My thoughts on the issue of girls receiving corporal punishment in state schools, prior to abolition, always leaned towards an opinion that it hardly ever happened, if indeed, at all. I’m sure you can all appreciate my feelings when I tell yout that at every school I attended, from junior to secondary, girls were never subject to copporal punishment at all, whilst boys were. Neither did I know of any girls slippered or caned at other schools during the period of my childhood. Quite often I can recall girls who lived in my neighbourhood saying, “Girls don’t get the cane!” most gleefully, on my raising of the subject
My thoughts on the subject remained unchanged even when I got to hear about one ot two incidents in my later teens. For example, two of my ex-girlfriends were caned on their hands at sixteen, and a work colleague told me that his daughter was caned on the hand during the late 1970’s, also at sixteen. I could only imagine that these three incidents were very rare, despite my learning about all the famous incidents soon after that time. I also thought that any rare occasions that did arise, resulting in a girl being caned or slippered at school, must surely involve a female member of staff carrying it out. Wrong! The above three incidents were all carried out by male staff.
However, my thoughts were very much changed even further with the advent of Friends Reunited. Once I saw the hundreds upon hundreds of postings on the site, where ex-female pupils mentioned receiving corporal punishment, I could hardly believe what I was reading. What struck me most was the sheer volume of girls slippered on the bottom by male staff. I’m still stunned by this today. Never in my wildest moments would I have imagined this happening. Furthermore, the amount of teachers that actually marked a chalked cross on the slipper so it landed on the girl’s skirt or trousers is also astounding. In fact, I found a post recently where a girl said she was slippered five strokes across the bottom from a male teacher, and his slipper bore the words, ‘Kiss My Arse’ on it’s sole. Well! I think this was during the 1980s and the girl actually named the teacher.
Regarding girls being caned by male teachers, it no doubt did happen, However the vast majority of canings given to girls by teachers, male or female, were on the hands and there are few, if any, genuine references to girls being caned on the bottom by either sex on Friends Reunited.
As for the slipper, the majority of these punishments would have been given across a fully clothed behind, although there are a few references on FR to the slipper being given on the hand. Also at secondary schools, the slipper appears to have been the preserve of male, rather than female teachers. So in these schools where girls were given the slipper, it would probably not have been that uncommon for them to have be punished by a man.
I wonder why it was thought ok to give girls the slipper.
It seems it mostly in England and Wales.
In Scotland it was the belt for both sexes and of course the States use(d) the paddle
In this incident the skirts were all rather short and the effect of bending over mean’t that those girls with tight skirts got it on their skirts. The act of bending over for those few with pleated skirts revealed their underwear (just).It was all done rather fast due to the numbers involved.
In other incidents where a single girl got the slipper and was wearing a pleated skirt the skirt was raised. Mainly perhaps to add to the drama? who knows.?
I attended a mixed grammar school in lancs in the seventies.
Boys were caned on the trouser seat by the head but only for serious offences. I would estimate that less than 10 per cent of boys were ever caned. The slipper was more frequently used, mainly in PE or games but also sometimes by teachers in class.
Girls were theoretically eligible for the cane administered on the hand by the senior mistress but I can think of no instances of this in the seven years I was there.
In those days girls tended to be more gentile than they are these days… ie they didnt fight or smoke or do many of the things which might get boys the cane.
these slipperings happened over 35 years ago, I cannot remember details of exact cases other than the whole class slipperings.
What I can say is that any type of missbehaviour could result in the slipper, boys and girls alike.
For instance a boy once got sent to the Headmaster for 3 strokes of the cane on the bottom for merely dropping a pencil.
Unbelievable in this day and age but true then.
In 1966 I remember the whole class getting the slipper for generally misbehaving while the teacher was absent.
On HIS return we were all sent out of class.
The boys lined up to the left of the door, the boys to the right.
Boys first, we went in one at a time and bent for a whack.
Then when all the boys were seated it was the boys turn to watch with amusement as the girls came in one by one and bent over for a whack.
A lot of the girls were really terrified and were crying even befor they were slippered.
A great true memory of a N London sec mod class whacking.
Some girls had very short skirts and the slipper got them on the base of their bottom
I remember the whole class being punished for unruly behavior.
The boys each received one whack of the slipper and the girls were given some form of written punishment.
It was unusual but not unknown for girls to receive CP and I recall one of them saying that she would rather have been whacked than receive the alternative punishment she had been given.
I went to a mixed infants’ school in the 1970’s. Smacking with a hand was the principal punishment used, with the standing in the corner or face to the wall the only alternative I remember. Both boys and girls were smacked. A smack leg (normally a single slap) was the most common punishment particularly for boys wearing shorts and girls (who always wore dresses or skirts in those days), who normally had their skirt or dress lifted just enough to expose a bare thigh. Boys wearing long trousers (there was no school uniform) were usually given 2 smacks to the bottom instead, although occassionally trousers were pulled down instead.
More severe smacking involving multiple smacks was given on the bottom for both boys and girls. Boys occassionnally had their trousers pulled down for this, but I never remember a girl being smacked with her skirt lifted. We had to do PE in our underwear and bottom smacking across pants was given to both girls and boys. This was the only time girls got smacked in their knickers. Underwear was never pulled down.
As far as I know smackings were given on the spot in public with the child standing up – no bending over or going over the knee and only a hand was ever used. There might have been smackings in private that I didn’t know about – I was only smacked twice, once on the leg and once on the bottom – but I think it unlikely.
My junior school was all boys and the cane and slipper were used very occassionally, with the latter often being offered as an alternative to a detention. Both can and slipper were to the bottom and bending over required, although it was always to a clothed bottom.
I will point out that in the infants school, all the teachers were female.
Girls and boys were smacked in the same way for same offences, but boys, being generally naughtier got smacked more.
Smacking was very common indeed, with several children smacked each day. Sad thing was, even though most of us got smacked occassionally, it was a small group who were smacked time and time again.
Girls were slippered at my school in the late 70s but only across the skirt and only from a female teacher. Also we could get a few strokes of the cane across the hand but nothing worse than that.
I should know because i had the slipper and the cane- slipper just twice and cane once.
I am now in a relationship where i need discipline from my boyfriend- enjoy him giving me cp- occasional caning across my skirt, or slipper across the knickers.
I went to a large inner-city comprehensive school in northern England in the early to mid 1970’s.
Corporal punishment was a common daily occurance, usually in the form of the plimsoll in class, for minor offences like talking and fooling around.For more serious offences it was a trip to the headmasters study for the cane.
Girls were not immune from coporal punishment, although only a small percentage to that of boys ever received any. Girls usually got away with just the slipper, always administered in private by the deputy headmistresss across their knickers with skirts raised, (I know because my younger sister was slippered for truancy and she told me). As far as the caning of girls is concerned, that was even more rare, I can only think of about 2 or 3 instances of girls receiving the cane during my time at the school (3 years), and these were for extremely serious offences and as far as I am aware, these canings were administered in the same manner,
I was interested in the earlier posting about tight or pleated skirts. Most girls at my school in the 70s wore short tight skirts which would not reveal their knickers when bending over. The pleated skirts were usually a little longer.
Very few girls were slippered and always by female teachers. Even fewer were slippered in public, but one of my great school memories was seeing three girls, aged about 13, slippered. Two of them were wearing tight skirts, the other a pleated skirt. I’ve no idea what the crime was as they were in the year below me and therefore I didn’t know them. They each got two smacks and appeared to be in some distress , although there were no tears.
Caning of girls was almost unheard of , though one girl in my year was caned for looking in a teacher’s handbag whilst she was out of the room. She got two on the hand from the headmistress. She didn’t appear to be in any distress and was showing other girls the marks on her hand. However if you were caned you always were given about 10 minutes to recover before you went back to your class.
my wife was also slippered n private by her deputy Headmistress and on her knickers.
I don’t think she would agree with you saying “girls got away with just the
slipper,” as she found it a painful experience.
As for being slippered in private, I wonder if that was to save the girls embarrassment or the deputy Headmistresses?
The girls I saw getting the slipper happened during the lunch break and we saw it through a window. The school was very open plan and you could easily see into classrooms from outside. I suppose the slippering was meant to be in private.
It is a pity I cannot remember the girls names otherwise I might contact them!
I did contact a girl who was slippered at junior school, although I did know her quite well at grammar school. We exchanged a few emails but despite promptings, with me mentioning the name of the teacher ( female) who slippered her, she failed to mention the slippering and there is only so far you can go!
Declan, so at your school female class room teacher’s slippered the girls?
At my wife’s school only the deputy Headmistress slippered girls.
Boys were slippered in class, but girls were either slippered after school in the deputy Headmistresses class room or in the entrance hall, during school hours.
The slippering I saw was by the girl’s PE teacher. I think there were more slipperings in PE lessons but sadly we boys did not see them. The headmistress did cane a few girls but very rarely indeed and in private.At junior school girls were slippered in front of the class, but again very rarely, maybe we saw one a year.
I probably saw only about six or seven slipperings of girls. Boys however , I would reckon about 50 including the few I got !
PE teacher’s and a slipper (or plimsoll) go together like Hansel and Gretel. I probably saw around the same number of slipperings as you,
but only going to an all boys school they were on boys only.
The girls school over the road used the slipper, but I’ve no details regarding that.
We had a female PE mistress who used the slipper, but apart from once, only in private and all the slipperings I saw, only one was in a PE lesson, strange as it seems.
All the male teacher’s who I saw use the slipper made you touch your toes, for the female teacher you bent over a desk, my wife had to bend over a chair.
Oddly enough I don’t think I ever heard the expression ” touch your toes”. It would just be bend over or simply bend. Almost all slipperings I saw or received were made standing and bent over. The only time I was bent over a desk was following some misbehaviour in the school library, and about five of us, fourth years I think, were bent over a desk in front of second years, and given two smacks from the girls PE teacher ( Her again!).
The fact that second years witnessed this punishment was unfortunate, as a girl who lived a few doors away was in the class and gleefully told my mother of the slippering at the first opportunity. Although the slipper was very painful there were no sympathies for those who got it, in fact it was regarded as great entertainment. This was in contrast to the cane when it was not the done thing to laugh at those on the receiving end.
One of the best slipperings I ever saw was on a boy who was rather arrogant, very good at sport, and who started going out with girls when he was eleven. I forget his crime but he was bent over in front of the class and given a very severe slippering by a male teacher. He was clearly in great pain but us boys glanced round at each other smirking at his distress. He later had, or has, a career in local radio, I even heard him on Radio 5 a few years back.
When the cane was used at my school it was considered a serious affair, while a slippering was more of a light hearted punishment, with the class having a laugh, unless it was you on the receiving end.
Every male teacher who used the slipper told you to “bend over touch your toes” and they would insist you didn’t bend your knees too.
I saw one boy receive the first whack of the slipper and jump up crying and pleading to receive no more, then to everyone’s surprise he was let off.
I was disgusted with the boys behaviour, also with the teacher’s leniency, after that I couldn’t tolerate being in the boy’s company.
It sounds very much as though your female PE teacher used the slipper at every opportunity? If she was like the PE mistress we had she always wore plimsolls, so she had one to hand at all times.
The boy’s slippered by her always said she hurt, but not as much as the male teacher’s.
My wife’s Deputy Headmistress was a short dumpy woman but she said she could really lay-it on leaving marks for days
Yes, the girl’s PE teacher was a formidable lady, but it would be an exaggeration to say she used every opportunity to use the slipper. She just used it a few times, mainly on boys. She too, often wore a tracksuit and had quite tight tracksuit bottoms and also wore gym shoes. Sadly though, she was not very easy on the eye. I think she was wearing civvies when she slippered me.
It may be of interest that the girl who told my mother about the slippering later became a bit of a wild child. I have no idea whether she was caned or slippered at school but she certainly got the back of a hairbrush from her mother( she would have been at least 15), as I overheard her mother telling my mother once. This girl used to smoke openly on the way to school, and hang around the shopping centre drinking, yes kids did that in the mid 70s for any younger ones on here who think it is a new phenomenon.
Our female PE teacher was quite attractive, but I didn’t get the slipper from her, I was slippered twice by an English and PE teacher. He really enjoyed using the slipper and would always find an excuse to slipper a boy.
When you saw his plimsolls tied together on his desk at the beginning of the lesson you knew someone was in for it.
Sometimes we had a teacher’s v boy’s football match and if he was ever beaten he’d go in really hard, I always wished I could have played as I’d have given him a Roy Keane type of tackle, I would have really enjoyed that, so would everyone else as he wasn’t liked.
the boy in question, who couldn’t take the slipper was shocked as to how much it hurt by his reaction and wouldn’t go down again.
He cried and pleaded and was told to sit down.
When I was slippered, I was told I jumped, I remained in the same position until I was told to go and sit down though.
I wouldn’t have showed myself up in such a way, neither would my wife as she was probably hit as hard as the boy, she stayed in the same position until she was told to go.
In my school the headmaster gave the bat to boys and girls who misbehaved. This was a private religious school in North London where corporal punishment was used up until 1998. In 1994 we got a new headmaster who used the slipper. I got the bat twice and saw a girl get it once. I got the slipper many times and heard girls getting it in the office.
Our school only caned and slippered boys but a girl down our street said had the slipper, her school had a tough reputation so I can believe girls where slippered there.