Nathan and John’s descriptions, tend to make me lean more towards the idea that women, by their nature or upbringing, tend to a more overtly ‘tender’, if that is the word, application of punishment than the males.
It makes sense in some ways, because the methods used by the male and female teachers are equated in many ways to the gender role regarding punishment at home at the time.
The only difference being, that my Father bared my bottom for punishment, and the male teachers at school didn’t. That may have simply been associated with a concern about charges of impropriety on their part,I suspect.