Tawse | Tawsing

A semi academic history and perspective

Leather has served man since earliest days; the loin cloth, leather skirt, leather armour, leather saddle and many accoutrements for riding (bridles and leashes). The use of leather as a means of punishment has a history just as long. The leather whip and flogger were common disciplinary instruments from ancient times through the era of the great sailing ships. Who hasn’t seen a movie with a flogging scene? They are not hard to find.

The development of the tawse is more recent. It was towards the end of the nineteenth century when schooling became compulsory that a means to keep children attentive made its debut. One of the more famous tawse makers was John J. Dick, whose name seems almost Freudian when contemplated. The early tawse has changed little; 17.5 inches long and 2 inches wide, with two or three ‘tails’.

Its primary purpose was for punishment in schools, but they were also used commonly as domestic implements of control. Young mill girls were gifted with a shorter, wider tawse with more tails when they were leaving to be married.

The tawse is most synonymous with school and kink. In schools the tawse was applied along the length of the hand parallel to the fingers. School tawsings were usually two strokes on the left hand as the right hand was the dominant writing hand. However, the whole business could escalate depending on the temperament of the teacher. An extreme session was both hands crossed and alternated with at least eight strokes to each hand. It was no uncommon for the last two strokes to be laid across the wrist. The welts across the wrists did not disappear as quickly as the palm redness so that when the boy got home, his dad would see the wrist slaps and usually punish the boy again. In most schools, there were no tawsing records kept so that a boy could go from class to class and end up being tawsed several times in a day. In Scotland, the tawse could be used as a ‘sentence’ in judicial punishment for boys 14-16 for which they could be sentenced to as many as thirty-six (36) cracks across the bare ass – OUCH!

You can be sure that despite the immediate pain and humiliation of a classroom tawseing, most boys went home and masturbated thinking of the experience. That is just a theory of course. There are no official data on that topic, but informal surveys confirm the practise. The other ‘unofficial’ fact is that tawseing can be a fulfilling sexual activity to augment spanking and flogging.

My experience has been as both a deliverer and receiver. I recommend a thorough application over the entire backside of your body beginning with the soles of the feet in a distinctive bastinado style, followed by a gradual move upward across calves, thighs (testicles carefully when you feel you have the feel of the instrument), heavy on the buttocks and upper back. If you or our victim are tied down, it is a nice touch to end with a few strokes across the palms. The best way is to apply the tawse over time; build the fear and apprehension and spread the pain and delivery over a couple of hours. It leaves a nice red glow on naked skin and can be complemented by a few welts particularly across the ass. I do recommend a soundproof room to let the receiver release the pleasure as loudly and beggingly as they wish. 

So, spice it up a bit. We all need a few abrasions and welts. Get yourself a good tawse give and take for a change of pace. Don’t hesitate – or I might have to tawse you!!

Now we need to know from other kinksters …

… why do you like Tawsing?

Impact play is my number one kink. The tawse is one of those tools of punishment the impact of which is really variable depending on the tawse being used. It’s that variety I love. I’m a massive fan of being caned but after caning, the sting of a narrow, worn two tailed tawse on me is hard to take but creates a great feeling to finish a punishment session. Used on its own a heavier thicker, thudding tawse can be very domineering..so with some Masters really goes with their personality and the emotional part of play.

I have been tawsed on my hands but can’t take much of that. Like the cane in the right scenario it creates a very real feeling of being punished, especially if the spanker is Scottish (all the best ones are) and is using a genuine old school tawse of which there seem to be a lot around.

Now it is up to you, write a comment and tell us why do you like tawsing?