knee socks

being caned wearing shorts and knee socks at the age of 17,is a lot more humiliating than being caned in long trousers,and one hell of a deterant.

You are right. Wearing shorts and knee-length socks for punishment is very humiliating.

its seems it might be effective if you are inclined toward submission, but if you are already angry about being punished, humiliating clothes would only make you angrier and more inclined to take personal offense at your situation and the one inflicting it

The original post was about (I presume) a boy of 17 being caned. That would already be humiliating at that age, but wearing shorts and long socks would add to the humiliation. I imagine the boy would feel not only anger but also fear and shame. The wearing of shorts by older boys has been used in schools and Borstals as a means of maintaining discipline, though I doubt if it is still practised today.

In many parts of the world the wearing of shorts as school uniform is quite normal and would not be considered humiliating at all.

hcj44 wrote:In many parts of the world the wearing of shorts as school uniform is quite normal and would not be considered humiliating at all.

There were a fair few UK lesser public schools and indeed many private ones back in the 1960s/70s and perhaps later who had had a uniform of short trousers for all ages. Some wore short trousers only in summer months. Accepted by all there so nothing humiliating about it there. In summer months most boys wore khaki shorts in the school at weekends and during school holidays. Cheaper and easier for mothers to wash, knees washed easier and ‘self mended’ from minor cuts and grazes too.

At my grammar school virtually all first form and a few number of second wore grey short trousers. I don’t remember any height rules about when boys were to change to long trousers, there were two fairly tall boys in my class when I started there that were already wore long trousers. The cane or slipper was applied to long and short trousers alike!

Some mid 20th century influence concerning short trousers from many dads having done military service too, Film fans will remember John Mills and many others in war films like A Cold Wind in Alex. It is only in comparatively recent years that UK men have started to almost live in short trousers. Perhaps that relates to more sporty clothing styles particular worn by the grossly overpaid footballers!

Gradually as UK dress styles changed possibly with the introduction of jeans as casual wear in the late 1950s possibly due to American clothing styles. Up to then jeans wore only seen as adult working trousers in the UK. I seem to remember some  pairs having long ruler pockets down one long on early ones. Rulers for measuring not for punishment!

I did not mind wearing shorts and knee socks,as I had a skinny frame,some lads were big looked like rugby players they did look stupid,and girls seem to like me in these cloths ,some said they would like to see me being caned in uniform,i just found it humiliating in front of the class,recieving the cane, or the very painfull slipper to the backs of my knees,and being seen in town with bruises

I was caned and slippered a few times in class wearing short trousers. I don’t remember being embarrassed as I’d seen other boys being punished whilst wearing short trousers. What did embarrass me was changing and showering before or after PE or games lessons with cane marks across my buttocks.

I know what you mean,but people knew you were caned,the wealts were promanant under the shorts,or bruises on backs of legs

sheapy22 wrote:I know what you mean,but people knew you were caned,the wealts were promanant under the shorts,or bruises on backs of legs

Were you caned a lot in school?

from 9 to 18 received some form of cp, once a week I would get some form of cp,canned about once every 2 weeks and properly,between 4 and 6 strokes,the teachers both male and female were harsh,did not mater how good you were they would think up some reason

Six of the best

For the record I think the film you refer to is Ice Cold in Alex, one of the best ever war films.

JamieMurphy wrote:Six of the best

For the record I think the film you refer to is Ice Cold in Alex, one of the best ever war films.

You’re absolutely right, I knew when I typed my post it wasn’t somehow right but just couldn’t see what. The ice cold bit refers to the thought of an ice cold beer in Alexandra. That thought was a major factor that gave them the incentive to press on across the desert. You’re right one of the best war films ever. Forget massive battle scenes with thousands of extras just a handful of fine actors.

Hi CathyG, where were you at school, in the
UK I presume?

hi cathy your not wrong is was intense,pretty bad for you to ,does sound like you may have diserved some of your corporal punishments,what was your uniform

Sheapy what sort of school did you attend and when?

mixed,1960’s,south africa

South Africa, I told, was a fairly tough country back then. How were the girls punished in your school?

did you wear knee socks,in Africa girls wore white knee socks  a lot,i think they still do

I wore knee socks and shorts at school until I was aged 16, and also in scout shorts until age 18. I have never thought that shorts are humiliating, rather they give you a feeling of freedom. It is easier to wash legs than to launder trousers. Occasionally the fact you had had a caning might show below the shorts – that was humiliating in some circumstances, but not at school where we all knew that punishments took place.

iam sure I replyed to you earlier may be I did not press submit, I was a bit older than you and still wearing shorts and knee socks to school,and events ,weekends  ,wore them in scouts and around town but left scouts at 14

I wore knee socks and shorts until 16

I think knee socks have largely disappeared in the UK now. The notable exception being in Highland dress, with the kilt, men wearing fawn or at least darker shades and ladies usually in white or lighter colour knee socks. As well as Scotland the kilt is also wore by some men in Ireland on formal occasions. There it is in a plain colour known as, I believe, as a ‘Saffron Kilt’.

Knee socks for boys in school when I was there (50s/60s) were generally grey although dark blue was the colour in some schools. These socks often bore school coloured bands around the folded down tops. Such socks were often held up by elastic garters under the turned down tops. Boy scout uniform included long socks too with, for some unknown reason, little green tabs. As I remember we wore the same sort of socks all year round, perhaps not always with sandals but socks and sandals, for both sexes, were back then not seen as inappropriate as they are now.

Knee socks for girls, I think, vary by the season, with lighter weight ones or white ankle socks in the summer months. Of course, uniform rules including those for socks varied school to school.

Sock styles in general have changed over the years, In the 1980s/90s white socks, particularly mainly for younger men were fashionable. Nowadays almost any colour in socks goes. The trend to wear socks and other clothing items to match one’s favourite football club still very much continues. The almost invisible very short under trainer socks are also popular now more to provide foot comfort as well as style.

Materials have changed over the years, woollen socks were normal into the mid 20th century. Some mums even knitted them and certainly darned holes in socks before the throwaway attitude of modern times. Quality socks even now are wool or a wool mixture material.

Corporal punishment when wearing knee socks was undoubtedly commonplace. Boys bent over in school for the cane or slipper, in the more distant past, with both socks and longer shorts almost reaching the knee. At home, short trousers and underpants were often around the ankles when boys were punished by their parents. Going to an all boys school and having no sisters or younger female relatives I knew very little of how girls were spanked, if at all, back then.

Little more I can say of socks, short or long!

Probably the decline in long socks for boys can be associated with the move toward long trousers not just at secondary school but many primary ones too although shorts are having something of a revival simple because there is less of need a for such an expanse of wool or synthetics going up to just below the knee.
You can still get from regular school suppliers grey or black long socks  and Magicfit are still making classic folded over ones.
As for shorts and socks for older boys in the days of getting school cp, yes it certainly would lend a juvenile feel to proceedings.

Hello chrisminor1864,

Hmm. could be some useful stuff in your above contribution!  I must do some research and check prices.  Although I haven’t worn shorts since part way through the lower fourth, age 13½ some 64 years ago, I wear long socks exclusively and with the almost universal move to the short variety the price of proper knee length socks has gone through the roof of recent years, even if one can purchase the darn things at all in conventional outlets.