There are psychological factors as well; consider the same girl receiving two paddlings, both of a few swats over jeans. In one scenario, she's celebrating her birthday with her friends, she's relaxed, happy, she's had a drink or two, and she can treat her 'birthday paddling' as a bit of a joke.
In the alternative scenario, she's called out of class, in front of all her classmates, to the Head's office - and everyone knows what that means! Once there, she is left to wait for some time, while her imagination generates possible punishments. If there are other miscreants to be dealt with, she may hear them 'getting it' and see their tear-stained faces as they exit, rubbing their bottoms. By the time she's called into the office, questioned, forced into admitting her misdeeds, lectured and scolded, the same number and intensity of swats she laughed off in scenario one, could reduce her to tears in scenario two.
I remember one story (did I read it here? I can't remember) about a couple arriving at a hotel for a fetish weekend. The wife did something that displeased the husband, and he threatened NOT to spank her - he'd take down her panties, put her over his knee in the middle of the hotel lobby, and publicly not spank her! And he'd keep on not spanking her until everyone knew that she didn't deserve a good, sound spanking! What a punishment! |