A spanking paddle is an implement used to strike a person on the buttocks. The act of spanking a person with a paddle is known as "paddling". A paddling may be for punishment (normally of a student at school in the United States), or as an initiation or hazing ritual.
A paddle has two parts: a handle and a blade. Most paddles are designed to be held with one hand, but a giant paddle may be designed to be held with two hands. [1] The blade is typically 3 to 4 inches (100 mm) wide, 1/4-inch thick, and 1 to 3 feet (0.91 m) in length.
In the great majority of cases, the paddle is aimed at the recipient's buttocks. Less commonly, the back of the thighs might also be targeted. [2]
Paddles for use in schools are made of wood, or occasionally plastic. [3] Paddles used for school punishments may be roughly hewn from commonly available wood. [4] Occasionally, paddles may have holes drilled into them, so there is less air drag when the paddle approaches the buttocks, and produces more pain. The paddles used for fraternity and sorority initiation ceremonies are often professionally made and engraved with organizational symbols and slogans. [5]
The paddle may have been originally invented for the punishment of enslaved people as a way of causing intense pain without doing any permanent damage to the recipient. [6] However it is not only in former slave states that the paddle has been used in schools. It is not known why or exactly when it became the normal implement for corporal punishment in US schools. There are, however, instances of paddling using similar implements with individuals who were not slaves.[ citation needed ]
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Paddling was mainly used in many parts of the United States (and still is, in a few areas) as a means to discipline misbehaving school students. Paddling has also been used in some homes to punish children and teenagers. [7] [8] The results of a national household survey indicate that paddling is a discipline technique that 10% of parents are "very likely to use". The percentage of parents who say that they are very likely to paddle increases to 12% when involving teenagers. [9]
The paddle is the almost invariable implement in US schools that still allow corporal punishment for student misconduct. Some paddles have traditionally had holes bored in them for aerodynamic effect, [10] but many schools nowadays prohibit the use of such paddles. [11] [12]
Paddling typically causes a slight reddening of the skin but in some cases can cause bruises that are "visible for approximately two weeks". [13] Whether or not particular bruises constitute evidence of "serious injury" or "abuse" [14] or "child maltreatment" [15] depends on individual circumstances and can ultimately be settled only by a court of law.
There have been cases in the past when paddling was administered incorrectly or excessively. Partly in order to avoid this danger, in the majority of U.S. schools, paddling is more strictly regulated than in the past, many schools publishing detailed rules in their student handbooks. [16] It is usually a requirement that a professional witness be present. Currently, there is often a maximum of three swats (or "licks" or "pops"). In the past, paddlings of up to 30 [17] licks were not unknown, especially in rural schools.[ citation needed ] Practice has gradually moved from paddlings in the classroom or hallway to paddlings administered out of the sight of other students, typically in the principal's office. "Hallway" paddlings could typically be seen by other students, administrators or even outsiders visiting the school.
In 1981, a 17-year-old student claimed bleeding wounds as a result of a school paddling. [18] It was alleged that the assistant principal who had administered the punishment had held and swung the paddle with two hands. [19] In order to prevent such claims, a school district currently may choose to require the handle of a spanking paddle to be "just large enough for a normal one-hand grip". [20] Or a rule might provide that the handle shall not be more than 4 inches (100 mm) long (just large enough to be held with one hand). [21]
In 1982, a nine-year-old student was hit with a wooden paddle that was cracked. [22] This caused a bleeding wound that became a permanent scar. To avoid this, nowadays some school districts have adopted rules which prohibit using paddles that have cracks in them. For example, the policies of Bloomfield School District provide that, "Corporal punishment will be administered by spanking the buttocks of a student with a flat-surfaced paddle which is smoothly sanded and has no cracks or holes and that will cause no more than temporary pain and not inflict permanent damage to the body." [23]
A paddling is typically administered with two or more school employees present. The student may be ordered to bend over a chair [24] or desk [25] and, in that position, receive the prescribed number of strokes of the paddle. Paddling usually occurs in an office but may sometimes occur in a hallway. The punishment is delivered across the seat of the student's trousers or skirt.
In order to avoid allegations of sexual abuse, many school districts require that a female teacher be present during the paddling of a female student. [26] A school might also recommend "that female staff members administer corporal punishment to female students (middle and high school)". [27] Or a school board might prescribe that a "female principal(s) or designee shall spank or paddle female students" and that a "male principal(s) or designee shall spank or paddle male students." [28]
As of April 2023, 17 states allow corporal punishment in public schools. See School corporal punishment in the United States for further information.
The paddle is also a favorite implement for non-disciplinary "fun" spankings such as "birthday spankings," as also for paddle games (such as trading blows) or a spanking pyramid or paddle machine. A paddle machine can be used in conjunction with a spanking bench. Numerous celebrities, including Jessica Jaymes, Jennifer Krum, Haydn Porter, Tabitha Stevens and Victoria Zdrok, have mounted Howard Stern's spanking bench to be paddled by his paddle machine, the "Robospanker". [32] Paddles are also used by practitioners of erotic spanking.
Erotic spanking is the act of spanking another person for the sexual arousal or gratification of either or both parties. The intensity of the act can vary in both its duration and severity, and may include the use of one or more spanking implements. Activities range from a spontaneous smack on bare buttocks during sexual activity to sexual roleplaying, such as ageplay or domestic discipline. Erotic spanking is often found within and associated with BDSM, but the activity is not exclusive to it. The term spankee is commonly used within erotic spanking to refer to the individual receiving a spanking.
Spanking is a form of corporal punishment involving the act of striking, with either the palm of the hand or an implement, the buttocks of a person to cause physical pain. The term spanking broadly encompasses the use of either the hand or implement, though the use of certain implements can also be characterized as other, more specific types of corporal punishment such as belting, caning, paddling and slippering.
A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or paddling. When it is inflicted on adults, it may be inflicted on prisoners and slaves, and can involve methods such as whipping with a belt or a horsewhip.
Dunn is the most populous city of Harnett County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,263 at the 2010 census. It is, along with Harnett County, part of the Anderson Creek, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area.
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hands. Caning on the knuckles or shoulders is much less common. Caning can also be applied to the soles of the feet. The size and flexibility of the cane and the mode of application, as well as the number of the strokes, may vary.
Caning is a widely used form of corporal punishment in Singapore. It can be divided into several contexts: judicial, prison, reformatory, military, school and domestic. These practices of caning as punishment were introduced during the period of British colonial rule in Singapore. Similar forms of corporal punishment are also used in some other former British colonies, including two of Singapore's neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Brunei.
Anniston City Schools is the public school district of Anniston, Alabama. Anniston City Schools serves 1,898 students and employs 100 teachers and 98 staff as of the 2020–2021 school year. The district includes three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.
Alexander City Schools is the public school district of Alexander City, Alabama, established in 1879. Alexander City Schools serves 2,948 students and employs 170 teachers and 67 staff as of the 2020–2021 school year. The district includes two elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school.
Slippering is a term for the act of smacking the buttocks, or the hands, with a slipper or a slide as a form of corporal punishment. A slippering on the buttocks is a form of spanking; it is a much more common method than slippering on the hands. The verb "to slipper" means "to give a slippering". Slipperings are particularly associated with Britain and Commonwealth countries, although not exclusively so.
Springtown Independent School District is a public school district based in Springtown, Texas (USA) in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
The South Delta School District (SDSD) is a public school district based in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, USA.
Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651 (1977), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the disciplinary corporal punishment policy of Florida's public schools by a 5-4 vote. The Court also held that the Eighth Amendment did not apply to corporal punishment, and that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did require notice or a hearing prior to the imposition of such punishment.
Strapping refers to the use of a strap as an implement of corporal punishment. It is typically a broad and heavy strip of leather, often with a hard handle, the more flexible 'blade' being applied to the offender.
School corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of physical pain as a response to undesired behavior by students. The term corporal punishment derives from the Latin word for the "body", corpus. In schools it may involve striking the student on the buttocks or on the palms of their hands with an implement such as a rattan cane, wooden paddle, slipper, leather strap, belt, or wooden yardstick. Less commonly, it could also include spanking or smacking the student with an open hand, especially at the kindergarten, primary school, or other more junior levels.
Judicial corporal punishment is the infliction of corporal punishment as a result of a sentence imposed on an offender by a court of law, including flagellation, forced amputations, caning, bastinado, birching, or strapping. Legal corporal punishment is forbidden in most countries, but it still is a form of legal punishment practiced according to the legislations of Brunei, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Qatar, as well as parts of Indonesia and Nigeria.
Physical or corporal punishment by a parent or other legal guardian is any act causing deliberate physical pain or discomfort to a minor child in response to some undesired behavior. It typically takes the form of spanking or slapping the child with an open hand or striking with an implement such as a belt, slipper, cane, hairbrush, paddle, whip, or hanger. On a looser definition, it can also include shaking, pinching, forced ingestion of substances, or forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions.
Corporal punishment, sometimes referred to as "physical punishment" or "physical discipline", has been defined as the use of physical force, no matter how light, to cause deliberate bodily pain or discomfort in response to undesired behavior. In schools in the United States, corporal punishment takes the form of a school teacher or administrator striking a student's buttocks with a wooden paddle.
Corporal punishment of minors in the United States, meaning the infliction of physical pain or discomfort by parents or other adult guardians, including in some cases school officials, for purposes of punishing unacceptable attitude, is subject to varying legal limits, depending on the state. Minor children in the United States commonly experience some form of corporal punishment, such as spanking or paddling. Despite opposition from medical and social-services professionals, as of 2024, the spanking of children is legal in all 50 states and, as of 2014, most people still believe it is acceptable provided it does not involve implements. Corporal punishment is in the United States usually considered distinct from illegal child abuse, although the distinction can often be vague.
The legality of corporal punishment of children varies by country. Corporal punishment of minor children by parents or adult guardians, which is intended to cause physical pain, has been traditionally legal in nearly all countries unless explicitly outlawed. According to a 2014 estimate by Human Rights Watch, "Ninety percent of the world's children live in countries where corporal punishment and other physical violence against children is still legal". Many countries' laws provide for a defence of "reasonable chastisement" against charges of assault and other crimes for parents using corporal punishment. This defence is ultimately derived from English law. As of 2024, only three of seven G7 members and seven of the 20 G20 member states have banned the use of corporal punishment against children.
George Walker Holden is professor emeritus and a developmental psychologist who worked at the Southern Methodist University, where he was the former Chair of the Psychology Department. Prior to that he was professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Holden is the co-founder of the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children and the author of several books on the subject of child development. He is the father of three children and grandfather of five.
