that you matter. The name of the school matters but YOU don’t matter. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK. What do we have to do to make you listen? Pull those little grubby knickers down — do you ever send them to the laundry? SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK……

----//----

And so the discipline continued for another hour, until the ‘schoolgirl’ was completely humbled, and your researcher stole away discreetly into the night.

Unedited interview with the Headmistress who talks frankly about her career as a schoolmistress. Recorded in the tranquillity of her home two weeks after the role-playing exemplified above.

Blushes: How long were you a schoolmistress?

Head: At least ten years.

Blushes: And this was consecutive?

Head: Yes.

Blushes: Was this in Scotland?

Head: And London. I taught in Scotland and then came down to London. I taught in Inner London and down in Surrey for five years or so.

Blushes: What size were your classes?

Head: The smallest I had was about 26 children and at one time I had 50 children. All you had to do there was keep order. You couldn’t really teach 50 children. All you had to do was keep order.

Blushes: Was this primary or secondary school?

Head: Mostly primary. My favourite age was about 12-13. I liked teaching that age.

Blushes: I thought primary school finished at eleven.

Head: Yes, it’s slightly different in different parts of the country. There are middle schools. They abolished the 11 plus and then you could carry on in middle schools.

Blushes: Were these state or private schools?

Head: State schools.

Blushes: What subjects were you involved in teaching?

Head: English and general subjects.

Blushes: Did you find the pupils attentive?

Head: Some children were, but you always had the trouble-makers who really were looking for trouble and wanted trouble just to draw attention to themselves, so these were the ones that you had to deal with.

Blushes: Were the trouble-makers boys or girls?

Head: Basically boys, but some girls.

Blushes: Was corporal punishment official school policy?

Head: Yes, it was school policy. In fact, the pupils looked to be punished and they thought you weren’t a very good teacher unless you did punish them severely.

Blushes: Was that more of a Scottish attitude than a British one?

Head: Yes, I think it was ‘I’m a man and I can take my punishment without flinching’. Specially the boys. The girls were slightly different. They were apprehensive and they didn’t like to be punished.

Blushes: So the children actually AGREED to the system of corporal punishment?

Head: Oh, absolutely yes, the children did. They felt that was fair; you had done something wrong and you had to be punished!

Blushes: And they preferred corporal punishment to doing lines or detentions?

Head: Oh, they loathed lines and they loathed detentions. In actual fact, detention was rather boring, because you just sat there. The kids were bored and you were bored and it was just a question of time, whereas PUNISHMENT… they felt they’d done something wrong and it was instant retribution. You did wrong and you held your hand out and you got punished. You got smacked. You suffered.

Blushes: Weren’t they afraid?

Head: Yes, they were afraid but, in a way, they enjoyed this fear. They sort of gritted their teeth and tightened their lips and held out their hands and waited for the blow to fall.

The boys, especially, sort of had their chin up but the girls trembled a bit and, if you were wicked, you could keep them with their hands held out for several minutes waiting for that blow to fall! The boys kept that stiff upper lip but, of course, the girls just fell to pieces waiting for the blow to fall and they sometimes were in tears before they actually felt the pain!

Blushes: Was punishment administered in front of the whole class?

Head: Oh, yes.

Blushes: So it was on the spot retribution?

Head: Yes, on the spot.

Blushes: Do you think that’s more effective than making a child wait to report to someone’s study up to a day later?

Head: That’s right. I think it was fairer to have it done instantly, or perhaps in an hour or two. They sometimes had to wait until the afternoon.

Blushes: You only administered corporal punishment in the Scottish half of your school career?

Head: Yes.

Blushes: How frequently was corporal punishment used?

Head: On a daily basis.

Blushes: By you personally?

Head: Yes. Some teachers gave children six of the belt daily on a regular basis. I tended to give the belt for a more severe kind of punishment. Other teachers seemed to like belting the kids!

Blushes: Did this have to be sanctioned by the Headmaster?

Head: I believe OFFICIALLY it had to be sanctioned, but it never was, because it was impractical. But I have a feeling that, officially, one should have informed the Headmaster that you were going to do this, but it never happened. They got it there and then!

Blushes: Were punishments recorded in a Punishment Book?

Head: No, although some teachers did keep a punishment book so they could check up. I believe that was official policy as well, you were supposed to mark it in a punishment book.

Blushes: Did you find that it was the same girls and boys who kept coming up for the belt?

Head: Yes, that’s right, and of course it got up from two of the belt to three of the belt to four of the belt, and it became rather prestigious. If you were a boy that got six of the belt, it was a bit of prestige, compared to another boy that only got two of the belt.

Blushes: So it was partly exhibitionism?

Head: Yes, it was showing off.

Blushes: What proportion of boys to girls faced punishment, e.g. was it three boys to every girl, or even more?

Head: Oh more, more than that. It was about six boys to every girl.

Blushes: It was a leather strap that was used for punishment, was it?

Head: Yes, it was called ‘the belt’.

Blushes: ’The belt’. Not ‘the tawse?’

Head: Not ‘the tawse’. Perhaps in the Highlands, but not in the central part of Scotland where most people lived; it was called ‘the belt’.

Blushes: Was it like a man’s leather belt for his trousers?

Head: No, no, it was much thicker than a man’s leather belt.

Blushes: Did it have teeth like a tawse or split ends?

Head: Yes, it did. It had three to four splits in the end like tongues, little tongues that, you know, made the flesh red.

Blushes: Was the belt supplied by the school?

Head: Yes, it was. You could actually send away and order a thicker and heavier one, but I wasn’t sure if that was as effective, because it was stiffer, and the thinner ones were more flexible and could sort of SWISH more!

Blushes: Did every teacher have his or her own belt?

Head: Well, there was always one in the desk. Yes, we all had our own because you needed it right away when you needed it.

Blushes: Weren’t canes ever used in Scottish schools?

Head: No, not to my knowledge, they weren’t. No.

Blushes: Why not?

Head: Scottish schools were established long before the English schools were and it might have been just one of the things that were customary rather than introduced. I don’t know the reason why we used the belt rather than the cane. I have no idea. But it might have gone back to the old days when fathers used the strop to sharpen their open razors. That was very much like a school belt. It used to hang up in the windowsills and fathers used to use that leather strop to belt their children, so it might have gone back to that time. I don’t know why canes were used in England.

Blushes: Did the pupils have to hold one hand out or two hands cupped together?

Head: That was entirely up to the teacher, the whim of the teacher and the mood of the teacher. Because, if you were in a bad mood, you would say ‘I’m going to give you three of the belt doubled’, which meant one hand had to be held under the other, and that was ‘doubled’. Just for a simple offence, that was one hand out and one of the belt, and then you could go up to six doubled on alternate, hands, left, right, left, right!

Blushes: Did you give the strap on the legs or the bottom?

Head: No, that wasn’t allowed. That was against the law.

Blushes: Actually against the law?

Head: Yes, that was against the law, so you couldn’t, and they were quite strict on that, the authorities.

Blushes: So the teacher could be prosecuted for striking, say, a girl’s bottom?

Head: Yes, absolutely. You could only do it on their hand.

Blushes: You know that in England punishment was very often on the buttocks?

Head: Yes, I know (laughs).

Blushes: That was without any sexual connotation as far as the law was concerned. It was just regarded as a safer target area.

Head: Yes, as far as the law was concerned, but I don’t know about that!

Blushes: Obviously there were many teachers who derived pleasure from punishing bottoms.

Head: Yes.

Blushes: But the argument was that it was safer, because the fingers might be twisted or broken.

Head: Yes, well, I think the hand is quite a hard thing, and you never went above the wrist, but occasionally you could. Above the wrist it did mark and the flesh became red, so an experienced teacher could just land the strap on the fingers or up to the edge, but you needed experience to do that.

Blushes: Wouldn’t the child be incapable of doing any further classwork?

Head: No, not at all, no. It was red and stinging but it didn’t incapacitate the hand.

Blushes: So it did leave some marks on the hands?

Head: Oh yes, always the hands were red.

Blushes: And would that last the whole day?

Head: Oh yes, and if you went above the wrist, it was very red indeed, because that was more tender. Yes, yes indeed.

Blushes: Was the strap given for trivial offences or only for serious misconduct?

Head: It varied. It could be trivial things, depending on the teacher, depending on the mood of the teacher and depending on the pressures. It could be very trivial, perhaps just talking in class, and then to very serious offences, the punishment increased.

Blushes: Increased? You mean the strap would be used more severely?

Head: Yes, more severely, yes.

Blushes: Did the Headmaster use the same form of discipline?

Head: No, well, we found, the teachers generally found, that the Headmaster would prefer to leave the punishment to the teachers, because he just didn’t want to get involved. Most of the Headmasters didn’t want to know about these things.

Blushes: So you never had the option of threatening to send children to the Headmaster?

Head: We did have that option but we found it was ineffective. We found that corporal punishment was the quickest and best way to get results.

Blushes: The number of strokes of the belt, would it vary between boys and girls?

Head: Yes, it would, because a girl’s more delicate. She’s more delicate, she couldn’t stand the pain really as a boy can, so we really were a bit softer on the girls and just drew the strap lightly down.

Blushes: Don’t you think that was a bit unfair in these days of sex equality?

Head: I know, but I don’t think so. You can’t have equality of skin, really, and there’s still the role of the woman and the role of the man. You don’t agree?

Blushes: Well, I just wonder how people arrive at the conclusion that, say, six strokes of the cane on the bottom is less painful for a boy than for a girl.

Head: Oh yes, you have a point there. But I think a girl’s skin, even, is more tender and will split more easily, say, if you caned a girl as strong as a boy. I think a boy’s skin is tougher. That’s a subjective opinion. I don’t really know but I think most people would go along with that.

Blushes: Is it also because the girls have more sensitive natures?

Head: I think so. I think girls are more sensitive. They tend to weep more, the girls do, and SUFFER. The girls tend to suffer the indignity of it more than the boys do, so, yes, the girls were treated differently.

Blushes: But the girls never resented the belt?

Head: No, they never did resent it.

Blushes: Was it a deterrent to other children?

Head: A little deterrent, yes. Not much.

Blushes: Was it effective in improving the behaviour of the child belted?

Head: No, not at all, not at all.

Blushes: Is that a reason to abolish it?

Head: Yes. I think corporal punishment is actually barbaric! (laughs)

Blushes: Do you recall any one incident of giving the belt to a girl?

Head: Yes, I do remember one particular girl, but it was really more because of her colouring. She was a lovely little blonde girl with pink cheeks, and she was a sweet little girl. I don’t know why she deserved the strap but she got it, and her face got redder and redder, and her little pink cheeks got redder and redder, and tears came into her eyes. She had blue eyes and tears came into her eyes, and she was very hurt at the thought of getting the strap, apart from the pain which she suffered. She suffered the pain but it wasn’t only the pain, it was the idea of getting the strap, and I do remember that little girl.

Blushes: Do you think the fact that her friends were all watching made it harder for her?

Head: Yes, yes, that’s right. It was embarrassing for her because she wasn’t a naughty girl really.

Blushes: How old would she have been?

Head: About twelve.

Blushes: Was that the first time she had had the strap?

Head: Yes, I think it was the first time, because she wasn’t really a very naughty girl. It was just a little thing she’d done wrong, and she was just called out to have the strap and she didn’t know how to take it. She was very hurt.

Blushes: Did she sulk at all?

Head: No, she didn’t sulk. She was… very quiet. You could possibly say she sulked, but she was SHOCKED rather than sulking.

Blushes: You don’t think it had any long-term effect on her?

Head: No, no, no, no, no.

Blushes: Do you think she would have been strapped again, or would she have been more careful?

Head: I think she would have been more careful.

Blushes: Was this in the Seventies?

Head: Yes, it was the Seventies.

Blushes: Did the same situation prevail in all Scottish schools?

Head: Oh yes, yes.

Blushes: Is it still the same today?

Head: Yes, I think it is, but if they don’t use the belt, they will find other ways of punishing them.

Blushes: Was there any parental opposition to the school’s use of the belt?

Head: The parents did not object to their children being punished.

Blushes: Were they given the option of getting their children exempted from corporal punishment?

Head: I daresay they could have done, but none of the parents ever did.

Blushes: It never occurred to them?

Head: No, it wouldn’t have occurred to them. In Scotland, the attitude is, well, you must have been doing something wrong, or you wouldn’t have been punished.

Blushes: Does this reflect a general Scottish conservatism?

Head: Yes, absolutely, that’s right. They believed in authority.

Blushes: Did you have any emotions about using the strap?

Head: Yes, absolutely. I didn’t like strapping girls.

Blushes: And did you like strapping boys?

Head: I didn’t mind strapping boys. You know, they wanted it actually. The boys wanted to be strapped.

Blushes: You felt that they were tougher and could take it?

Head: Absolutely, yes. Actually, the boys felt offended if you didn’t strap them if they did something wrong. They felt they were missing out. You weren’t doing the right thing.

Blushes: What would make you decide to use the strap on a girl? Would she have to overstep the mark quite deliberately?

Head: Considerably, yes.

Blushes: Perhaps refuse something she was told to do?

Head: That’s right, yes.

Blushes: So you regard strapping as a purely professional duty?

Head: Well, we didn’t really feel emotional about it. In fact I would have preferred not to use the strap but it was the accepted thing, the accepted form of punishment, and you would be sort of out of line if you didn’t use it.

Blushes: None of the teachers refused to use it?

Head: No, I don’t think so. Most teachers loved using it.

Blushes: Did any of your pupils seem to enjoy being punished at any time?

Head: It’s difficult to say, isn’t it? Some boys obviously seemed to enjoy being punished.

Blushes: Do you think there was any kind of sexual element in this at all?

Head: Well, at the time I didn’t think about it, but on reflection I think there possibly could have been, yes.

Blushes: How do you feel about punishment on the bottom?

Head: I think it’s more perverted, caning on the bottom, because your bottom is a private part, it’s not on display every day of the week, where your hand is in common usage. It’s rather degrading, actually, and it’s much more humiliating than the strap.

Blushes: How did you deal with children who lost control of themselves when faced with punishment?

Head: Girls… it was really very sad for girls who did this. Boys… I remember a particular boy who used to do things in order to be strapped and in the end I used to just throw him outside, because you couldn’t go on strapping him. He obviously loved it and enjoyed the attention, so I just threw him outside and gave up on him (laughs). Beatings didn’t improve him at all. He actually looked forward to them. They excited him. Girls… I don’t know. I didn’t like to see girls crying and girls tend to cry when they got the strap.

Blushes: How many strokes did the girls get?

Head: Oh, girls only got two at the most. I don’t think girls could take any more. Boys could get up to six. Girls couldn’t take the same as boys.

Blushes: So the girls would be weeping when they went away?

Head: Yes, girls seemed to feel the pain more than boys, at least they SHOWED the pain more than boys. They would cry and sort of blow on their hands and things.

Blushes: Did they ever try to run away?

Head: No. What they did was, they had to hold their hand straight out, horizontal, and they would tend to drop their hand and then they would have to hold it up again and get another one, so they were FORCED to hold their hands out very straight because if they didn’t, they knew they would get more.

Blushes: Was the belt permanently on display in the classroom?

Head: It was usually kept in the teacher’s desk. Sometimes you would send a child to go and get it from the desk. Sometimes you would take the belt out and place it on the desk in full view of the class and that was a sort of warning that your patience was coming to an end, and the next thing was that the belt would be used.

Blushes: Were the belts well-worn from constant use?

Head: Yes, well, some of them were, yes (laughs).

Blushes: Do you think it makes a difference to have a child punished by the opposite sex at a young age?

Head: Yes, I think it would make a difference. I’m sure it does, because then you’ve got the father figure and the mother figure which the teacher replaces. I’m sure it makes a big difference. But a child is at school to be educated! There shouldn’t be these emotional bonds between a child and a teacher. You must relate to the needs of the child and you must approach the child according to the child’s temperament, but the main object of going to school is to be educated. I think the character development should happen at home and the child should come into school ready to be educated. You can have a close understanding of a child and a child of you without involving any emotions. It’s really rather a mental thing than an emotional thing, because if you bring emotions into teaching, then you don’t get very far.

Blushes: That’s why I wondered if you’d ever felt pleasure in giving the strap.

Head: No, I think a teacher’s failed if she’s had to strap a child frequently, or even infrequently. In an ideal situation, you wouldn’t have to strap a child, but there’s no such thing as the ideal situation.

Blushes: Did you find you were using the belt any less frequently towards the end of your career in Scotland than at the beginning?

Head: No, I don’t thing I did.

Blushes: What sort of naughty things did the girls get up to?

Head: Well, they’re little chatterboxes, girls, talking and chatting in class. Also girls lacked concentration when they were doing their work. When a boy was interested, he would get down and do his work, but girls could be easily diverted.

Blushes: Any practical jokes?

Head: Not the girls, the girls were a bit scared of us. They left that to the boys. I think the girls incited the boys to get up to naughty behaviour, but the girls themselves didn’t. What the girls used to do was send naughty notes round the classroom. They used to write naughty notes, ‘Jim loves Mary’ and this sort of thing, and send them round. Occasionally you would make a big scene out of it, sometimes you’d just ignore it.

Blushes: So you let the girls get away with more?

Head: No, not really, but you could bully a girl. You didn’t have to go to the extent of bringing out the belt but you could bully a girl into making her do what you wanted her to do by using words.

Blushes: Looking back, do you think you used the belt lightly or quite hard?

Head: Oh yes, certainly the boys got belted hard. The girls, again, got off lightly. If you gave a boy the strap, and it wasn’t hard, he would really think you weren’t doing him justice. So it had to be hard for the boys, so it was as hard as you could give it for the boys.

Blushes: Do you think corporal punishment had a long-term effect?

Head: It made the boys bolder but made the girls more wary of misbehaving because they didn’t like to be hurt. I think it might affect a girl more than a boy, corporal punishment. I think corporal punishment on the bottom is quite a different situation. I think TOO MUCH corporal punishment warps the personality — but I think my view is a minority view, really.

Blushes: How do you feel about the contemporary fascination with corporal punishment and the various Blushes-type magazines being published?

Head: I don’t think it’s unhealthy. It’s a whole mish-mash of emotions to do with your childhood and your past, it’s not just specifically sexual. Not highly sexual; there’s an erotic ELEMENT.

Blushes: A lot of parents keep a cane in the home for their often naughty teenage children, don’t they?

Head: Oh yes, I know, lots of people do this, yes. I think they get a slight kick out of it. It’s like a vicarious thing, you know, in fact it’s replacing their childhood when they got the cane and perhaps they liked it a bit and so they’re reliving their childhood through their child.

Blushes: Any comments about Blushes.

Head: I think it’s an excellent magazine and I think there’s a high standard of articles. I think perhaps an occasional man being spanked wouldn’t go amiss. I’d be more inclined to buy it if there was a man in it being spanked. Yes, I would. It might be nice to see his face all twisting in pain. I mean you’ve got all these girls and their faces… Yes, I think an odd man getting it, that would be a good idea?

Blushes: Thank you very much for a most interesting interview.

----//----

Impressed? Your humble researcher certainly was. Of course, John Hotten does not necessarily agree with all of the Headmistress’ opinions on corporal punishment. I certainly don’t think it is barbaric and would question whether its use is either ineffective or a sign of failure. However, I respect the lady’s sincerity. Please let us know if you would like to read any further interviews with real-life teachers. Teachers, male or female, who have experience of administering corporal punishment on girls and who would be willing to be interviewed by Blushes in strict anonymity are invited to write to John Hotten, Research Department, Blushes, with details of their school careers.

Blushes regrets that the identity and location of the ‘School for Spankers’ must, for obvious reasons, be withheld. But the very fact that it exists is there as an encouragement. Seek and ye shall find. Good luck to all you Sherlock Holmeses out there in Blushes-land. And don’t forget, you read it first in Blushes!