Do you all ever wonder why there aren't more bare bottom spankings and canings and such of schoolchildren depicted on television or in movies? I'm not saying they would actually expose a child's bottom on camera, just clearly indicate the procedure. Especially if it's in the interest of historical/biographical accuracy. (For that matter, is the practice ever just mentioned onscreen?)

Some might say it's a case of "political correctness," but I think that only applies if such punishment were to be portrayed as positive, or at least as common and not really a problem. Besides, even in the old days before the PC movement took hold, I don't get the impression this was acknowledged much in the media, be it in a good or a bad light.

There seems to be a certain squeamishness on the part of film-makers to show authentic punishments. I suppose the exceptions are 'Pelle the Conqueror', 'The Slingshot' and 'Farewell My Concubine'. All made by foreigners although there is also a splendid caning scene at the start of the Australian movie 'Flirting'.

Hollywood was very squeamish. The caning scene in 'Goodbye Mr Chips' was filmed in the shadows. There is a head shot of Mickey Rooney being enthusiastically beaten by a single-minded prefect in 'A Yank At Eton'. The 'boy' writhes in agony but the producers post-dubbed manical laughter to replace the yells.

In 2004 there are documentaries about many previously forbidden topics. I wish a serious film maker would make a 'from our recent past' series about corporal punishment in schools, while some of the teachers who used it, are still around.

Seth

Another area where one might expect the topic to surface would be programmes like "Oprah" where you might get a subject like "My Mom whupped me on the bare butt in front of my buddies and I hate the bitch". Anyone know of any such thing happening? There are plenty of equally bizarre topics!

Some months ago in 2003 there was a news item that was shown on TV for a week or so that had everyone talking about domestic cp. (Americans, help me out here) A mom was "caught" by some mall/shop security camera smacking her young, tantrum throwing-daughter in the car. I don't have dates or names because I didn't pay attention, but needless to say, reporters had tons of fun with the video and the mother was "caught" and interviewed and children's services were involved and everyone was shauting about how awful it all was and eventually the mother made a public apology and I don't remember if she lost custody or not. Maybe a month or so later, I caught about 5 minutes of an Oprah episode which was dedicated to a discussion of spanking -- spawned by the above-mentioned incident. What I saw was mostly members of the audience talking about how there were other options to spanking referencing the incident)and Oprah agreeing. THe tone of that bit was definitely anti-spanking. i don't believe that the woman from the incident was there.


A coulple of years ago, i caught a segment of either Oprah or another talk show where they were interviewing a black man, a father who was openly speaking about how he believed in CP. He said that his father had lined him and his brothers up, made them drop their pants and then whipped them with a belt. He then said that he wasn't so extreme himself -- he did use a belt, but didn't make his sons take off any clothes or try to humiliate them. He then demonstrated what he did on a dummy dressed as a child! When asked if he thought if CP was effective, he said yes, because he'd only had to use it with his sons once, and never had cause to again.

I think it might have been Oprah, from the format, it was a little different than the traditional talk show format, and i only watched "The View" and "Oprah" that summer but I might be mistaken. I think I saw this somewhere during the summer of 2000 which means it would have been from the previous season.

Some months ago in 2003 there was a news item that was shown on TV for a week or so that had everyone talking about domestic cp. (Americans, help me out here) A mom was "caught" by some mall/shop security camera smacking her young, tantrum throwing-daughter in the car. I don't have dates or names because I didn't pay attention, but needless to say, reporters had tons of fun with the video and the mother was "caught" and interviewed and children's services were involved and everyone was shauting about how awful it all was and eventually the mother made a public apology and I don't remember if she lost custody or not. Maybe a month or so later, I caught about 5 minutes of an Oprah episode which was dedicated to a discussion of spanking -- spawned by the above-mentioned incident. What I saw was mostly members of the audience talking about how there were other options to spanking (referencing the incident)and Oprah agreeing. THe tone of that bit was definitely anti-spanking. i don't believe that the woman from the incident was there.


A few years ago, i caught a segment of either Oprah or another talk show where they were interviewing a black man, a father who was openly speaking about how he believed in CP. He said that his father had lined him and his brothers up, made them drop their pants and then whipped them with a belt. He then said that he wasn't so extreme himself -- he did use a belt, but didn't make his sons take off any clothes or try to humiliate them. He then demonstrated what he did on a dummy dressed as a child! When asked if he thought if CP was effective, he said yes, because he'd only had to use it with his sons once, and never had cause to again.

I think it might have been Oprah, from the format, it was a little different than the traditional talk show format, and i only watched "The View" and "Oprah" that summer but I might be mistaken. I think I saw this somewhere during the summer of 2000 which means it would have been from the previous season.

Only one of my eyes is working today and it is making me do odd things.