The Brain and the Bottom

If there was no validity to the specific area generating a different response from another, there would be no concern for "wrapping" or smacks that land too high or too low, NOT because of the coccyx but just because it feels different. The psychology of the spanking or whipping is the same, but have that errant stroke land outside the sweet spot zone, and you have people fumbling for their safeword. So there is absolutely a difference based on nerve location.

I suggest a quick perusal of the nerves in the area in question on any basic anatomy site.

Now in addition to the biological aspect, is there also a psychological one at play? Absolutely. Context is very important. It's why a punishment can feel different from a reward even when the action taking place is nearly identical. Expectation, as others suggested also makes a difference. Accidental pain is unexpected and without context, so yes it can be different, But it's not all one or all the other......it's a blend of the two......though for the reasons I mentioned, a bit more dependent on the anatomical.

Most of you seem to have reached what sounds like a good conclusion: there's a lot of consciousness that makes being spanked affect you differently than does falling on your bottom or suffering another injury. I have found, now mostly as a spanker, but back when I was spanked much more than I am now, that words matter in how you react and feel. Being told "you've been naughty and you are going to be spanked" or "I'm sorry but you need to be whipped" or "you've misbehaved so badly that you've forced me to use the cane" inspires strong mental reactions. These words have an even stronger impact for me if a cool younger woman is saying something like that to me. I've found that when I use them, it doesn't matter whether he or she is older or younger, it has an effect.

What is pain, anyway? It appears to be more of a subjective phenomenon than a physical reality, something which is constructed by the mind and is in some mysterious way connected with consciousness. As far as I know, doctors can't measure it with any instrument and there are no scientific units for it. Seen in this light, it perhaps isn't all that surprising that a person's state of mind could affect how they feel pain - or even if they feel it.

Pain is very complex sense. At its most basic it is a warning of impending damage and a defence mechanism to get away from source. However in humans it is very dependent on the brain. If you are feeling well and happy you can generally cope with pain much better than if you are depressed or ill. There is a great difference in sensitivity to pain between different people. It's well known that in a combat situation the reaction to pain is entirely different to the norm.There are also different sensitivities between different parts of the body, for instance your feet are incredibly sensitive as is genitalia, and to a lesser degree the buttocks.
Neuropathic pain occurs for no apparent reason, for instance I am at this moment suffering from incredibly restless toes and left foot, the only reason being probable nerve damage during a knee replacement four years ago. it isn't in the slightest pleasant and is one of the reasons I'm writing this-can't get to sleep with it.
Why should some of us find the kind of pain encountered in a spanking a turn on. The answer must be a complex interaction in the brain. For instance I would hate to be spanked by another man; but in the right situation being spanked , slippered, or caned by a woman is incredibly arousing.
I would have never have considered inflicting pain on a sexual partner by punching them but caning or spanking consensually at reasonable force is extremely erotic and arousing.
the whole sphere of psycho-sexual behaviour is infinitely complex and fascinating.
I occasionally write (or more accurately wrote-I have almost completely lost the writing mojo at the moment) about punishment or judicial canings. In real life the concept appals me but in my silly fantasy world I find it fascinating and erotic. Explain that to me, I can't begin to understand it,
Anyway if you are still with me, I conclude that as long it is enjoyable, consensual and harmless (particularly to others) then just bend over and enjoy it, and accept it as one of the great mysteries of life.

So a while ago I was looking writing a Christmas story dealing with the "Assistants" of Santa Claus. Eg: Belsnickel, Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) etc - they handed out beatings and otherwise punished naughty children.

Which is when I stumbled over:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belsnickel#Cultural_perspective

It has an interesting look at how the events surrounding something are important.

And why do we laugh or have a totally different reaction if we see something on film or in a comic where someone suffers an accident or something painful to their buttocks as opposed to an injury to another body part? A pratfall I believe its called, and considered to be related to slapstick humor?
For instance someone sitting on a cactus as opposed to stepping on one, or getting stung by bees on the butt as opposed to say the chest?
There used to be a Yahoo group called HotBuns Archive that featured pictures and videos with this subject, and the scenes always involved females, usually attractive ones, often projecting an image of a brat or an airhead. It was implied that there was something more appealing if a Kim Kardashian look-alike sat down on a cactus while wearing a thong than if it happened to some burly biker/type guy.

Technically speaking, for all of you who are saying "it's strictly perspective that makes it either pleasure or pain" then all you should have to do is to convince yourself that a broken bone (for example) was done by a dom/domme for your pleasure, and then you would go into subspace, and probably orgasm from the pain of the injury.

I don't think it is that "simple" and even if it was, I don't think you should try that. That is going to mean major rewriting of your neural pathways (the brain is basically a recording device that retains certain patterns and experiences for reuse later (for example once you've attained subspace once, how much easier was it to attain the next time?)) which would include some far-reaching consequences (like addiction to major injuries, possibly including life threatening (because when are people content with "okay" and not trying to push past the next plateau?).

To a degree, I think that "it's all about the 'software' concept" IS partly true, but other "hardware" or "hardwired" concepts are also at play, which is why the answer is not so simple.

To further, and to bring a tangental concept into play, there is already a previously "accepted" dark psychology that posits that if it is inevitable that you are going to get raped, you might as well try to enjoy it, bbecause the only result of fighting it is major injury.
AND before a bunch of femminists get out the tar and feathers, and hanging rope, understand I'm thinking of gang rape in men's prison when I say this. I'm not delusional to think ALL prison rape can reduce ALL injury, but it's probably true that you can stem off most of it (sometimes they sim0ly wish to cause brutal injury).

First off glad you were not too badly hurt.

I would assume no one would seek from a Top the sort of impact and pain that a jarring fall would cause, in fact impact to bony areas directly or indirectly by a Top is a no no.

TTWD is firstly choice, it has a anticipation factor, it is administered by someone we choose and trust, it is within broadly agreed boundaries in manner and level, and is at time of mutual choosing, a fall and resulting hurts are none of these things.

Another thought. The heavy fall on to the bottom causes hurt to the bones as well as to the soft flesh around them. The smack to the bottom only hurts the soft flesh (the buttocks). A vicious beating with a heavy implement may hurt both.

Perhaps the nerves that signal pain to the pelvic bones are distinct from those that signal pain to the buttocks. That pain to the bones is just painful. The pain to the buttocks can be associated with sexual pleasure as those buttock nerves are closely associated with those that come from the genitalia.

In a heavy fall, the pain to bones displaces or masks the pain/sensation from the buttocks. As does the pain to the pelvis from a vicious beating. On the other hand the pain/sensation of a moderate spanking(or whatever) is experienced in isolation so, in some people, it is experienced as a form of pleasure.

I think "butt trauma humor" is a subset of "butt humor" in general. Some things are just funny while others are not. (Remember the scene about pickles in "The Sunshine Boys"?) Pickles ARE funny. Bottoms are funny. A pickle stuck up a bottom? VERY funny.

Butt trauma is funny because not only does it target an inherently funny area, but because there is an assumption of a lesser degree of injury. I don't think it's a stretch to say that seeing a butt injury that leads to paralysis or death would be funny. But a little sting? Funny.

And butts are not the only area. Head trauma, as potentially dangerous as it can be, also has a humor element. Again it's degree. But a bump on the head, a walk into a low-hanging beam, an anvil in a cartoon? None of these target butts and yet all trigger a laugh.

Humor is a kind of science unto itself and probably could be explained through human psychology. Old vaudevillians just learned their lessons on stages, as do modern comedians today. Comedy changes, but, to your point, BUTTS seem to have always been funny and ARE STILL FUNNY.