Leaving a vacuum

Should I give up on the vacuum and start beating my rugs? Looking at them I'd say they could do a great deal better and might benefit from a damned good thrashing...

Household chores

Well anyway, it would give me an excuse to go out and buy a carpet beater wouldn't it. My fight with my ISP seems to have delivered results because after a week of narrowband we're able to do recreational surfing again.

It's a real joy to be able to be wandering around the highways and byways of Spankoland once again. You can't beat the happenstance of just surfing around hopping from page to page, can you?

And tonight I've happened upon carpet beaters. They're not really a British thing, but the beater - or mattenklopper - seems to be part of a European CP tradition.

Before vacuum cleaners they were apparently bought firstly for carpets and, secondly, for naughty bottoms. According to Wikipedia until the 1970s the carpet beater was the domestic spanking implement of choice in Belgium and Holland.

The Wiki article says: "This 'secondary use' earned the carpet beater a special place in Dutch folklore, as a symbol for good housecleaning, conservative family values and childrearing, as well as a symbol for the dominant position of the housemother in traditional Dutch families."

Searching around there seem to be lots of imagery reflecting the carpet beater's special place in the homes and hearts of Europe. I particularly like this one. and this. Of course, the excellent All Things Spanking has the subject covered - and a comment there says the rattan carpet beater "feel like dozens of little canes striking your back side simultaneously". Scary.

That said, it doesn't look like an especially fearsome punishment tool to me. I suppose it's hard to know without giving it a try. Where can I get one, or two - or a whole collection? A bit of googling has found me a nice one for a good price (and made by a German family business who've been at it since 1935 apparently), but have I the guts to buy? I think the carpet beater may be one pervertible that is obviously a bit kinky to even the most innocent vanilla.

More thoughts on the birch

Itching for take two on the birch discipline drama after yesterday's fiasco. At the next available opportunity I'm going to have another go, but with something other than willow - hazel maybe - and with more and bigger sticks.

Smaller birch, or bigger target?

Big and bushy is going to be the order of the day. I'm tempted to go out and find a birch tree and give it a pruning, but I'm not sure how I'd explain it if I bumped into a neighbour on the way home. Nice weather... yes, very springlike... these, oh - bit of interior design on a woodland theme... oh damn it, I'll come clean, I've been very, very naughty and am going to be thrashed until I squeal for mercy...

More Benson

Time ran out mid post yesterday, but I was meaning to include a couple more of Roger Benson's evocative drawings to make my point.

I really like the one above. The connection is a personal one. We had a sewing machine like that one when I was young and patterns, pins and fittings were very much part of the domestic scene.

Not sure what the relationship is here, but the dressmaker looks rather no-nonsense. I reckon if the girl fidgets too much she'll end up with a nice handprint somewhere between those knickers and the suspender.

If there's a mismatch between Benson's girls and the character I'm trying to create it's that they can seem a little too submissive; their eyes are often closed, or lowered. If there's fiestiness it's well hidden. 

On the other hand the matriarchs are certainly feisty - they're very strong women. I like to think they were once the ones on the disciplinary receiving end.Do the women at the table in this one know what it's like to be the spanked girl at the fireplace? I hope so.

Mind you, this one suggests no lack of spirit. This is a girl who knows what she wants and is prepared to take risks to get it. What happens in Benson World to a young lady indulging in this sort of necking? 

I've done a little research about the artist but it's hard to pin down who, when and where. His images were used with skill and imagination a few years ago by the creator of the spoof magazine Bared Affair that appeared on soc.sexuality.spanking newsgroup. I've always assumed that they were genuine products of the 1950/1960s. If they're not, they're very good at drawing the viewing into a constructed world. Anyone know?

Those were the days...

Or were they? It's interesting how long it takes for a decade to begin to go all hazy with nostalgia.  The 1990s are in sharp detail - we were there, weren't we, so we know. But the 1890s are all fuzzy and soft focus and just right for all sorts of imaginings.
At the moment I'd say that the 1950s were going through the process. They are certainly being re-invented and especially by spankos, who see the decade as a sort of domestic discipline nirvana. And why not?
The fashions turn up in shoots and there are any number of stories featuring no-nonsense dads, scarily strict mothers and 18-plus daughters (and sometimes sons) who accept corporal punishment when they do wrong.
And it sort of works for me as a child of the 1970s. Growing up in the 70s corporal punishment was part of our lives, but a rarity (where I lived anyway). But adults were more than happy to tell us about how we had it good and how the tough the rules - and punishments - were when they were kids.
As a spanko-in-the-making it gave me a thrill - it was scary and exciting all at the same time. I'd love to know your favourite decade for spanko fantasy - please vote in the poll over on the right of this page.