petticoat punishment

It has been regarded by some fetishists as having a history where this was a form of discipline in which, through forced feminization, disobedient boys were made, usually by their mothers, to dress as girls [1]. Evidence of real application of this type of discipline, in a non-erotic setting, has not been noted.

Their purported transformation usually included being forced to wear makeup and to carry dolls, purses, and other items associated with girls [2]. Sometimes, boys were made to perform tasks that they considered to be "girls' work" and to appear in public in girls' clothing with their mothers, who occasionally dressed in matching outfits. Some people claim that for the mothers, pinaforing sometimes had a sexual context, and many mothers who disciplined their sons in this fashion either had long wanted daughters or found it erotic to feminize their sons [3]. In addition, according to the folklore of people with this condition, this type of castigation is found in the history of some of those who later develop Transvestic fetishism [4].

Techniques

This fantasy/roleplay revolves around the male frequently being made to appear nude, before being dressed as a girl, either in front of his mother, his sisters, or, in some cases, girls of his own age whom he had offended by his boorish behavior [5].

Spanking was also sometimes added as a pinaforing component to punish the boy further [6].

Political incorrectness

Stella Gonzalez-Arnal of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hull sees pinaforing as a "politically incorrect form of sexuality" in which "women's clothing and women's traditional occupations" are regarded "as inferior and humiliating; reinforcing undesirable stereotypes by characterising females as submissive, passive, helpless and subservient" [7].

Petticoat Discipline Monthly

Petticoat Discipline Monthly featured letters by pinaforing mothers and articles on such topics as:

• The History of Petticoat Discipline
• Petticoating in Australia
• Little Lord Fauntleroy
• History of Corsets
• Petticoat Punishment in Erotic Literature
• Helping Mummy in the Kitchen
• Petticoat Punishment or Petticoat Pleasure?
• Panties Week

Literary accounts

A number of erotic novels of the Victorian period contain accounts of pinaforing.

In Gynecocracy: A Narrative of the Adventures and Psychological Experiences of Julian Robinson, by Viscount Ladywood [8], the author recounts his punishment as a boy at the hands of the governness to whom he is sent, along with three female cousins, after having taken indecent liberties with a household maid. Forced to wear girls' clothing as his ordinary attire, Julian, as Julia, is subjected to frequent flagellations, as are his cousins, one of whom he later marries, submitting to her dominance through continued forced feminization and crossdressing.

The Victorian classic, My Secret Life [9], contains an account of pinaforing in which the main character, Walter, witnesses the birching of a wealthy middle-aged man by a prostitute while the man wears feminine attire.

The Pearl, A Journal of Facetiae and Voluptuous Reading [10], another Victorian novel, also contains an account of the flagellation of a victim dressed as a woman, although, in the strict sense, this account does not represent pinaforing per se because the man, Frank, is not petticoated as part of his punishment but has, rather, dressed in ladies' garments to disguise himself as a woman: to avenge herself, Lucretia persuades Frank to pose as his sister and to join a ladies' private whipping club, the qualification for admission to which is the applicant's receipt of a whipping.

Additional information

For a greater and more detailed of literary accounts of pinaforing, see "Petticoat Punishment in Erotic Litearture" by Peter Farrer [11].

For those who are interested in pinaforing, MacDonald recommends the following books:

• The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny
• A History of the English Public School

See also

• Cross-dressing