Whipping Tom

Look what our friend Boru discovered! In the 1600s a man dubbed Whipping Tom took delight in surprising women on the street and administering a sound spanking.

Picture the scene: You’re a lone woman walking the streets of London in 1681, perhaps doing a spot of shopping or going to see a friend. Out of nowhere a man leaps out and strikes you sharply across the buttocks and before you can glimpse his face, disappears with a cry of “Spanko!”

It sounds like something out of a Monty Python-style sketch show, but this attack is not fictionalised. In 1681 there really was a mysterious buttock beater roaming the streets of London. This attacker was so prolific that he earned the nickname ‘Whipping Tom.’

Mainly operating in the small courtyards between Strand, Fleet Street and Holborn, he was known to wait for his victims in dimly lit alleys. His prey were always lone women, and he would leap out, lift their skirt and slap their behind repeatedly, either with his own hand or a rod. The phrase “Spanko!” would often accompany these attacks; then he would vanish so quickly some began to wonder if the Whipping Tom was a supernatural being.

At the time the attacks were taken very seriously, not only did they prompt women to start carrying weapons like penknives and scissors, but they also caused the effectiveness of London’s policing into question. In an effort to capture the mysterious attacker, some men would don women’s clothes and lurk around the areas he was known to operate.

A man and an accomplice were eventually arrested for the attacks, but sadly the trial records have been lost and we can only speculate on the justice that was handed out to this eccentric attacker. (From https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/people-politics/the-mystery-of-whipping-tom/)

A fuller account appears here. Thank you, Boru. It's nice to know that spanking is an activity that never goes out of fashion.

Glory to Ukraine

Hurtin'

Ron is a fan of country and western music, and there are a few artists from days gone by that he's especially fond of. One of them is Conway Twitty. As Ron explains it, he sings "hurtin' songs" that all have strong sexual connotations. That sounds like a fine definition of the activity I like best - a combination of pain and pleasure.

The other might, Ron loaded one of his favourite cassette tapes into the player. (Yes, we still play cassettes and CDs. Our house is ipod-free.) The song that came on was one that always makes me laugh and think of spanking. After each line, there's a short repeated refrain. As we listened to Conway sing, Ron pointed to me when it was time for the refrain, and I eagerly joined in with "bum, bum, bum."

I told you it was a hurtin' song. Listen to it here, courtesy of Ron. And enjoy the wardrobe and hairstyles.

A Group of Us

What do you call a group of people who do that thing we do? How about:

A scold of spankers

A paddling of spankees

A smack of spankos

What would you call a collection of spankos, spankees, disciplinarians, tops, bottoms, doms, subs, mistresses, or any of the other names we go by?

You can find some helpful suggestions here, or try it on your own, without peeking. Be creative! Leave me a comment, and I'll post the results.

The winner gets to sample the brand new leather paddle I bought a few weeks ago. It's ouchy, but that's all I'll say about it for now.

Signs of Spring

Recently I went on one of my favourite day trips. It's three hours each way, and I always enjoy the drive. The quiet, two-lane highway, dotted with historic plaques, winds around rocky hills covered with pine trees, passes through numerous small farming communities, and finally follows the course of a wide river. Numerous flocks of migrating Canada geese passed overhead on their way to their summer homes.

As I drove past a cluster of limestone houses, a sign caught my eye.

KV'S
WOOD
LEATHER

My spanko senses started tingling. What kind of cottage industry was this? Wood and leather what? Furniture? Crafts? Implements?

Pondering the possibilities kept me amused for the next ten kilometers. I also kept an eye out for other spanking-esque signs and I wasn't disappointed.

Butt's Putt
Mini Golf

Was the proprietor really called Mr. Butt?

Then I passed the sign indicating Jenkins Road, presumably named for distant relatives of the Rev. Abel Jenkins, chaplain of Lowewood Academy. Thinking about my friends at school there kept me occupied for at least a quarter of an hour.
The last sighting was an invitation to visit the Hanky Panky Lounge in a large, somewhat run-down motel. I wondered if the type of hanky panky going on inside was the kind Madonna sings about.
Are we there already?

Overheard at the Office

Recidavist recently wrote about aliens in our midst. Here are a few snippets of titillating conversation that I encountered at work. The third one definitely leads me to believe I am closer to other spankos than I thought.

A few of us were lamenting the outdated training videos in our library, especially the one that featured a presenter wearing bell bottom trousers and a wide leather belt.
"Wide belts are coming back in style," said a woman with a fashion-conscious teenage son.
"Yes, they're very popular," I said, suppressing a giggle and trying hard not to hyperventilate.

An office mate was telling me about her daughter, who had come home for Spring break.

"She turns on the computer every morning, goes to a website, and writes about what she is wearing, how much gas costs, and who she went out with the night before."
"It sounds like she has a blog," I explained. "I read blogs. Some of them are pretty interesting."

If she only knew!

The husband of a very pregnant co-worker arrived to accompany his wife to an appointment at the clinic. On their way out they stopped to chat with the man in the cubicle next to hers. This fellow is a good friend of both of them, and he gave the father-to-be this advice about the miracle of birth:
"What you do is turn her over, spank her, and the baby pops out".
"The young woman replied, "That's what got me in this condition."