Spanking
Spanking or Smacking is a traditional form of corporal punishment. It consists of striking the buttocks repeatedly, with either an open hand or an implement like a belt, martinet, switch, hairbrush or paddle. The term spanking generally implies corrective punishment and no intention of permanent injury. Whether or not corrective spanking is related to erotic spanking remains controversial.Spankings may be delivered over clothing, over the undergarments only, or on the bare buttocks, in increasing order of intended humiliation (and also pain).
The spanking of children for disciplinary purposes is a hotly debated social issue.
Those who accept spanking often frame the issue as a matter of parental rights--that parents have the right to raise their child in the way they consider most appropriate. They also hold that there is little evidence that moderate spanking is harmful. Further, many believe that discipline problems among children have recently increased, and attribute that at least partially to the decline of both parental authority and the use of spanking. Others argue that moderate spanking is simple and effective, while non-spanking disciplines proposed by academic psychologists rely on complicated or unrealistic methods that many parents do not manage to implement successfully.
Another argument is that proper and effective spankings cause only temporary pain and no damage. It has been claimed that when parents and children are engaged in a prolonged struggle for authority, the anger and bitterness that results can cause an emotional estrangement that far outweighs any possible negative effects from moderate spankings.
Finally, there is a widespread and deep skepticism among pro-spankers of all the arguments against spanking, and a general feeling that the practice of spanking recalcitrant children has proven its worth over a period of many centuries. They believe that the bias against spanking is arbitrary and an improper application of egalitarian principles to an inherently unequal social relationship.
Anti-spanking advocates make a number of arguments against spanking, on a number of grounds: chiefly that spanking is abusive, that it is ineffective, and that it teaches children that physical violence is an acceptable way to deal with other people.
Opponents of spanking point out that what has traditionally been regarded as reasonable chastisement would be regarded as assault if carried out on an adult. Many years ago, it was legal for a man to use physical force to "chastise" his wife, an act now regarded as domestic violence and illegal. Some hold that, in time, the act of spanking a child will be regarded in the same way: indeed, in some countries this is already the case. (See below.)
The boundary between spanking and abuse is difficult for even traditionalists to define: two guides are that the parent doing the spanking must not feel anger at the child or satisfaction at the act of spanking; and that the spanking must not leave any lasting injury. Opponents suggest that both of these may be rationalizations, or a slippery slope.
Opponents also hold that spanking is ineffective; that other forms of discipline are more successful at teaching a child to behave properly.
Opponents also claim that spanking teaches children that violence is an appropriate way to treat those who offend one. Some consider that spanking, as with clear-cut forms of physical abuse, may perpetuate a "cycle of violence" which contributes to violent behavior in adult society as well. Children learn by example, and those subjected to physical violence "for their own good" will, the argument goes, learn that this is an appropriate way to treat others who have wronged them.
As an alternative to spanking, many advocate the use of time-outss. They argue that alternatives to spanking are not complicated, and only require the parents to exercise modest amounts of intelligence and self-control.
Those opposing traditional discipline have speculated on the links between eroticism and the spanking of children. They correlate the spanking of children as a form of paraphiliac sexual abuse, and also claim that childhood spanking may lead to the development of paraphiliac behavior in later life.
Proponents of spanking find these speculations extremely unconvincing. They assert that there has been no scientific evidence in favor of this speculation.
Corporal punishment of school children remains legal in about two dozen U.S states, although it is commonly practiced only in the South. However, there are states where school officials have lost their jobs for spanking students. Spanking of children within families is illegal in some countries (for example, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Israel and Latvia). Similar initiatives in the U.S. have repeatedly failed. Parental rights groups have formed since the 1990s to prevent spanking from being criminalized. The argument for spanking
Arguments against spanking
Alternative forms of discipline
Other criticisms and questions about spanking
The legal situation