Few years ago when I was at school, the games teacher was well known for the use of his slipper.
one of his main reasons was for wearing pants under your shorts. he used to line all the lads up and walk down the line. Then he would ether lift the leg of your shorts up or pull the back of your shorts out to see if you were wearing pants.
Anyone found with pants on had to take them off then report back to the gym for three with the slipper, complete with run up in front of the rest of the class
When you had a shower afterwards there were several glowing backsides in the showers.

I Know round my local area (Lincolnshire) that lads were not allowed to wear pants under their shorts , was this the same all over the country & was it realy for hygine reasons or just so that the slipper hurt more?

i think that the rule all over the country was no pants to be worn during p.e.lessons. i think that this is a matter of hygine.if you put any effort into your p.e. class your pants would become soaking wet. i think it made little difference if you were wearing pants whilst being slippered. it hurts any way.

mr davies

Steel man,

Your games teacher was suffering from the condition known as ‘Pantophilia’. It is extremely common among teachers of physical education, and their unfortunate slippered pupils can themselves develop an obsession with underwear. The classic example of this is Fran of Wembley.

We are fortunate to have on this forum the greatest writer on the subject of Pantophilia that the world has seen. He is of course George, a retired Headmaster who lives by a lake. His article ‘Slipper replaces detention’ gives an insight into this curious, but harmless, obsession. As part of the ‘pe lessons’ thread there is an amazing piece by George entitled, ‘No pants!!’ in which he, oddly enough, poses the same questions as you.

Dear Gillian,

I did enjoy reading your extract from Dr. Chesser’s book.

Does he mention Pantophilia in any of the other chapters?

Dr. Chesser writes about several subjects including voyeurism, exhibitionism, transvestism and frottage. (I must say that I find that frotting is a very distasteful practice. Recently I was frotted in a store in Knightsbridge by a man whose identity you may guess when I tell you that he immediately understood when I told him to “fugg off!”)

There is no mention in the book, however, of an obsession with pants. We have some very learned people on this forum (doesn’t one of them have a degree in Sociology?) and it would be wonderful if someone could tell us about the in’s and out’s of Pantophilia.

Hugs and fuggs,

Gillian

Hi.This rule of not wearing pants under games shorts i think was the same everywhere.
It was at my school(South Derbyshire)
My in-laws live in Sheffield and i don't know how the subject came up but i remember my brother in law once telling his wife just after they'd first met,that he was caught wearing pants on the field and had to pull them down to his knees right there and then for the slipper on the bare bottom

The texts I've consulted call it pantophobia.

Pantophobia is a morbid fear of everything. Pantophilia, which is not in any dictionary, is a love of (boy’s) pants.

Oh dear, these pedants! All PE teachers ARE morbidly afraid of everything.

It was certainly the rule when I want to Grammar school in the West Midlands in the early 60's. About half of our class, myself included, had the slipper in our very first PE lesson for just such an "offence". Two each with a very large plimsoll - needless to say pants were not worn again after that.

The rule was rescinded at the end of my first year there. At the school sports, in front of teachers, parents etc. one of the older lads came sprinting home in one of the races with his "equipment" prominently displayed. He had no idea, thank goodness, but there was acute embarassment all around.

Pants were never mentioned again in PE after that event.

Kind regards,

Nigel