I notice that in the initial POST to this excellent THREAD, Curious85 asks whether or not "bare bottom spanking was really that common?"
It is a perfectly understandable question for someone of his age - I notice from his profile page that he is 30 years old plus - to ask! I, when I tell youngsters and even the younger generations that followed mine, about the spankings and whuppings we received growing up, I am often received with some degree of skepticism and suspicion! On the grounds of; surely things were not 'that bad'; and that I was exaggerating how things were!
This feeling and attitude is particularly marked, unsurprisingly, amongst the youngsters today; and the generation that immediately preceeded them! Since the sort of discipline and punishments that we, routinely, grew up with must seem like a foreign country to them! With attitudes to discipline, punishments and spankings having changed so much over the last 40 years or so! Now I'm not saying that my experiences, along with those of my siblings, cousins, friends and acquaintances, were typical of all kids growing up in the '60s and '70s! Some, even many, children and teenagers back then may have experienced things differently than me/us!
There may even be a demographic factor to this, of course! I grew up in the Mid West; my folks being, I suppose lower middle class/aspirational working class in background! I think this sense of ambition and aspiration meant they set high standards and big expectations with regard to their children; and woe betide us if, without good and justafiable reasons, we failed to meet them!! And the rules - SO MANY RULES - we were expected to abide by!! I know, also, that attitudes to spanking were just as entrenched in the South as they were in the Mid West! Even more so in fact!
We had good friends in the South and spankings and whuppings were ubiquitous in the communities in which they lived! The Switch, in particular, was the 'weapon of choice' of many parents, aunts, uncles, church elders, etc.... in that part of America! I did on a number of occasions see, first hand, for myself the results of an old fashioned, Southern switching on the buttocks and legs of kids unlucky enough to receive one! Those welts and marks would often take four to six weeks to completely disappear!
And I also got to often hear and on one memorable occasion actually watch, kids getting switched! The screams, howling, begging, pleading for mercy and hysterical sobbing is like something I had never heard before and never heard since! AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING CONSIDERING MY OWN UPBRINGING! Of course nowadays it would be child abuse; but seventy, sixty and fifty years ago attitudes, beliefs, ideas and practices were VERY DIFFERENT! At least in my experience, anyway!
Things might have been slightly different in the North East and on the West Coast; often regarded as the more progressive parts of America; but I think it is still safe to assume that plenty of kids in those regions got their butts - and, more often than not, BARE BUTTS spanked and whupped!! After the Second World War there was a determination to rebuild America after the hardships and ravages of that conflict! And part of that process was producing productive, law abiding and responsible citizens! Something that obviously had to begin in childhood and carry on through the teenage years!
And a central plank of all this, with regard to accomplishing this aim, was strict discipline, of which old fashioned spanking was a major component! I think most adults back then saw spanking as not just a highly effective means of dealing with bad behavior; but also an indespensible part of raising children and teenagers!
Also, I believe, that during the Sixties, with the onset of the 'Counter Culture' and the 'Hippie Movement', 'moral panic' set in and parents and other adults saw more and more the need for old fashioned spanking as a remedy to these social ills! Though interestingly my own Mother was acquainted with a lady and mom who lived on a hippie commune; and the one thing they did both agree on was to, albeit varying degrees, "the necessity of old fashioned, bare bottom spanking"! And this lady confirmed to my Mom that old fashioned (bare bottom) spanking was not at all unusual on the commune and, interestingly, all adults had 'spanking rights' in their community!
Thus even many Liberals, back then, believed in the virtue of an occasional good spanking! Spanking of course remained the norm throughout the '70s; though around about the middle of that decade, I seem to recall, attitudes, in a very small way at first, started to change! I think at the time their was a push towards greater children's rights - the MONDALE act; etc... - and some parents and teachers started to question whether the 'old ways' of handling discipline were automatically the right ones! Even questions about whether spanking was always, or even usually the best means of discipline became not unusual!
Nevertheless, spanking still remained very popular and was strongly supported! And 'bare is best' (the bearing of the buttocks) still remained commonplace! If not quite so much as in previous years!
Also, I recall, although parents and other adults still felt confident to talk about spanking openly in public, it was not with quite the same conviction as before! And the graphic descriptions of spankings administered to kids was toned down a little, also! It was, as I remember things, in the mid to late '80s that attitudes to spanking, especially bare bottom spanking, began to change! And in the years that followed these tendencies accelerated substantially with legislative as well as cultural changes! In some instances spanking has become prohibited!
In many states, in public schools, for instance! And even where spanking is still permitted, there are increasing restriction on how it may be administered! Until we reach the present day where the world in which I grew up in is but a distant memory! Hard, indeed, for those who did not live and grow up during those years to imagine and comprehend!
I appreciate that others of my generation may well remember thing differently; and would be interested to hear their opinions on what I have said above!