Regularly taking a temperature for discipline

I heard of cases where rectal fever was taken regularly, sometimes several times a day. I don't mean in hospital, but in other contexts, for discipline, for example in a children's home or at home. I myself was like that for a while when I was in a rest home for children. I was nine years old at the time. In the mornings and evenings, we all had to lie down on our stomachs in the room and put our hands behind our backs. Then our trousers were pulled down and thermometers inserted deep into our bottoms. Officially for control, but clearly it was to discipline us as well. Do others have similar experiences? (experienced in the 70s in East Germany)

@rectemp ,

Reminds me of Stephen King's book, ''The Institute'' ( 2019 ? ). A group of teen-agers with supranatural powers are sequestrated in a secret. '' institute'' where they are submited to various medical test including rectal temperature, which they find very humiliating.

@Svensson , measuring rectal temperature was part of the existing rules. One could certainly have measured without hands on the back or perhaps even orally or under the arm. But we should probably be shown that we are little boys who had to comply.

A thermometer in a child’s bottom switches on a direct path to their brain while demanding undivided attention. Submission is certainly a requisite in any group institution, especially in a multiple youth home.

Staying ahead of any health issues of a group by the indication of even the slightest telltale fever also seems quite preventative and “very efficient German”- if not also “very communist”.

I’m curious as to why your trousers were pulled down for you, and why you weren’t made to pull them down yourselves? Were you instructed to unfasten your trousers before laying down with hands behind your backs, or did they have elastic waistbands? Were you allowed underwear, or was that considered an unnecessary luxury?

It sounds like a formulaically run institution that kept its charges cleverly and efficiently under control.

Unless it’s part of role play between consenting adults, I can’t see a reason for it to be used as a punishment.

I can’t speak to what occurred in East Germany; but unless medically indicated, rectal temperature taking probably is very rare, even in medical settings, given the new thermometer types ( non invasive) and other technology related to the obtaining and monitoring of body temperature.

My younger 9-year-old sister and I did spend ten days in a foster home in the mid 1970’s. We were the only two there at the time.

My sister missed a couple of days of school due to a mild illness. In order to stay home from school, she was required to have here temp taken rectally and have the results called in to the school nurse prior to her absence. I remember asking about it, and being told it was “just part of some silly foster regulations,” but truth-be-known, I think they were just a “rectal temperature taking household”, and that it was their mild form of submission and control .

I also remember being made to wear full pajamas, and my sister was made to wear bloomers over her panties. At our regular home, we just slept in a T-shirt and underpants. We both felt like we were being forced to wear uniforms.

They were very kind foster parents who we both ended up liking.

@arttemp

I’m curious as to why your trousers were pulled down for you, and why you weren’t made to pull them down yourselves? Were you instructed to unfasten your trousers before laying down with hands behind your backs, or did they have elastic waistbands? Were you allowed underwear, or was that considered an unnecessary luxury?

I had already reported that the measurement of rectal temperature took place in the morning and evening in the bedroom. So we were all lying in our beds. Then the educator came in and said: Take the temperature, turn onto your stomach, hands behind your back! Then he went from bed to bed, flipped back the covers, you had to lift your pelvis briefly, and then he pulled down your pajama pants. Some also had panties underneath, then of course they also. The fact that one had to follow the instructions and that the procedure was exactly the same is certainly an indication that it was actually less about the precaution of our health and more about discipline.

I remember asking about it, and being told it was “just part of some silly foster regulations,” but truth-be-known, I think they were just a “rectal temperature taking household”, and that it was their mild form of submission and control .

I also remember being made to wear full pajamas, and my sister was made to wear bloomers over her panties. At our regular home, we just slept in a T-shirt and underpants. We both felt like we were being forced to wear uniforms.

I also believe that wherever rectal temperature was regularly taken (and often in the prone position, with own hands behind the back in my case) it was only for control and submission. Possibly sexual motivations were also involved, but I'm not necessarily sure. But I am sure that it was an effective method of discipline.

In contrast to spanking, for example, love was usually involved. Creaming, touching, stroking, coaxing, reassuring, moving the thermometer - I see all of these as gestures of affection and not of violence - even if the (frequently) taking of a temperature in the buttocks is certainly something that could be considered assaultive today.

It happened to me when I was already a teenager, around 12, as a guest of my two cousins. We were restless and rebellious kids and once my Aunt Marjorie decided to take us all, her children and I, the temperature in the buttocks and told us it was to teach us the concepts of obedience, patience and authority. We protested in disbelief, but it was all in vain... We had to take turns lying on her lap and undergoing the insertion of the thermometer and the measurement, which, as I recall, lasted at least 10 minutes each, probably to enhance the effect. While we waited, she spoke softly to us and said that we shouldn't think it was a punishment, just a valuable lesson that we would remember. Looking back on it now, I think my aunt, who was usually a very good woman and allowed us everything, that time she did very well!

@Lee95 What were each of the other boys doing while your aunt was taking the temperature of one of you?