What Is A Spanking Story?

The recent Challenge marks the second anniversary of my first ever spanking story - in fact, a story of any type. Now, two years later, just as I was beginning to think of myself as a veteran, I have suddenly discovered I am no longer sure I know what a spanking story is. A number of things have prompted this. One was reading that one of the most talented writers on this site wished to withdraw some stories because they were, in her opinion (but not mine), BDSM stories rather than spanking stories. I have also come across comments on other writers' stories along the lines of "although the story involved spanking, it was not really a spanking story". In some instances it may be that the reader felt the spanking content was too peripheral to the rest of the story, but my impression was that some readers were suggesting the spanking content was not what they regarded as 'spanking'.

This raises the obvious question: what is a spanking story? Is it a question of consensuality? Surely not, or there would be no non-consensual spanking stories. Maybe it is a question of severity? The spankings some of us describe are much more severe than we would be happy about in real life; maybe some readers are less able, or willing, to draw a distinction between fantasy and reality - especially if the spanking is unjust. Or maybe it is something to do with the implements used. For example, in my mind 'caning' is not the same as 'spanking' (although I enjoy caning stories as much as the next person).

I would stress that I would hate to see a situation develop where stories are excluded as not being suitably 'mainstream' - diversity is one of the great strengths of the KLSF - but I would be interested in people's views on what is or is not a spanking story; and by corollary, at what point does a spanking story morph into BDSM or something else.

One would think that a "spanking story" is a story specifically about spanking or one whose focus is on spanking whether or not any actual spanking takes place. It might be a preliminary to a series of stories that do contain spankings, for instance. I myself have written a couple where no actual spankings take place but they were definitely about spanking. As far as BDSM goes, there's a pretty elastic definition of spanking on this site, or so it would seem, as far as severity, implements, "tops", "bottoms", clothing or nudity and even restraints, so it's hard to say what constitutes a "spanking story" per se.

IMO, spanking is pretty much OTK or bent over something with a hand, hairbrush, paddle, or strap and always on the bare and usually for punishment. Consensual or non-consensual is immaterial but I'm sure some people feel differently about the parameters of a story. Realism or logic don't have to enter into it at all as we have many examples of fantasy and stuff that just wouldn't happen in any RL situation and are still very compelling and even believable (to a point). Anyway, that's my two cents worth...

That's a tricky one - on the one hand, we have stories where the punishments are of such severity/include other types of pain infliction or elements of humiliation/(and/or)/are described in such a way as to verge on BDSM, and on the other hand, we have stories where 'spanking' is almost peripheral/treated as playful stimulation rather than punishment/merely implied rather than included in the story.

Where does one draw the line (or lines)?

Perhaps the only thing we can do is make our own subjective judgement on a case-by-case basis.

At one time, in the UK, "spanking" meant smacking the bottom with the hand, and other types of corporal punishment were referred to as "slippering", "belting", "caning", etc. In the USA. I believe "spanking" has always been a more generic term covering all types of punishment on the bottom. The american usage is now more-or-less universal.

I've said it before and I will say it again. The best spanking story I have ever read actually didn't have any spanking in it. It's like trying to classify most types of literature. They very often don't fit into nice neat little boxes.

AFAIK, and I am American, "spanking" always meant smacking the bottom, usually (but not always) OTK and usually (but not always with the bottom bared or at least on the underwear). Whether one used the hand or some other implement made no difference. It was still a "spanking". The use of canes (not terribly popular here), straps or paddles while one was standing or bent over something was specifically referred to by the implement (strapping, paddling, etc.) although if a paddle was used OTK, it could also be referred to as a "paddling". I don't know where or how "spanking" became so generic and all-encompassing but again, AFAIK, it's not our fault...

How boring it would be if all the spanking stories were only about bottoms being smacked by hands! I think that the variety of stories is a strength of this site. And, spanking means different things to different people - from punishment only to erotic stimulation only. Heck, speaking just for myself, its definition is pretty fluid.

If anyone has read An After School Assignment by AustCarr, you will see that the girls have the guy bound while bent over. This in fact is a bit of BDSM. Bondage and Discipline/Sado-Masichism. All in all the players were truly delivering a good dose of discipline and were (not overly) but could have been very sadistic about it.

There are quite a few stories where the spankee is bound while taking his/her punishment. If a character has someone bound it's bondage. If they're getting a spanking while bound, it's discipline. Whether or not the person dishing out the punishment is sadistic, or in non-consensual, the spankee is not a masochist, is up to the author.

The guidelines say that the story HAS to have to do with spanking in some way. A lot of our stories have a big white ZERO or OH to show there is no actual spanking. However, the story does have to do 'with spanking.'

The person who started this was of course Gail. in Smalltalk you can click on Spanking V Erotica. We have to remember that it was her idea to not use those types of stories, and also gave a place where we could read them if interested, which I thought that was kind of her. I mentioned and, others agreed, that it was up to the Head Librarian - Flopsy and the Keeper Of The Castle - Februs (when she's not around LOL) whether they get posted. So, they would only be excluded if ADMIN says they should be.

Sure, spanking is always considered being put over someone's knee and slapped on the bottom with the hand, a paddle, a strap, a slipper, etc.. However, I don't think it's a hard and fast rule here at the LSF, and shouldn't be. Someone can be bent over and whacked with a cane and it's still a spanking. What I don't consider a spanking is someone being smacked on the hand with anything. This is simply discipline, which can be anything from corner standing to writing lines. However, smacking the hand has been the object of stories in our beloved LSF.

A spanking story is just that. It's where a culprit 'fair or unfair' is smacked on the bottom either clothed or bare with whatever implement the author decides to use. As a huge group of authors and kind readers, we will all most likely agree to disagree with whoever posts on this topic. That's the way it is with groups of people who have opinions. It's their right to have one. This is mine.

It's a basic human urge to divide the universe up into categories. Everything in the universe is either a spanking story, or isn't a spanking story. I try to resist this urge! Just about everything has fuzzy boundaries. Some things you can't even define: you can just say "it's a thing kind of like those other things".

Basically, you can always answer "What exactly is X? with "It's a continuum," and you're probably right.

As best as I can tell, spanking stories are *typically* ones which involve, in some way, buttocks being forcibly and intentionally struck. Nor does this need to actually happen in the story, which might merely involve the potentiality of bottom striking activities. Or just the *thought* of the potentiality of such activities. And it's often the lead up to such activities (which henceforth I'll call "spanking") that is the most interesting part of the story.

I'm pretty sure consensuality, severity, or implements are not the deciding issue. I've read (and even written) stories on all sides of these issues, and they were certainly all spanking stories. And I don't think the story has to be *about* the spanking: in some of my favorites, the spanking is pretty incidental.

The only other theme that needs mentioning, I'd say, is that spanking stories often involve the idea of spanking as punishment. Sometimes the punitive aspect isn't real, but is just for play (e.g., role play). But it is often present. This is probably why other punishments tend to come along for the ride in these kinds of stories. Especially other "childish" punishments (corner time, mouth soaping, spanking of hands, and such).

Even so, punishment clearly isn't necessary. You can have a whole story about a fun erotic spanking, without any punitive element at all (just as you can have real-life fun erotic spankings). But it seems to me there are really not many spanking stories that don't have the idea of punishment in the background, somewhere.

I haven't looked at any of the stories Gail thinks don't fit this site. I'm guessing they are more BDSMy, with dominance and perhaps some punishment, but not much bottom striking. They might not be drop-dead-obviously-about-spanking, but I bet they are still somewhere along the spanking continuum.

Yes, it was Gail herself determining that her stories were not spanky enough, rather than the admins (as I understand it). Some of her "questionable" BDSM stories ended up getting loaded here, so they passed muster as spanking stories after all. There are so many variations on spanking themes in this library, however, that I'd be hard-pressed to really delineate what exactly makes a spanking story. I leave that up to Flopsy and Februs, to determine what material can be classified as 'spanking fiction' for their library.