I was talking to another older Zity member and we both agreed that unless you were bought up in the 1950’s and early 1960’s it is difficult to understand how little modesty was given to particularly boys when being punished. I was telling him about a memory from when I was around 8 so 1957. I was invited to a birthday party by a school friend. I went to a boy’s school so the party was all boys of the same age except two sisters who lived next door and were slightly older, say 10 or 11. They were dressed in the party wear of the time, with bows in their hair and white socks and white sandals. Finally, there was another boy, a cousin who was staying with my friend. He was around 13 or 14, a boy with a big build (chubby). He was wearing grey shorts, a white shirt and a tie. Even children were expected to be smart in those days. The older boy was what we would now call ‘social awkward’, very shy and uncommunicative.
It was summer and we were playing in the gardens but had all come into the dining room. I don’t know what the older boy did but my friends mother came into the room and started telling him off. We all stopped talking and looked at what was happening. She then called him over, sat down at one of the dining chairs and started to undo the boy’s shorts. He was bright red and looking down at her undoing the shorts like he couldn’t believe what was happening. She then pulled down his white underpants and tucked his vest and shirt up and turned him so he was standing sideways to her. She then started slapping his bare bottom with her hand with some force. The boy was sort of marching on the spot although he was hampered by his shorts around his ankles and his underpants around his knees. The thing I noticed was that his bottom was very big and white and that his penis was large and stuck out and he had the faintest trace of pubic hair. I say this because he wasn’t a child but a growing teenager but was bared in front of everyone without any fuss.
When the lady had finished, she pulled up his underpants and then did up his shorts and told him she didn’t want to hear another peep from him. She then called the girls over and they told to sit one either side of him ‘to make sure he is a good boy’ everyone took their seats for Birthday tea.
The boy was looking down and trying to avoid everyone’s eyes, I have never seen cheeks burning so bright red! I recall thinking that sitting next to the girls and them being told to keep him in check must have increased his shame as they had seen not only the punishment but had a good look at his penis.
The idea that spanking was for younger children must have come in the 1960’s as it certainly wasn’t the case when I, or the zity member I was talking to, were growing up.