Schools where even senior girls can be caned

I agree with the comments that we are dealing with fiction. It should be realistic, of course, but it still is fiction. That said, I find it much more realistic for girls at schools to be disciplined by headmistresses or female teachers. This avoids all of the suspicion and problems that arise when girls are disciplined by men, which is so unlikely today as to render a story outlandish. Sometimes schools in stories can engage in a bit of role reversal by empowering younger students discipline older ones; the embarrassment factor here is major.

I did one set in modern times called "The Return of the Cane to the Upper Sixth". The title describes the plot line - only none of the girls have earned a caning.

It is possible that girls were slippered, strapped and caned more frequently and it was more acceptable for male teachers to do it in the 1970s and very early 1980s than in the 1930s or even 1960s. I left school in 1981. There seemed to be a sort of attitude that with women's lib and women's equality girls should be treated much more similarly to the boys than before. And with sexual liberation it was much more acceptable for men to be with girls. Men teachers were even having affairs with girl pupils, and for girls over 16 it wasn't even against the law then. Think of all the court cases that have just come out now. And think of what that rogue Jimmy Savile was getting away with in those days. Maybe sometimes fact is even worse than fiction. Another thing is before the 1970s secondary education in England was mostly single sex, and boys' schools had mostly male teachers and girls' schools had mostly female staff. Butt with comprehensivisation in the 1970s boys and girls schools were often merged together or became coed by themselves. The comprehensive I attended was created from the merger of a boys' and a girls' grammar school. Incidentally my father had attended the boys' grammar school and my mother the girls' grammar school in the 1950s.

markuk
Butt with comprehensivisation in the 1970s

Oh, what a Freudian slip!

KatiePie
Very well spotted

Does anyone recall the demonstration in London in the early 1970's against corporal punishment? I had a personal involvement.

I’ve seen that picture of the girls holding a sign saying ‘no to the cane’. I can imagine when their headmistress found out they got an appointment with the cane. And sitting down was quite difficult for a few days.

SaabMan
I remember seeing them on TV news as a primary school age child. When I saw them I thought some of school pupils carrying placards looked almost like grown-ups. What was your involvement?

There needs to be some sexual tension in a story if it is to be erotic i.e. exciting the reader. For me that tension comes from a girl having to 'adjust her clothing' in the presence of a male. But keeping things as realistic as possible is also important. So how about this for a scenario. Set say circa 1970 for the first time a male teacher has been appointed in a girls boarding school. He becomes a form master in the upper 6th. One of his girls is to be caned by the formidable headmistress for some ghastly misdeed. Canings are always on the bare bottom - no issue in what had been an all female environment. The tradition is that the girl's form teacher is always invited to be in attendance on such occasions. The tension comes not least from the girl's horror at having a male present as she bares herself

markuk

My sister and her friend took time off school to go on the demonstration. Today there would be no problem but back then was a big deal.