How punishment instruments work

 

How they feel

The blows of a spanking can produce two different feelings: stinging and pain.

 

The stinging is felt at skin level and is greater with wide and flat instruments. It can be intensified by hitting several times in the same place. If you beat fast on the same place, it will feel as "burning". This is what accounts for the reddening of the skin.

 

Pain is produced in two different ways: by pressure and by stretching the skin.

 

By pressure, it is generated by the impact on the tissues and the rupture of veins at a deeper tissue level, and is created, like the stinging, by the surface of the instrument. It is the pressure that leaves the bruises.

 

The skin stretching is produced at the edges of the zone of the impact by the fact that when receiving the blow the tissue under the instrument is depressed, and the surrounding tissue is not. This effect is produced at the edge of the instruments, and is what, with enough impact force, cuts the skin.

 

In the flat instruments (paddles, wide straps, the hand) if the blow is not very hard or the instrument is light, the stinging is more than the pain. The stinging produces the reddening of the skin. Repeated blows tend to abrade it.

 

When the instrument is heavier, or the blows stronger, the pressure on the tissue and the skin stretching become dominant, with increased pain. 

 

If the instruments are thin ( rods, whip points, tails of straps), they sink deeper in the tissue, creating more pressure and stretching. The stinging is masked by the pain. If the stretching is too much, the skin will break, producing a cut. Enough pressure will, at the beginning, produce welts and additional pressure will break internal blood vessels, producing bruises.

 

When hit by a rod or cane, if the blow is strong enough, the pain can be felt in two separate steps: first, the sharp pain of the stretching, and then the deeper and more intense pain of caused by the pressure and the tissue damage.

 

Some physics

The strength of the punishment instrument impact depends on its weight and the speed of the point, and the effects on the surface on which that impact spreads.

 

Assuming that the force applied to the instrument's handle is the same, the effect will depend on the factors that follow.

 

Length: The longer the instrument, the faster the point travels, making the impact stronger and the damage deeper. A longer instrument is more difficult to control.

 

Weight: The heavier instruments will hit more forcefully. If the weight is at the end farther from the hand, more percentage of the weight will travel fast, and the force of impact will be multiplied, adding to the pressure on the tissues.

 

Generally speaking, the heavier instruments will make a deeper damage and  pain, and the lighter will cause a superficial damage, more sting than pain.

 

The thicker instruments are usually heavier, and the hardwoods heavier than softer ones.

 

Rigidity: the more rigid implements will damage more deeply than the more flexible ones. A wooden instrument will break a bone if it hits it.

 

On the other side, when the middle of a flexible instrument (rod, strap, whip) stops when hitting something, part of the energy is transferred as a wave to the point, which accelerates and produces more damage when finally hitting.

 

Surface: The damage that an instrument can inflict depends on the area on which is distributed. In a wider implement the force by surface unit will be less, producing less pressure and less damage, more sting than pain. 

 

In a thinner one, the pressure in the point of impact will be grater, and the effect more deep and lasting. That is why the tails of a split strap hurt more than in that of regular one.

 

If the point is thin, as in the fall of a whip, the concentrated force will stretch the skin until cutting it, and if the hit is strong enough, leaving permanent scars.

 

Holes or cuts: When moving, the instrument must travel thru the air, and in the moment of impact the air can cushion the blow. 

 

Small holes on an instrument's surface can diminish both effects, producing a sharper impact and more pain. Same happens with the cuts at the end of a strap. (The cushioning effect can be reduced by wetting the skin and increasing the sting. Try water and baby oil).

 

Larger holes force also the flesh to enter the hole at the moment of hitting, stretching the skin at the holes' borders, favoring the rising of blisters

 

Rigid handles: are more efficient at transferring energy to the instrument. For the same length, a strap or whip with a rigid handle is going to hurt more than one with a flexible one.

 

Edges: The edges with sharper angles increase the stretching, because they work in a more limited area. The curved edges increase the stretching area, and lessen the extent of stretching. A whip with a narrow and flat fall cuts more easily than one with a round section.

 

The implements

The different instruments have the following characteristics:

 

The cane or rod: The thinner and more flexible ones have more possibilities of breaking the skin, the heavier and thicker ones tend to bruise, with a deeper and longer lasting damage. A rigid and heavy stick ( a walking cane, for instance) can break a bone.

 

The traditional riding crop: A thin slapper cause pain and can cut the skin. A wider one stings. You should not hit with the shaft, because of the hard "knot" in the union of the shaft and the slapper.

 

 

Modern riding crops: the ones covered with cloth and ending in a loop with an attached cord can be used as severe canes. as they are usually thin, they can cut the skin.

 

Paddles: The hardwood ones are heavier and harder than the soft wood ones. They can break or chip a bone. At similar weights, the narrower are more severe, causing more damage and pain with less sting. The ones with a long handle strengthen the force of impact because of the concentrated weight in the point.

 

Straps: The narrow ones are more severe than the wider ones. Splitting the point have two effects: less air resistance and smaller impact surface, so they are more severe.

 

Whips: With similar weights, the ones with less tails are more severe, because the energy of the impact is concentrated in less points. The thin points can easily cut the skin.

 

Published:12/02

Rev: 09/19/03