[Melusine]

LOL, I had to laugh at some of the replies but at some parts of the article too. I mean what the hell is this about??

8. Spanking on the buttocks, an erogenous zone in childhood, can create in the child's mind an association between pain and sexual pleasure, and lead to difficulties in adulthood. "Spanking wanted" ads in alternative newspapers attest to the sad consequences of this confusion of pain and pleasure. If a child receives little parental attention except when being punished, this will further merge the concepts of pain and pleasure in the child's mind. A child in this situation will have little self-esteem, believing he deserves nothing better. For more on this topic, see "The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children".

Erm, somehow I don't think the quite significant number of people who are into S&M have all been spanked as children. And making a little spank during sex sound perverse and even "sad" smacks of the sort of closeminded prudish attitude that is prevalent among people who've never tried anything beyond missionary. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
(note for the hotheaded; I'm not disclosing anything about my personal preferences here [img]tongue.gif[/img] , just picking up on something I thought was stupid)

As for the issue in general; I don't think my parents have spanked me for more than 4 or 5 times in my entire life (spanking as in a short sharp angry slap given when I was REALLY pushing the limits, not as in being put over the parent's knee and hit repeatedly as rational punishment - they never did that). I don't think it's necessary, but I don't find it particularly awful either that I was slapped a few times, because it happened so extremely rarely. I disagree with spanking as a measured, frequent, standard punishment (i.e. child commits offense, is told what it did wrong and that it will be punished by being put over the knee and given any given number of hits) and would never consider it as an option myself. And I'm convinced that the countless parents who feel likewise are none the worse parents for it, in my eyes perhaps even better.