Although for many people the spankings they received as children are remembered only as a mortifying punishment for some misdoing, (such behaviour and the attendant spanking to be avoided in future at all costs), there is a percentage of people that have gone on to eroticise spanking, to crave it, and to actively seek it out.
Spanking children as a disciplinary action has a long tradition, and so does adult spanking - both the chauvinistic kind depicted in popular culture, and as consensual sexual play between likeminded partners.
What it is
Spanking is the act of striking someone's bottom or buttocks, either with the hand or with some kind of object. Spanking has traditionally been regarded as a manifestation of sadistic (if you like to spank) or masochistic (if you prefer to be spanked) tendencies, although this view is hotly contended by many devoted spankers. There are certainly some spanking purists who have absolutely no interest in any other form of behaviour that might be included under the S/M or BDSM banners.
Spanking has been recognised as an aspect of lovemaking for centuries. The Kama Sutra contains instructions on how to incorporate spanking into sex, and describes not only what areas of the body best respond to spanking, but also includes precise descriptions of the 'four types of blows' and the 'eight different sounds' that the smacks should make.
Spanking may be performed as a preliminary to sexual intercourse or other erotic activities or it may be engaged in solely for its own attendant pleasures.
What it isn't
Spanking isn't physical abuse. It is easy to mistake spanking for abuse not least because it is traditionally administered as a type of corporal punishment for children - a child's disobedience is met with a measured spanking administered to the miscreant's bottom. Obviously the child in this situation is unlikely to have consented to the spanking!
Having said that, it is interesting to note that many adult devotees of spanking assert that they first became drawn to the act as children, when spankings were dealt out in a loving, attentive environment - creating associations between pain, love and joy that were carried into adulthood.
Spanking is sometimes associated with violence. In previous eras 'home correction' was considered not merely a husband's prerogative, but to some extent it was thought to be part of the duties of any good husband to give his wife a proper slapping or spanking if she erred. Confusion in this area has been fostered by the images in romantic films and novels of the past few decades where the virile hero was forced to take the feisty heroine over his knee, in order to administer a good spanking to her (usually rather shapely) backside. The issue of mutual consent was usually unclear in these scenes; the inference that she was being spanked 'for her own good' (and in order to teach her proper respect for her menfolk, of course!) rather than being spanked for erotic enjoyment is something that has managed to offend both feminists and spanking aficionados.
Erotic spanking involves spanking in pursuit of sensual pleasure, either as part of lovemaking or as a separate activity, conducted by informed consenting adults.
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