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Leonidas -> RE: Spankings punishment or Pleasure? (7/19/2004 8:47:26 AM)
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There are, of course, any number of ways to punish a slave or submissive that don't involve spanking/paddling/whipping/etc. I think, though, that focusing on the act misses the point. Actions don't occur in a vacuum. They have a context and in the case of punishment, are an expression of displeasure by the dominant. Within the context of a relationship where dominance and submission is the genuine underlying dynamic, any expression of displeasure by the dominant, whether it's a spanking, a verbal expression of displeasure, or just a look of disappointment will be deeply felt by the submissive, and will probably more than override any pleasure response that would normally be felt from the same act in a different context.
There is a sense in which there are competing priorities here. In whatever form it takes, punishment is both a form of self-expression on the part of the dominant, and a tool for behavior modification. On the one hand, the dominant should express his displeasure in whatever way he sees fit. He is, afterall, the dominant party in the relationship. On the other hand, it is often argued that the dominant should vary the way in which he punishes to accommodate what the submissive "likes" (i.e. a spanking) and what she has an aversion to (i.e. being tied to a chair in a cold shower for 5 minutes). Effectiveness of the punishment is sited as the reason. I think that it's good for the dominant to bear in mind, though, that the desired end state is for the submissive to have the experience of being "punished" regardless of how the dominant chooses to punish. Even if, and in a sense especially if, the submissive would otherwise find the act in and of itself pleasurable.
In the subculture within which I learned D/s there is a common practice of roughly fucking a slave to orgasm as a form of punishment. One could argue that being fucked to orgasm is hardly a punishment. Any well socialized slave from that subculture will tell you, though, that it is a particularly devastating form of punishment.
What I've tried to convey here, of course, has nothing to do with relationships where things like role-play punishment spankings and verbal humiliation are in play. I don't have any experience in that kind of relationship, and I don't understand their dynamics very well.
Take care of yourselves.
Leonidas
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