liz the biz
likes to be spanked
the times -
april 27th 1997
oh, the cheek of it - liz
hurley and her friends like to smack each other for fun. and so,
it seems, do thousands of others. but why? CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON
gets to the bottom of if.
spank you very much
embarrassing party games
the news that elizabeth hurley
is partial to a bit of spanking has sent a warm glow of exitement
across the cheeks of her admirers. as well as unveiling a whole
new range of career opportunities - the face of estee lauder, the
bottom of andrex supersoft - the story has come as a revelation
to those who thought spanking was the sole province of naughty
old home counties colonels and girls in jodhpurs.
according to los angeles, a
hollywood-based magazine, hurley belongs to a group of racy
english expats nicknamed the viles, for whom spanking beats the
pants off other party games. of an evening, when they`re all
premiered out, the viles apparently go round to each other`s
houses and take turns to bend over a sofa, baring their glutei
maximi to the others. the object of the game is for the spankee
to guess the identity of the spanker. you can imagine the fun
they have.
come christmas,the viles all
return en masse to england and regroup for their annual party,
hosted by hurley`s big pal henry dent-brocklehurst at sudeley
castle. and, of course, this bash would be incomplete without an
obligatory round of the spanking game. "silly and
naughty," is how hurley describes it. "for people who
don`t take themselves too seriously," says
dent-brocklehurst.
for people who`v been to eaton
too, says cynthia payne, the celebrated former madam, whose
expirience led her to the conclusion that most spanking
enthusiasts have a public school background. "you can tell
they got a taste for it along with all the cold showers,"
she says, "a lot of the time they like to dress up in school
uniform too."
nevertheless it`s not just the
toffs who like a firm hand on their behind. according to the
anthropologist and author ted polhemus, the pleasure that can be
derived from a spanking session is available to all.
"the pain triggers the
release of opiate-like chemicals in the brain that have the
effect of producing an endorphin high, "he says, "the
person who seeks to re-create it on a regular basis can be
categorised as an endorphin junkie."
according to the psychologist
dr glenn wilson, it may not be matron who gets boys first
interested in smacking, but mother. "my theory is that your
critical expiriences before the age of three go into determining
what will be your sexual turn-on as an adult," he says,
"and although you might not actually enjoy being spanked as
a child, the vividness of the expirience will impose itself on
your blueprint - and in later life you will want to re-create it.
"another school for
thought says that the appeal of bottom-smacking goes back to the
days when we were apes, and having a red bottom was a mark of
sexual attraction."
ah, so that`s why hurley`s
production company is called simian films. these days though,
spanking is spread across a much wider social spectrum than just
apes and aristocrats.
"there`s a lot more of it
going on than you might imagine," says dr patrick magee, a
sexual-behaviour expert base at the bolton institute. "there
is even some evidence that the role-playing and dramaturgic
elements of spanking can have calming, therapeutic effect upon
the people who engage in it."
perhaps this is why so mant high-flyers
indulge. emma and michael are city lawyers who met at a client`s
drinks party last year. "michael and i went on a few
dates," says emma, "he seemed like your regular kind of
guy - hard-working, intelligent and into football and the opera.
one day i was dressing a salad in the kitchen, i leant over to
reach for the olive oil and felt a sharp slap on my backside, it
definitely wasn`t just a friendly pat, that was when he first
admitted he was into spanking. i suppose he could have worse
foibles."
james, a merchant banker, recalls being
invited to a party by a colleague. "everyone seemed to know
one another," he says, "so i was the only one to look
shocked when it was suggested that they take turns to spank me.
at first i refused, but the whole room began booing and hissing.
i decided it was easier just to get on with it, it was incredibly
humiliating for me, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves
mightily."
while most spankers prefer to use their hands,
other invest in specialised equipment, made by the likes of rgl
designes, a company based in nelson, lancashire.
"a lot of people go for a big leather
paddl," says martin page, rgl`s managing director.
"spanking with the bare hand can often be quite
unsatisfactory. basically, the woman doesn`t hit the man hard
enough for him to feel it, and when she does, she`s liable to
damage her hand in the process." page has more than 19.000
names on his mailing list.
spanking is now big business: scores of firms
in britain sell mail-order "light corrective"
equipment. there`s fetters in london, wendy jane in
cambridgeshire, and if you are in plymouth, why not stop off at
westward bound for all your spanking needs? but it is in north
america that the sound of spanking is at it`s loudest. there is
even an academy of punishment in menlo park, california. so
institutionalised is rump-whacking that rather like hairdressing
salons in britain, the businesses all have jokey names. in
chicago therefore, you can buy equipment at the house off
thwacks; and in vancouver, you can stay at the picturesque payne
manor.
hurley and friends aside, the signs are that
spanking is now making it`s mark on mainstreem uk society. this
year sees the release of a british film called preaching to the
perverted, all about the rubber and bottom scene. it`s directed
by stuart urban (an ungentlemanly act) and stars tom bell, sue
johnson, and the dark haired actress from the peugot 106 ad
(julie graham) as a pvc clad dominatrix.
so discerning have britain`s bottom-smackers
become that there is now even a sort of which? guide to the best
spank practitioners, called domina directory. you can also buy
any number of glossy magazines on the subject, one of which, skin
two, claims 30.000 readers per issue. now that smacks of success.