The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly
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Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking
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The Iconic Woodshed  I recently wrote a story about kids being 'taken to the woodshed' for spankings, but while I was writing it I realized that many readers might be baffled about what a woodshed really was, and why it would be evocative of spankings. I don't think the phrase 'taken to the woodshed' is used at all in Britain, and it doesn't even seem common in Canada, although Americanisms often cross the border.I should explain that my story was entirely fiction. I was never spanked in a woodshed and never knew anyone who was. A quick Google search reveals that some people have been, but it's not a very common experience, and 'woodshed' has other connotations, as well - especially for musicians, who may have practiced in a woodshed so that they need not worry about the volume of their efforts. For the same reason, spankings might be relegated to a private place where both the application and the resulting cries would not be seen and only distantly heard. A woodshed was once common in rural areas because wood storage took up a lot of space, created dirt and dust, and was therefore often relegated to a small structure outside the home. Wood for fires and cooking stoves was the norm in rural areas in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and lots of wood was needed. A 'cord' of wood was the usual measure, but a cord of wood measures 4 ft. by 4 ft. by 8 ft., too much to store near the fireplace or kitchen. Hence, a special woodshed, far enough away from the house so as not to be a fire hazard. The real question is: why does this phrase still resonate so powerfully for many Americans who never had any such experience? It's still in common use today. Sports writers, especially, seem prone to speak of a team being taken to the woodshed. But, then sports writers also say that a team 'got spanked' when it loses badly. Politicians who lose key elections are also sometimes said to have been taken to the woodshed; in those cases, we could all wish the reference was literal, not figurative. I do not recall when and where I first read or heard about some kid being taken to the woodshed. I do remember reading the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington, an author likely to be unknown to readers today but very popular in my father's era, and therefore recommended to me by him. Penrod, age 11, (and his friend, Sam) must have lived in a small town in Indiana, since that's where Tarkington came from; Penrod clearly is, to some extent, a childhood reminiscence. I have not read these stories for half a century, but my recollection is that there was a woodshed in them, out back of the house, where Penrod was occasionally taken for correction. That recollection just caused me to look up and and find this passage that long ago embedded itself in my memory: "The sun was setting behind the back fence (though at a considerable distance) as Penrod Schofield approached that fence and looked thoughtfully up at the top of it, apparently having in mind some purpose to climb up and sit there. Debating this, he passed his fingers gently up and down the backs of his legs; and then something seemed to decide him not to sit anywhere."My memory is not entirely reliable these days, but (like so many of us), anything I ever read referring to spanking sticks in my mind forever, so, when I read that passage, more than half a century ago, it stuck, and it's still there. It conjured up a picture of an eleven-year-old boy who had experienced a session in the woodshed. If I had more time to do research, I bet I would find an actual woodshed in these stories. Or in some other story of rural America. It was a cliché. A quick glance around the internet will bring up quite a few references to 'the woodshed' but the best one is probably in the discussion at the Spanking Art site. Its assertions ring true to me: that the woodshed was reserved for spanking more severe than a short trip over the lap, which was more likely to occur 'on the spot' where the crime was committed. It also details that the woodshed was a masculine preserve where sons were spanked by dads, and where the spanking would probably be with a belt, branch, or slat, not by hand, possibly positioned over a saw horse or bench. So the word 'woodshed' conjured up an entire panoply of spanking detail: being hustled away forcibly, positioned, bottom bared, and then a session of belting or paddling that would evoke cries and begging loud enough to need the privacy of an outbuilding. My best guess about the persistence of this phrase has to do with the fact that spanking, for the most part, is now in the past. People like us who are aroused by it are, at heart, a bit nostalgic for the time when it was a subject that could be discussed (and enjoyed) without lengthy disclaimers to the effect that it should not be practiced. We don't spank children ourselves (I hope), but we may have been spanked when we were children, and even if we were not spanked, we were just as obsessed with and aroused by the subject then as we are today. So the references we heard or read as children about 'a trip to the woodshed' are among those many recollections we all seem to retain, all our lives, of our own special subject. There is also a masculinity to this scenario. Mothers did not take their daughter to the woodshed (although Brooke Shields is taken there, off camera, in Pretty Baby). They generally did not use a belt. Girls would most likely have been spanked in the bedroom by hand, or possibly a with hairbrush. But the woodshed was a place fathers went, to fetch wood, or to work on wood. Their sons might accompany them to help. Hence, the phrase, 'take to the woodshed' signified being dragged there for punishment, not sent there for a chore. Children might be 'sent' to their rooms, for spanking or just to cool off, but boys were 'taken' to the woodshed. The woodshed also suggested a degree of privacy, and therefore probably a longer, harder spanking out of sight than might occur when family was near. It suggests a razor strop or belt kept there for the purpose of application to a boy's bottom. Today, It suggests an earlier, simpler, rural life when spankings were the common fate of kids who stepped out of line. It probably means little if anything to the average reader, but for those of us who are secretly fascinated by every part of the spanking experience, 'taken to the woodshed' is an iconic phrase, something that makes us sit up and listen any time we hear it. 20 comments
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