From general conversations I have formed an opinion women tend to admit they deserve their school CP, whether this is widespread or not I have no idea.
Interestingly, my experience is exactly the opposite.
I recall having met three women who, in conversation, said that they had been caned at school.
In two out of the three instances, the topic arose quite by chance, and both women clearly resented their punishments.
(The third instance was as part of a general discussion about school CP, so those taking part would perhaps have been a little biased.) But again, I have no idea how representative my experience is.
I’ve no idea how representative my experiences were.
All mine were involved in general conversation, there were more than three involved though.
The last one was just a few weeks ago while I was on holiday.
There have been posts on here where it was thought CP on girls wouldn’t be effective, from the conversations I have had this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
I tend to find when this topic comes up in “vanilla” discussion
– e.g. on local history sites or parenting groups –
women tend to have more negative views on CP than men but it’s not difficult to find a substantial number of women who assert that they deserved the good hidings they got and it has made them better citizens,
or that they got the cane once and it made them determined not to repeat the behavior which brought it about!
There’s also the converse argument that CP was generally inflicted on a group of “usual suspects” for whom it had lost its deterrent value whilst remaining a source of fear for the better-behaved.
While neither of your sample groups are large, nor necessarily representative of the general population, there is, I believe, an important difference between them.
‘s sample comprised women who admitted they deserved the CP they received. By implication, they admitted they deserved to be punished, corporeally or otherwise.
Alan Turing‘s sample comprised three women, two of whom “resented having been caned”. The third woman’s opinion isn’t stated but I believe it’s safe to assume she didn’t resent it.
In the first case, she “was caned for being late to class” even though “the delay wasn’t her fault”. Personally, I would have resented even a mild telling-off in those circumstances.
The second woman “was caned for inking in a name carved on her desk” and, probably as a result, “felt a general animosity towards teachers for having the power to impose arbitrary punishments.”
In that case, I believe a punishment was deserved but the one imposed was excessive.
In my own case, I can’t say I was ever punished unjustly – quite the opposite in fact.
I got away with a lot. I can only think of one case that was a little unfair.
The first time I got the cane (for truancy), another girl and I got three strokes on our bare hands whilst the equally guilty boys got three strokes across their bums with the protection of their trousers and underpants.
(I only learned later that the level of protection so provided is insignificant.)
In another case (the breast exposure incident – fourth entry) I thought the announced punishment was overly harsh but, as it turned out, it wasn’t.
Also, although I had few dealings with the Associate Headmaster, I trusted him to be fair.
If he thought the offence was more serious than I thought it, I could accept I was wrong. If anything, I felt more animosity towards the teacher who caught us but, credit where credit’s due, she reported what she saw completely honestly.
I never liked her because she was too straight-laced but I could respect her.
Did those two women resent being caned (specifically) or did they resent being punished – regardless of what form that punishment took? I suggest it was the latter.
I the idea the girls resent CP and prefer other punishments, couldn’t be further from the truth.
