The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly
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Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking
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The Nun in Spanking Literature (cont.)  I digress, I know, but with such a formidable - and even less agreeable, in expert hands - alternative arsenal available, would it be any wonder if the patient should prove able to be persuaded to opt for certain less conventional ramifications to their ill-behavior; consequences that might easily include the judicious application of the strap and the cane. And if such an approach happened to be ratified by an institution for therapeutic purposes, perhaps under the guise of 'harassment therapy' (and yes, such a regimen does exist - and within the contemporary world, too!), perhaps further vouchsafed by some manner of signed legal waiver or the sure and certain knowledge of the 'unreliability' tagged by the legal profession on the testimony of those saddled with a diagnosis of mental incompetence - and if managerial oversight happened to less than totally diligent? Well, under such a set of circumstances would it not be only human nature if those left in control were to seek to dominate more and more thoroughly their hapless charges? Would not carte-blanch unbridled power lead to the desire to taste still greater power, wield still greater control? Would not petty rules and restrictions proliferate, inventive minds turn their creativity to devising ever more crushing forms of humiliation and corporal punishment - perhaps hitherto reserved for the most heinous of contraventions of hospital rules - become instead the order of the day, a few strokes of the cane handed out for the most minor of infractions? Was that not the conclusion drawn at the conclusion of that most infamous of social psychology studies, the notorious 'Stanford Experiment' (from which my first novel, Institutionalised Volume 1, drew its subtitle? Put briefly; that latter classic 1971 experiment in which an analogue of a prison environment was set up in a university basement demonstrated that placing very ordinary people (people like you and I) in control of others, rendered essentially powerless, created a situation which was in essence a recipe for abuse, leading to ever more severe treatment of those placed under control and ever more inventive means being devised for heaping humiliation and suffering on the unfortunate inmates. Such an outcome is likely to come about even more rapidly in a situation within which the imposition of a strict disciplinary regime enforced by corporal punishment is viewed as part of a healing process of some kind; and officially sanctioned to boot!. In such an environment stern measures may easily be intellectualized as justified in some manner, thus freeing the perpetrator from fear of self-recrimination.   Artwork by Léon Roze As I said; I digress. But I would argue that certain of the same considerations apply to the world of the nun as depicted in spanking literature, both fictional and 'factual', including to some extent the concept or principle of 'socially conditioned compliance'. Amongst other things, this latter term refers to the sociological process by which one becomes trained to respond to those perceived to be in a position of authority in a manner "generally approved by the society in general and peer groups within society" - to paraphrase the Wikipedia entry - or put another way; why we tend to obey police, members of the armed forces placed in situations of control and doctors in their white coats etc, often figures traditionally identified by some sort of uniform. The latter probably also goes a long way to explain the manner in which one might be tempted to treat the uniformed maid or servant (and partly the reason for having them in uniform in the first place - the uniform keeps the subservient firmly in the mindset of that role, as much as other uniforms inspire an air of authority to surround the wearer). To what extent this argument extends to the figure of the nun - or the Rev Father in his cassock and surplus or dog collar, come to that - probably depends to some extent on the strength of the supplicant's religious belief or the exposure of the supplicant to the indoctrination of the church. So in terms of those who might tend towards a natural or instinctive submission to the authority of the nun, good starting material (i.e. those already steeped within the relevant doctrine) seems essential - and such was the mindset usually to be found within those consigned to the gentle care of the Sisters of Mercy running the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland; which goes a long way to explain the lack of evidence of any substantial acts of rebellion among that system's downtrodden inmates. Parallels can probable be drawn with those exposed to the indoctrination of certain cults demanding total compliance and obedience - and in that manner, in the right hands and given the right institution, that required mindset can always be developed at a later date, belief in the required doctrine instilled or developed further, always with the need for submission to authority and the requirement for acceptance of the righteous correction metered out by the cane or the strap kept foremost in the teaching; but that is a subject for another time. The strict and domineering nun of popular spanking fiction, then - as a potential authority figure - is quite different to the nurse or governess or even the school teacher. The stern-faced, self-righteous nun seems as at home in the classroom of some strict private boarding or finishing school for young ladies as she is within the high walls and barred windows of the convent or abbey or indeed as she seems within the equally secure surrounds of the reformatory, church-run charity home for 'wayward young women', strict seminary, parochial industrial school or one of the much-dreaded and maligned Magdalene Laundries of legend. To those steeped within the relevant belief system the principle of socially conditioned compliance is as much at work as in the relationship of the general public with the uniformed police officer when it comes to bolstering her standing as an authority figure - perhaps more so, since it is possible to view her as an agent of God and in that way endowed with the ultimate authority.   Artwork by Milo Manara (left) and unknown artist (right) And as for the nun's side of the equation: She is only human, and so as vulnerable as anyone else to the forces unveiled in the outcome of the aforementioned 'Stanford Experiment'. Again, perhaps the situation is even more acute with her than with most of us if handed power over another individual, this being so because her actions are so easily self-justifiable within the context of her beliefs and the doctrine of the institution she stands for. Handed cart blanche, vouchsafed behind the high walls of some isolated church-run charity home and beyond the supervision of the conventional authorities, she is filled to brimming with evangelical fervor. Duty-bound to rid her charges of sin, cleanse the soul and chase out the devil, is it any wonder she punishes her charges with the implacable conviction she does? After all; in her view it isn't the taut-skinned, plump, puppy-fatted teenage bottom her eyes perceive upturned over her lap she is laying the heavy leather strap she favors into, rather it is the demonic presence the eye doesn't see that is undergoing mortification. Add to this the vows she has taken; in particular the vow of chastity. Then add in the well documented propensity of the female to form same-sex crushes, infatuations, attractions - call them what you may; even full-blown relationships - within enclosed all-female residential institutions; now add in to this heady mix a plethora of prettily flowering nubile young things, all of them at her beck and call, perhaps lined up under her supervision, bare from the soles of their feet to the pudding-bowl haircuts gracing their heads, precociously full breasts and pert bottoms jiggling enticingly as they bounce on their toes in a futile attempt to stay warm, hands on heads each waiting for her two minutes timed visit under the ice-clod shower. Now stir in the self recrimination, fear and filthy guilt experienced by our young yet determined nun as the hormonal urges of biology, perhaps warped by an overly restrictive bible-quoting upbringing or some unfortunate formative experience, join battle with the god-fearing fire and brimstone doctrine of her faith, and the bitterness of sexual repression puckers her lips like wine turned to vinegar. Or perhaps that bitterness has other origins. Perhaps she is not so young; perhaps with increasing age - a lifetime spent behind convent walls - she has come to begrudge the young their spirited fun-loving vivacity, is jealous of their attractiveness, their blatant sexuality; she wishes now only to curb that spirit, chasten that flesh which, by the undoubted hand of Beelzebub himself, inflames her still. By the time we stir together these ingredients - comprising a doctrine that perceives the expression of any kind of sexuality beyond that directly linked with procreation as a mortal sin, rampant sexual repression combined with the frustration of practically being perpetually submerged in sinisterly fragrant temptation and the corruption and moral distortion sure to arise in one given unquestionable power over that which she secretly desires most (and yet denies to an even greater extent) - once we add together these ingredients we have the recipe for the creation of a most formidable and spiteful disciplinarian.  15 comments
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