You're a grown-up, you don't have to take a spanking if you don't want to

Okay, title was supposed to read "You're a grown-up, you don't have to take a spanking if you don't want to". Clearly I need one of those all-thumbs keyboards, plus more sleep. (Edit: thanks for changing it, Februs!)

So I've noticed a dichotomy among the adults-only stories that get posted on here, and I have a somewhat grouchy question about it. Please bear with me as I'm not sure I'll be able to explain this thing very well.

Let's begin with a fact: adults (18+) don't get spanked in regular life without their consent. (I'm confining myself to stories of everyday life, so my question isn't about judicial punishments or legal wife-spanking in dictatorial countries or anything like that, nor about fantasy/sci-fi stories where anything goes.)

So two types of adult spanking stories seem to co-exist side by side. The first kind is the story where all sorts of tricky plot devices and contortionist reasoning are employed to make the spanking of an adult seem like a natural part of the story. I know I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to think up plausible scenarios where it would make some sort of sense for an adult to get spanked, and it's even more difficult if I'm trying to make the spanking a non-consensual one. And I've been called out for lack of realism before - "hey, wait a minute, the lead-up to this spanking makes no sense, and why would he/she put up with it in the first place?!" (This is in no way a complaint about being called out, btw - keep it up, I enjoy it!) I have also seen other authors' stories, who also attempted to construct solid reasons for adults to get spanked, get the same treatment.

The second kind is the story where all the characters appear to live in an alternate reality, in which everyone involved unquestioningly accepts any discipline they are subjected to. The rules seem to be that any adult with any type of authority can decide to spank anyone they want, and no subordinate adult is allowed to say 'no'. (Thirty-year-old man visiting home: "Mom's house Mom's rules, so I guess I'm getting a spanking for downloading porn." Twenty-five-year-old woman at work: "I spilled hot coffee on my work laptop, so of course my boss will spank me for it." Eh? No?? Why???) Every other interaction and all other elements of the story world are ordinary business as usual, except for that.

But this second type of story doesn't get comments complaining about implausibility. Am I just being difficult, to be shouting "why?" in my head, to need a reason for why adults would put up with it? Is it just an accepted genre, and I should just chill (very likely) and take it at face value? I've read some excellent stories of this second type, but the 'why?' refrain in my head kept needling me throughout.

So here is my question, finally: authors who write the second type of story, what is your head canon about the world your characters live in? In a story where every other aspect of daily life is just normal, why are spankings not a kink but a fact of life, and what's your reason for adults accepting them?

Agreed. The lead-in can be tricky to handle correctly. I enjoy the stories but want some sense of realism along with that.

When I do adult stories, I lean toward

a) consensual (easy case)
b) semi-consensual (to avoid a different consequence, or in exchange for something)
c) judicial (in another time and/or place)
d) other world (fantasy usually, in my case)

It's the semi-consensual ones where the setup is trickiest, I think. I have explored: avoiding divorce/break up, for money, for illegal services. I have one in the queue where it's a condition of employment, but the employer was explicitly looking for someone who was into it. Also writing one where a young adult agrees to remain subject to school CP in order to be allowed to remain in the school past 18th birthday. Similarly would be a young adult (not a 30yo) still living with parents.

When I read the stories you are talking about, Burgundy, I naturally assume a "parallel universe" or "near future dystopia" where such things are normal. And yes, I am more likely to complain about non-realism in a story that tries not to go that route, but make a realistic NC adult spanking scenario in 2107 North America or Europe than I am in a story that is "obviously" assuming a different social/legal background, and thus I am not trying to pick apart their crazy scenario to make spanking an adult seem like a normal thing in today's western world.

I think such type 2 stories exist in a sort of parallel reality, a kind of fantasy world where, when the author is doing things correctly, the only difference between our universe and the spankolitverse is precisely and only that the characters accept that spanking is a perfectly normal consequence of any given action.
In addition to this, the overwhelming majority of folk in this universe find spanky play arousing and therefore everyone (except the prudish characters) uses it for foreplay.

Now, as to your real question, Why?

Fiction exists partially to explain the world through metaphor, and to cast light on what is called 'the human condition' i.e. what it is like to be human. Finding pleasure through pain is a paradox, and so one of the easy ways into explaining it is to construct a universe where just one variable is removed (or lessened). You change the fact that spanking is unusual and keep everything else the same, and you can show what life is like for the characters who easily get spanked, and thus, by extension, cast a bit of light on our own lives as spankos.

Well, speaking only for myself, I'm thinking of a motion picture saying by the Chinese detective Charlie Chan: "Unlikely events allow themselves the luxury of occurring."

That applies to "unlikely adult relationships" also, I'd venture. Charlie doesn't investigate the vast majority of situations in life which don't involve serious criminal activity, his stories/movies deal with the ones which do. In my "Sisterhood"-related accounts, the very small percentage of FLDD (female-led domestic discipline) marriages/relationships in a particular area are the ones I'm writing about.

In a story within which a consensual adult spanking arrangement exists, the reasons for it may or may not be explained, because in fiction plenty of situations exist which aren't explicitly explained by the author--they're described to the degree that the plotline is enhanced by such a description, yet it may be up to the reader to speculate as to why they came about in the first place, if it matters that much to him/her. (Some spanking-oriented stories will indeed provide such insight into the relationship's origin, and/or it may be provided in other related accounts if there are recurring characters involved.)

If an "overall consent" has been granted, in any particular situation the spankee may not believe that he/she deserves to be disciplined, yet he/she still cooperates because the spanker is considered to have the superior judgment concerning what is best within their arrangement, of whatever kind it is. (Look at the last line of KD Pierre's story, "The Friend," which summarizes this concept.)

So if the adult characters involved are accepting, for whatever reason(s), that one or more of them should have disciplinary authority over one or more of the others, as a reader at that point I'll generally accept it and keep reading, although I may comment on it either favorably or unfavorably afterward.

Consistency strikes me as important though, so if a thirty-year-old woman willingly goes panties-down over her mother's knee during a visit back home, based on the "Mom's house, Mom's rules" concept, on one occasion, unless there's any described reason for a reversal in attitude, I expect her to be equally (albeit perhaps grudgingly) cooperative in undergoing a maternal spanking the next time she violates those rules at her mother's place.

The type of story that doesn't involve an established disciplinary arrangement, therefore involving some singular reason for one adult to accept being spanked by another one, I enjoy reading that kind of account on occasion--even if the circumstances may seem contrived and/or difficult to believe, they tend to be intriguing to consider.

"Unlikely bottom-blisterings are still fun to read about..."

--C.K.

Reading or writing such stories.. I don't worry about the logic, I just enjoy the stories! LOL

Though I do tend to mentally inhabit a world where not only is spanking a normal accepted consequences when naughty but also a kink.

As to finding logical reasons, have you considered a third 'option'? Namely, blackmail.
"You either get a spanking young man/lady, or you're fired," as an example.

Hey Burgundy,

The TL:DR version of the following reply is: people spank each other all the time. It's just about taking those dynamics and exaggerating them or displacing them so that they fit today. The automatic vanilla outrage response does exist, but it is far less prevalent than most spankos believe.

Your quandary starts with the presumption that just because a story takes place in a story similar to our world, it has to share the exact same value system and code of a very specific aspect of the modern Western world. It's only under these specific values that the spanking of an adult is implausible. There are cultural groups that spank adults for a variety of reasons right now in the modern world. It's just not the mainstream in European/American/Canadian/Australian practice. Even in America, there are ethnic groups and cultures that will spank an adult if the circumstances are right. While this may be rare for those groups, the circumstance is collectively understood. Sure, in many of these situations, the spanking might not meet the criteria that we dramatize here, but believe me, if a Latina daughter calls her mother a bitch, even in jest, no one would be surprised if she got five hard whacks with the chancla.

The point is, whether it's a culture or a different point in time, or a hyperbolic version of what might happen, the setting of the 2nd kind of story you mention is just one where you take the modern day and super impose a version of real life spanking values on top of it. An example would be this: humorous spankings happen among adults all the time. Sometimes it's not overt humor. Sometimes it's humor, but we kinda meant you to feel it. Just take the humor out entirely and you have a story that fits here easily. I've seen a lot of stuff that people on this board are constantly claiming would never happen. I've seen spankings among teen groups. Not romantic, barely humorous, real swats that result in a natural dominance/submission dynamic. I've seen spanking in the workplace, friendly, but not in any way humorous, as well as the humorous kind. Obviously this would be a human resources nightmare but the truth of it is that a job turns into summer camp if people are around each other enough.

In many situations, you just need a charismatic spanko to get things going and put "our" world into the supposed normal world that is rarely as normal or vanilla as it pretends to be.

I actually have an admiration for people that can launch into a truly absurd spanko world that has enough resistance to be entertaining, but enough acceptance of the Law of Spanking to suspend disbelief. I could write a book on how that all works, but hopefully this was good food for thought.

Even that is really hard to imagine in modern-day USA, and I assume modern-day England likewise. The employee could refuse, out the employer, and cause all sorts of scandal. Although I did count "to avoid a worse consequence" as one of the possibilities in my earlier post, I find this one a larger stretch than some others.

Well, being a frequent author of stories low on, or completely lacking even the smallest fragment of plausibility I must speak up. Different people have different preferences. It's just like Hollywood. Now, how many percentages of last year's movies would you say have an even remotely plausible plot? Avengers? Terminator? Wonder Woman? Bourne? Hunger Games? The less credible the plot is, the bigger the commercial success. But to me, most important is that there are stories of all kinds so all types of spankos can feel welcome here in this free oasis of delight and find something to their liking. So yes - more plausible stories and more whacked out fantasy ones please.

But, the core of the question, why does the 2nd type of story doesn't get battered for being not plausible? Well, because they're not trying to. It would be like reviewing the Hulk movie with the phrase "Not credible story". That in sharp contrast to the 1st type of story that claims to be credible. Now if it does just that- the reader demands a much higher standard when it comes to plot credibility, it's only natural. It is the tiny off details that ticks you if you're looking for real life impersonations.

And so to your final question, how I view the world in which my characters get spanked for each and every reason. That's a dream world for sexual satisfaction because the concept of spankings appeals to me. However, in the real world they rarely work, so I just place my plots in a parallel universe in which each and everyone can get spanked for whatever reason, because it excites me. If people reads my stories, that's a bonus, but I write primarily for myself, because I like it and to prove to myself that I can do it, that I can write something worthwhile reading for people in another language and hopefully make someone's day. I don't give credibility or even plot consistency much thought, I just like spankings and it's my dream fantasy world.

Well jeez, fair enough. I don't quite know what I expected.

Thanks for all the great responses everyone! Uh, I'm less grouchy now... And I'm reading my original question and wondering what I was so agitated about. I remember thinking it was "unfair" - dumbest thought ever, I know - as though we are all writing a test on story credibility, and some people just decided to white-out the question about realism and pretend it wasn't even on the test. And got away with it!

Anyway, it's not like I don't enjoy those stories. It was more like, I studied and got a B and you cheated and got an A, this cannot be borne.