Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Who is a Spanko and How Many of Us are There?

For as long as we've been discussing the topic, we spankos have debated the proportion of the adult population that shares our interest in consensual adult spanking. The answer to that question depends in large measure upon how we define who is a spanko.

Large Population advocates cite studies that show a majority of adults have fantasized about spanking or being spanked.

Small Population proponents assert that fantasizing is not spanking and a few quick whacks during sex has little in common with an OTK paddling. Therefore, any meaningful number has to be much lower.

A recent survey involving 4,989 university students, found that 59.1% said they have "been lightly spanked" during a sexual encounter. This question probes actual experience rather than just fantasies. In this context, the percentage seems fairly high.

There are a number of ways in we can interpret this single data point. University students might be more willing to experiment than the general adult population, but they almost certainly have less experience in doing so.

The question asked about being "lightly spanked," but we have no information regarding how light or how often.

Finally, the question asks the respondent whether they personally were spanked, not whether they spanked someone else. The 40.9% who responded "No" could include tops who we might otherwise count among the "Yes" responses to our question.

The factor that underlies this analysis is who we count among our ranks? I am inclined toward the Large Population viewpoint and a big tent membership.

GroupInclude
No interestNo
Curious about spankingsNo
Tried spanking, didn't like itNo
Fantasize about spankingsYes
Fifty Shades fansYes
Past experience, now inactiveYes
Spanking only during sexYes
Self-spankersYes
Romantic spankingsYes
Recreational spankingsYes
Domestic DisciplineYes
BDSM including spankingsYes

If we use this definition, what's the number? I have yet to see a survey that poses the right questions, so we are still guessing based upon fragmentary evidence. My guess is somewhere between a quarter and a half of adults are spankos, with lots of variation across subpopulations.

But that's just my opinion. What do you think?

11 comments :

Caged Lion said...

Can you provide a link to the study?

Bonnie said...

CL - In the fourth paragraph, click on the word survey.

Anonymous said...

My own guess is that it’s about 10 percent of adults if one included those who would act on their fantasies if the opportunity occurred. I further guess that maybe half of those who identify as spankos incorporate it in a relationship at any one time.
But the number could be higher if you also included people who come to enjoy consensual spanking because their partner asked for it and introduced them to it. To be clear this latter group would be people who would identify as “non –spankos” originally.
The proportion of this one in ten adults that are or have been in any kind of domestic discipline relationship using spanking is probably unknowable. But a guess would be that quite a few of those people who identify as spankos do at least dabble some with spankings as discipline at one time or another while a sizable minority of spankos keep it strictly erotic..
Whatever the percentage, spanking orientation itself seems heavily skewed to favor bottoms over tops and across gender, more women than men (although this may be mainly cultural and gradually changing)
Also the actual percentage of spanko adults identifying as spankos is likely to be underestimated even in well done surveys. This is essentially because people tend to under-report or “misreport” (i.e. lie about) any kind of behavior that violates societal norms or might elicit disapproval. (One reason the actual number of gays was underestimated for many years)
Again these estimates are guesses, maybe not wild guesses, but we don’t even have enough data to call them “educated guesses”. Looking forward to more discussion
Alan

Anonymous said...

I think the word “spanko” (short for spankophile) implies a need or obsession that might not exist in 50 Shades fans, for instance. I agree that the right question probably hasn’t been asked yet, and maybe the answer isn’t straight forward, but is a continuum. - Wendy

Bonnie said...

Alan - Your analysis makes a lot of sense. These are guesses and in the absence of solid data, it's all we have to try to make sense of our world. Thank you for sharing your insight.

Wendy - I agree that there is a continuum without a distinct demarcation between spanko and non-spanko. We can imagine such a line exists and where it should lie, but there is no easy answer.

Anonymous said...

Bonnie:
I asked this question to a man that sold very amateurish spanking drawings and his estimate was 20%. Keep in mind, this was 20 plus years ago and prior to my introduction to the internet and spanking blogs etc. In retrospect, I think the number was much higher; but we were more secretive about our passion then and still believed it to be a perversion. I was both profoundly relieved and thrilled when I learned there was in fact so many of us! In the population as a whole, I believe the number exceeds 50% but this has variables from the occasional recipient to the hard core enthusiast. A clearer picture can again be derived from the internet when one looks at the plethora of spanking sites that are featured. If there was little or no interest, these sites would not exist. However, while I would certainly enjoy a survey that could produce a definitive number, I don't think I will hold my breath while waiting.
Rick

KDPierre said...

I tend to agree that such surveys are constructed by people with little personal knowledge to go on. They remind me of the occasional "mainstream article" that relies almost exclusively on naive interviews with paid professionals and famous scene players for their information. It's like doing an article on cooking, and the only person you talk to is a TV chef. Ridiculous! But.........so typical that if anyone thinks it's going to change, you may as well wait up for Santa on December 24th.

My personal estimate is not numerical....since I am not a numbers person, but I can say that that when it comes to spankos, there are more out there than you think and way less than you'd hope for.

Roz said...

These are great questions Bonnie, I often wonder how many spankos are out there. I agree it does depend on how the questions are phrased and how you define the term. My guess is that there are more spankos out there then we might think.

Hugs
Roz

Rich Person said...

If the population of spanking sites is any indication, the proportion is probably 80%.

Anonymous said...

I have no idea, though it’s been great to read blogs like this on the internet where people open up.

I’m also curious about sexual vs discipline vs maintenance vs punishment spankings. I would say all of ours are sexual, and many if not most are foreplay. If Irene is angry with me for real, the last thing she’d do is give me a spanking.

Rosco

Bonnie said...

Rick - I completely agree. The lack of solid information means that we can all speculate, and many of us do.

KD - Your estimate makes a lot of sense.

Roz - I hope you are right because I think there are a lot. :)

RP - I think the internet footprint (handprint?) is bigger than ever before. How directly that presence translates into committed humans, I'm not sure.

Rosco - There's a poll where I'd really like to see the results.

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