Spanking in different cultures

Hey everyone,
I'm curious about your perceptions of cultural differences in spanking and how it affects your stories. To a large extent, most of the discourse around spanking relates to the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which we are all familiar with. What cultural differences in this mode of punishment are you familiar with? I mean the use of others: tools, positions, contexts in which one gets, etc.
Thank you all in advance

I grew up in the southern United States, where the supreme position in terms of domestic corporal punishment always seemed to be held by "The Belt."

I did an article for Bared Affair, my first one actually, which compared the favourite implements in various countries and road tested them on bottoms that were not generally used to them. It was fairly light hearted, as most BA articles were.

Good question, Janush.

I'm half South Asian, half 'Murican -- from Texas, no less. I was a little girl in the 1980s.

At the time I didn't see any cultural distinction between my Gujarat and my Scots-Irish families. Spanking was threatened ten times more than it actually happened, and when it did, in both cultures it tended to be casual, almost symbolic. For both sides it was open-handed on clothing. It was VERY brief and more embarrassing than painful, like a more intense version of an angry scolding.

Stories from my elders painted more of a difference. For my Indian family, canes featured prominently, and a chilly formality reigned, as if emulating their one-time British overlords.

By contrast, for my Anglo aunts, uncles and grandparents, the paddle was a cure-all, both at home and in school. Their descriptions highlighted their disciplinarians' passion, like an expression of intense affection that was demonstrated by setting your cherished angel's bottom aflame.

Side note to Seegee: Three cheers for you and all your work in Bared Affair. I remember reading your stories there 20 years ago and thinking, "Damn, I wish I could get that job."

A very interesting topic which I hope will attract a large number of responses! Some years ago, I wrote an article about spanking in Norway (called "Vil du ha mer ris?") for the Wellred Weekly, and it's still available on my author's page. I should add that the final remarks on the Norwegian BDSM Scene are quite dated (most of the things referred to there no longer exist).

Sammi, you say "For my Indian family, canes featured prominently, and a chilly formality reigned, as if emulating their one-time British overlords" and I have always believed that to be usual in Indian, and Anglo-Indian families.

The belief came from nothing more than throwaway lines in letters and fiction. They suggested that the cane was used on both girls and boys, but girls were more likely to have their bottoms bared. I thought, and still think, that to be odd, having regard to the Muslim views on female modesty.

I don't know how it works in the Hindu tradition but believe, correct me please if I am wrong, that Hindus are much more liberal where nudity is concerned--think of all those temple carvings.

Geoffrey Stirling.

PS I was recently talking to a French woman of about 60. The topic turned to the martinet. Probably something to do with me! She confirmed that in her childhood, every house had a martinet hanging somewhere visible. That she said was sufficient to maintain good behaviour but, if that failed, it would be used.

They were, I understand, also used in schools.

Certainly, in France and also in Portugal, back in the 70s I commonly saw (I actually looked for them) martinets for sale, hanging in bunches from market stalls.

Geoffrey Stirling.

To Sammi re Bared Affair. You could have written for them. Angie was always in the lookout for contributors. She read some of my work on the old site I used to post at and asked me if I’d like to write some stuff for BA. The martinet spoken about by Geoffrey was one of the things I profiled in that long ago article.