Recap: MBS Sunday Brunch for July 1

Our topic this week was spanking in the media and how it shaped our current perspectives. Here are your responses.

Jean Marie: When I was a child I saw Sally Field as "Gidget" get turned over the back of a couch in her living room and get spanked by her character's father. I saw Robert Horton on "Wagon Train" spank a pretty female westerner. Both scenes reverberated in my consciousness, even though both recipients were fully clothed.

When I'd gone through puberty, I stole my daddy's copies of Penthouse magazine because they had a letters to the editor section entitled "Pain and Pleasure" where men discussed spanking their girlfriends and wives. Some were written by women on how much they liked being spanked by dominant men. I masturbated to those columns repeatedly, but I never thought that there were that many people who had this kink that I shared.

It wasn't until late in my college years that I actually met a man who I trusted enough to confide that I wanted him to spank me. He cooperated, but that's all. I felt indulged, but not inspired. It was years later when I met my first truly dominant man. And, yes, I showed him a frayed and ragged torn-out page from that stolen Penthouse. I suggested that we re-enact that scene that the housewife described so vividly. Instead, he stopped me to confirm that I'd stolen my daddy's possession. My lover gave me a truly memorable strapping across my bared bottom for this theft, and the lovemaking that followed was by far the best of my life up until that point.

Todd and Suzy: We've both been most influenced by the Internet. When it comes to popular media, spanking (it seems) is either ridiculed as an outlandish fetish for not too balanced people, or it's shown in a mean and negative way (or, at the very least, in a completely nonsexual way).

The spanking scene in the movie 'Tank' is a good example. The mean sheriff whips Jenilee Harrison with a belt. The point of the scene is that the sheriff is a cruel SOB. Not exactly the message a teenage spanko was getting though... LOL

So, the impact of popular media has largely been negative.

We did both enjoy the movie 'Secretary' though (even though the spankos in it had some massive issues). We would have to say that was especially memorable. It was a real kick to watch the spanking scene in a theater.

Paul: I am of a generation where spanking was a fact of life for children. Misbehave at school, and the result was the cane, strap, ruler or plimsolls. When you went home and your parents learned of the punishment, it was very possible you'd get another dose. In many families, spanking was the norm, usually with hand, wooden spoon, slipper or belt.

In the old films, spanking scenes weren't that rare. In my case, when I was around thirteen, the orphanage started accepting girls. While serious punishments were given in private, impromptu punishments were given on the spot. I wonder how many of the boys from there were spankos in later life.

Mel was never punished at school. This fascinated her, so many of our scenes were schoolgirl punishments, among others.

Scout: I was a kid in the '70's. We had "summer movies," when the theater would show slightly older films on weekday mornings to school kids. I remember a spanking scene (dad and kid) in "Yours, Mine and Ours" and seeing "McLintock" there, and watching, rapt (midwestern sensibilities about what's appropriate for children, obviously!). I watched lots of TV. Shows in syndication, such as "Bonanza," "My Three Sons," "The Andy Griffith Show," and "I Love Lucy," would often depict or refer to spankings. These were both parent/child and husband/wife, and I would get all fluttery. I was rarely spanked at home, and never in school, but knew I was more than curious about it from a very early age. I also loved it when a book featured a spanking. What a fun trip down memory lane!

Jammin: Like Paul, I grew up when spanking was the norm. If you got in trouble at school, then you got in trouble at home. I wasn’t spanked much as I was never caught for a lot of things. LOL That’s naughty, I know. As for movies, goodness, I loved John Wayne in McLintock, Quiet Man, Donovan's Reef, etc. I would play these over and over in my brain. As a teenager, when I was exploring self pleasure, all of my fantasies started with a spanking. They still do to this day.

Paige Tyler: I first read about romantic spanking in Johanna Lindsey's historical romance books. I was a teen then, and was immediately fascinated with the thought of getting spanked by a big, strong, handsome guy! Actually, I'm still fascinated with it! LOL!

Her books not only shaped my thoughts and feelings about spanking, though. They also made me want to write romance books with spanking in them!

Maggie: I don't remember which I saw and was awed by first – Elvis Presley giving the spanking in the pineapple field, or Rachel's husband on As the World Turns turning her over his knee. When I was a little older, I watched McLintock with my mom. I think that was the first memory I have of being uncomfortable while watching a movie with her! Come to think about it, she never missed that movie. I wonder why? *g* Then, of course, there was I Love Lucy and many of the shows of the 50’s and 60’s.

There was spanking when I was in school too. Like the others, if you got spanked at school, you were going to get spanked at home also. It was the same with the neighbors. If you got in trouble at their house, by the time you got home, your mom knew and you would be in trouble again. My, how times have changed!

Pagan: I have no memories of being spanked as a child. My parents split when I was quite young, and I grew up with the non-spanking parent. However, my earliest spanking memories are of hearing noises in the night. While I have no intention of discussing it with either of them, I'm virtually certain that both of my parents are spankos.

I do remember seeing spanking scenes on TV in the seventies, when they were more common. I remember watching Fantasy Island with my mother and grandmother when a spanking scene came on. I was probably an early teen at the time. I had the same feelings of embarrassment and shame that others have described. I was CERTAIN that they could read my thoughts.

I also remember I Love Lucy reruns and other shows that had periodic spanking references. I can't remember the name of the movie now, but I remember seeing one that starred Goldie Hawn and involved a sports team (football, maybe)? She has a teen daughter in the movie who dyes her hair an alarming shade of red. The details of the scene are fuzzy, but I think she gets drunk, and one of the football players carries her upstairs to bed over his shoulder. While he's doing so, he says something about her mother turning her ass the same colour as her hair if she gets caught. As you can tell, I can remember virtually nothing about the movie, but that scene is stored. LOL

I can also remember reading my grandmother's Harlequin romances at an early age (perhaps 8), and furtively rereading each of the (then common) spanking scenes.

I didn't yet recognize the 'funny' feelings I got as sexual. It took a few more years (and a high school spanko boyfriend) for me to solidify the association between spanking and sex.

Marcus: Donovan's Reef was the first movie where I remember seeing a woman spanked. I was an adult by then, but then I found out I liked the idea of a woman's bottom getting spanked a few years earlier when I was in High School. Later on, there were movies like Blue Hawaii, On Moonlight Bay, Frontier Gal (Lily Munster got spanked there), and others that I looked for based on my interests.

Jujubees: I have a bad habit of remembering spanking scenes on television and elsewhere, except when someone asks about them. Then my mind tends to go blank. My earliest fascination with spanking and the media was with a book that we had of nursery rhymes. It was a thin children's book and it had great illustrations. I'll never forget The Old Woman who lived in a shoe. The illustration was colorful and the mean old woman had a young child bare bottomed over her lap and was whipping that child with a thin stick. The child's bottom was a delicious shade of red and there was a line up of other children waiting their turn. I stared and stared at that picture over and over for many hours and years to come.

I was spanked as a child and had a number of siblings who were also spanked, so that was also a source that sparked more interest for me.

I'll also never forget the books Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Those books talked a lot about those two bad boys getting a good switching. Even the movie of the 70's showed Tom Sawyer taking a good hard licking for Becky Thatcher. Naturally I enjoyed that part of the movie the most.

Another source of interest for me when I was younger was getting into my brother's Playboy magazine stash and finding a picture of a handsome man in a robe spanking a grown woman on her bare bottom with her robe pulled up. They were smiling and having a great time. I masturbated to that picture because it turned me on so much. In fact, my brother walked in on me and snatched the magazine away and laughed at me. I hope he has forgotten. We have not discussed it.

Little House on the Prairie was popular when I was growing up and they talked about and depicted spankings a lot on that show. Gosh, I guess I could go on and on, but I won't. It is really fun to remember.

Bonnie: My memory is chock full of spanking references from my early years. I even wrote a post about it way back in 2005. The popular media had everything to do with the development of my kink. Perhaps I would have evolved into a dedicated spanko without those influences, but I can’t be certain.

Along with the favorites I listed previously (Gidget, Lucy, Beverly Hillbillies, Flintstones, Foghorn Leghorn, Tom and Jerry, Flipper, etc.), many others come to mind. The old Hal Roach “Our Gang” comedies were rerun on television in the sixties and seventies. They featured not just spankings, but highly ritualized spankings. The father actually said, “This is going to hurt me a lot more than it does you…” I also recall a group spanking set to music. That was a day when spankings, even in the popular media, could be fun and humorous.

My parents bought for me a magazine called “Highlights for Children.” The stories occasionally had spanking elements. However, I especially remember a comic strip called the Timbertoes. Tommy Timbertoes, who looked kind of like a wooden toy character, would occasionally mess up and the last panel would feature him OTK and getting a strong dose of his father’s hardwood palm. When the magazine arrived in the mail, I immediately flipped back to see whether poor Tommy was getting spanked this month. Of course, I imagined myself in his place.

In that era, for every spanking that was shown, there were several more that were threatened, referenced, or performed offstage. All of these spankings strongly appealed to me. As Pagan said, the images and thoughts weren’t sexual for me at the time. I didn’t know what that even meant. However, when my sexuality developed, spankings and being spanked became a centerpiece. All these years later, my deepest and most treasured fantasies remain largely unchanged.

Meg: I got a few little spats as a young child, but nothing of real consequence. Then once, in the last of my pre-pubescent years, I found something deep in an old box that my grandfather thought he'd gotten rid of years before. They were some copies of The Pearl, some ca. 1900. It was porno, without pictures, but with VERY graphic descriptions. I never told Grandmother, but I found that reading the spanking stories pushed some buttons that I never before really knew I had, although the male characters seemed to be more slimy than dashing and handsome.

Several times in my teens, I got into trouble of the sort I didn't like over bratting in school. I was trying to get attractive, young male teachers to swat me(I grew up in the American South). Doing so would have meant instant job loss, a huge lawsuit, and maybe even jail time for them. So it never happened. I still think this was very unfair to the boys who were forever getting "busted." Finally, I got a taste of what I'd wanted when I pledged a sorority. However, "getting it" from other women took me only so far, even when I fantasized about "getting it" from a man.

Then I met HIM. He looked like a Viking, and was NOT a frat-boy. He was instead a GDI (G__-D__ed Independent) with a deeply resonant voice of velvet, a gorgeous cultivated accent, and piercing blue eyes (almost unnervingly so). Yet, he was so caring and warm. But what drove me wildest were his hands. They looked like they were chiseled from granite yet, with their long, supple fingers, made me think naughtily of all manner of things in addition to getting a tingling tushie. I thought especially about all those OTHER things he could do with me over his lap. Well, as they say, the rest is history, and it's been better than any story. Now, I know what I'm in for when he finds this, and I can't wait!

Thanks, everyone for joining us on this fun trip down memory lane. I hope you will all join us next week when we next sit down for brunch.

Keywords: spanking, spanking and the media, TV spankings, spanking in movies, My Bottom Smarts, spanko brunch