I recall clearly two incidents involving the punishment of girls during my school days, one of which I was extremely lucky to witness. This occurred after the Christmas exams around 1968 and was most unusual in that it took place in the school hall, which at my school also served as a gymnasium. I was involved in the school play that year and one morning during a couple of free periods I went up to the stage’s lighting gantry to label and test some of the rheostat circuits. I had been working for about twenty minutes or so when I heard the sound of pupils entering the hall. I thought nothing of it at first, assuming that their presence related to some Christmas event, but after a few minutes I heard the unmistakable sound of Glenys the Whelk, as our senior mistress was known, complaining loudly about dress standards. She instructed those in the hall to bring out some forms and kneel on them. I was curious to see what was going on so I partially opened the blind on the small window in the gantry wall, which allowed me to look directly into the hall without being seen.

I was quite surprised at the spectacle that greeted me for about 50 girls from the fourth and fifth years (years 10 & 11 these days) were there with Glenys and Miss L, the girls’ games mistress, in attendance. The girls quickly set the forms out in two rows of three facing the stage and knelt on them as instructed. Once silence had been restored Glenys informed the girls that it had been brought to her attention that the hemlines of some girls skirts were far too high. She reminded them that school rules forbade the wearing of “mini skirts” in school and that these also prescribed the type and style of underwear to be worn. She then instructed the girls to put their hands on their heads and informed them that she and Miss L would measure the distance between their skirts and the bench adding that any girl whose skirt was found to be more than two inches above her knee would find herself in detention for the rest of the week.

The two teachers moved quickly along the lines of kneeling girls checking their hemlines with a ruler and their waist bands for rolling. It was the practice of girls in those days, and may still be today, to roll the waistband of their skirts so as to raise their hemlines, in some cases to just below their knickers. Most had managed to unroll as they were marched to the gym but some girls had nothing to unroll. Perhaps some had outgrown their skirts but a few, the usual suspects, were deliberately flouting school rules. With their hands on their heads the girls were unable to tug their skirts down and about eight or so of them failed the test. Those girls whose skirts were deemed too short had to call out their names so that ‘the Whelk’ could enter them into the detention book. Afterwards I expected the girls to be dismissed but they were kept kneeling for a second inspection to identify those who were wearing “unsuitable underwear”. Miss L moved along the rows of girls and as she did so each girl was required to raise the front of her skirt so that her knickers could be inspected. My high vantage point meant that I did not get as good a view as I would have liked, especially to the far left of stage which was furthest away from me, but I did catch a glimpse of most of their knickers as the inspection progressed. The majority of the girls wore navy-blue, grey or white school knickers all of which were acceptable, but four of them, all fifth formers, were found to be wearing non-regulation knickers. They were ordered to keep their skirts raised throughout the inspection and had to remain kneeling when the others were dismissed. Interestingly none of the remaining girls had been found to be wearing shortened skirts. Perhaps they had complied with the hemline rule to cover up the racy underwear beneath!

When the others had gone the remaining girls were brought forward to kneel on the middle front bench, still with their skirts raised and I got a much better view of their knickers. All four of them looked decidedly nervous as Miss W surveyed them in silence. Sandra, a rather pretty dark haired girl with freckles, was sporting a pair of pink nylon knickers with brown lace edging and what might have been a matching ribbon bow at the front. Kneeling next to her was Christine wearing tight fitting panties with a rather garish orange, brown and cream psychedelic pattern, which I recall, was popular at the time. Isobel and Alma were each sporting suspenderless pantie-girdles, which in style, if nothing else, resembled regulation school knickers. Isobel’s was plain white with lacy side panels while Alma’s was black with little pink patches, which I suspect may have been a rose motif. I knew that she had a black bra with a similar pattern -.possibly a matching set – as I used to sit behind her in history classes and often noticed the little red roses on the black back strap, through her thin white blouse.

Miss W sought explanations from each of the girls as to why they were flouting the uniform rules and a variety of ‘laundry’ excuses were offered. Miss L seemed dissatisfied with the responses from Christine and Alma both of whom, she said, had been given earlier warnings about their underwear after she had discovered them wearing similar items when changing for games. Christine and Alma made the mistake of disputing this with Miss L and Miss W interrupted to inform them that she intended to punish all four of them for breaking school rules. Isobel and Sandra were to report to her room later that afternoon after break when she would decide what to do with them, but Christine and Alma were to remain in the Gym with Miss L as she intended to deal with their insolence immediately. She then left the room accompanied by the crestfallen Isobel and Sandra.

Miss L instructed Christine and Alma to replace the forms and then pull the vaulting horse out of its recess to the right of the stage. I began to realize what I might be about to witness. I had a clear view of the horse but its position increased the chances that I might be discovered at my spy hole with a rather obvious erection. I chose to stay put as to come down would have signalled that I’d witnessed the knickers inspection and I believed that I’d get the cane myself for that! The Whelk returned a few minutes later and from her handbag she withdrew a two-tailed leather tawse. I’d never seen one before and was fascinated by its flexibility. She informed the girls that she was going to give each of them four strokes and, that in view of the nature of their offences, she thought it appropriate that these be given on the bottom, and over the offending underwear. Neither girl said anything though they looked very close to tears. Alma was called forward first and was positioned over the horse by Miss L who raised the girl’s skirt to expose her pantie-girdle. The Whelk moved behind and to her left and after measuring her distance laid on the first stroke with a resounding crack. Alma let out a sort of grunt but stayed in position. The next three strokes elicited a similar response as the tails of the tawse bit into her tightly girdled cheeks. When Alma’s strapping was over she was sent to stand at the side of the horse and I could see tears in her eyes as she gingerly fingered her bottom.

Christine’s turn came quickly and, like Alma, she was soon bent over with her skirt raised ready for the strap. Her tight fitting psychedelic knickers exposed more of her bottom than Alma’s pantie-girdle had, and the thinness of the material meant that they offered much less protection. This was confirmed when the whacking commenced as faint stripes could be seen along the edge of her pants. The strokes were applied at intervals of perhaps ten seconds and by the end she was crying loudly. When both whackings were over the girls returned the horse to the alcove and were then dismissed. The two mistresses also left the gym and I quietly made my escape from the gantry, hardly able to believe what I had just witnessed. I found it necessary to visit the boys’ toilets where I attempted to soften my throbbing Willy. I was terrified that my viewing of the events might be found out so I didn’t tell any of my school friends about the incident. Although it was well known in school that some girls had been punished for uniform faults the actual events in the gym never, as far as I am aware, became common knowledge. Clearly the main body of fourth and fifth form girls must have known that a strapping was in the offing when they left the hall and I’ve no doubt that the final outcome was common knowledge within their group and perhaps amongst the girls in the lower forms as well. As a consequence of this girly hush-up I never found out what punishments were awarded to Isobel and Sandra though I suspect that these were non-corporal in nature.

Incidentally about 12 years later I found myself working for the same company as Alma. While we frequently discussed our school days she never mentioned the gym hall incident despite occasional provoking comments from me about Miss W’s strap and knickers inspections.

Girls were very rarely punished at my secondary school though boys, myself included, often received up to six strokes of the cane over trousers, applied in the bending position. It was rumoured that girls were strapped by the senior mistress for very serious matters and the boys, not surprisingly, assumed that these punishments were for some forms of sexual impropriety. This view was most likely based on the folk law that a few years earlier a girl who’d run away with an older man had, on her return to school, paid a visit to the Whelk’s office where she’d been given a strapping on the hands and some said, gleefully, on the bottom as well. It never occurred to us that girls could be punished simply for being ordinarily naughty or wearing the wrong knickers! The Whelk’s use of the strap as opposed to the cane is probably explained by her Scottish upbringing. No doubt she’d been raised on the strap herself and it was, I believe, the instrument of choice for most teachers in Scotland at the time and no doubt during her teacher training in Edinburgh.

I must confess that my memories of this strapping have provided me with considerable masturbatory pleasure over the years. I was at the time of the incident, and still am, a devoted knickerphile with a penchant for school knickers in all shades and styles. My earliest knickers memories are from school where I soon noticed that knickers were often thrown into the back of the lost property store along with items of sportswear, books and pens etc. For some reason, best known to them, girls tended not to reclaim lost knickers from the store so when they had been languishing for a time they would disappear – sometimes into my own school bag!
Other boys also were taking knickers too and while I was never caught myself I knew other boys whose school bags had been found to contain schoolgirls’ knickers taken from school. One boy was caned for this around 1967. We all shunned this lad because of his ‘dirty habit’ – horrid little wanker we used to call him – yet I suspect that there were several of us with a nice collection of school knickers at home liberated from the same lost property store, all no doubt used for wanking and appropriately stained. Around the age of twelve, we had a little group of boys in school that used to swap their sisters’ knickers often for other pairs belonging to girls they fancied. Everyone in the group knew what we wanted them for and what we did with them but somehow by the time we were fourteen or so we could no longer discuss our masturbatory habits openly and the group was dissolved. The lad who was caught made the mistake of taking the knickers in the morning and a school prefect did a bag search the same afternoon. Rumour had it that the lad had ‘spunked’ the knickers in the bogs and then hidden them in his bag in the cloakroom. It was that action that had led to a summary caning the same afternoon. I’ve always wondered what happened to the knickers and whose they were!

My interest in knickers and in corporal punishment has continued over the years since my schooldays and I am now a practicing CP enthusiast and a passionate school knickers wearer. I’ve noticed on this ‘school corporal punishment’ group a number of questions about knickers up / knickers down canings and tawsings and the difference there might be in terms of pain and marking. I think that I might be able to answer some of these from my own experience of taking most of these instruments wearing various knickers and over the bare buttocks.

In general school knickers tend to absorb a proportion of the sting from corporal punishment especially if they are ‘proper cotton ones’ in the regulation style. Those with a single layer seat are less effective as protection and modern panties, especially those made from nylon in the modern cut, offer very little protection at all. The absorption capacity of a pair of knickers is not of course wholly dependant on their style and the thickness and type of material from which they are constructed. It has much to do with the instrument used and the manner in which it is applied to the bottom. For instance a pair of Cherub or Montfort school knickers with a double back panel and gusset will provide considerable protection from a hand spanking and even a slipper will have the bite taken out of its application. A tawse remains highly effective over such knickers though there is a slight loss of the fiery burn that one normally associates with pants down (PD) tawsing. There is also less blistering of the buttocks too as the knicker material spreads the tails punishing effect over a slightly larger area. Increasing the number and weight of strokes can compensate for the attenuation of sting when wearing knickers. Alternatively a tawse with an extra tail may be employed or one of a heavier grade – assuming a XH is not already in use! A similar state of affairs is found when using the cane or ridding crop, but here thicker knickers have the effect of preventing the breaking of skin that can otherwise occur during a proper punishment caning. They are most useful as a protection against thin whippy canes allowing these to be applied more forcefully with less chance of cutting the buttocks. In this case protection leads to a more severe caning! Caning over thin nylon knickers offers almost no protection at all and the skin may easily be broken by misplaced or over enthusiastic strokes.

Paddles and the heavy rubber ferula can also be used very effectively over school knickers of all thickness, but as these instruments do not break the skin the advantage of wearing knickers is limited to an attenuation of sting. The ferula stings dreadfully when applied, as a punishment to cold bare buttocks but it is more tolerable over knickers, at least until the buttocks are warm enough for a PD application. Thin cotton and nylon knickers have little or no effect on the efficiency of these instruments. Indeed, in certain circumstances they may actually increase the sting, this is especially so if they are wetted prior to the punishment. Perhaps the only instrument that loses its effect when administered over knickers is the French martinet – this delightful whip is quickly defeated by regulation school knickers and is only suited to PD application, or application over very thin modern panties which tend not to offer full cover of the buttocks. Anyone wanting protection from martinet tip blisters should consider wearing close fitting artificial silk Directoire knickers which are sufficiently thin for the lashes to penetrate effectively yet take the final sting out of the tail tips.

I’ll be happy to write more if anyone is interested!