Dear Miss MacDonald,

I wanted to thank you for your quick reply to my previous letter. And I wanted to apologise for having addressed you as "Ms" in that post. After further perusal of your site, I now realise that you prefer to be addressed as "Miss". Upon reflection that seems only logical, since you clearly espouse traditional values.

I'm relating here an expansion of my previous missal and would be pleased if you would consider my thoughts and writing for inclusion on your site. I will try to adhere to British spelling and terminology as best as I can, for your convenience.

You may be interested to know that I am a native Scot.  I was born in Glasgow. However, my parents emigrated to the United States when I was 18 months old, so I didn't experience the benefits of a traditional Scots upbringing, such as the wearing of kilts, etc. It's fascinating to learn of the practice of petticoating in bygone years in the U.K. and elsewhere, and I completely agree that it is an idea whose time has come again.

As I mentioned in my previous letter, I became aware of a fascination with girls' clothing when I was as young as six. Since I was an only child and there were no boys my age nearby, I usually played with two girls across the street. I recall many happy hours playing with their dolls and playing house with them. I only reluctantly took the role of "daddy" and enjoyed our games much more when I could play a female role. These girls often went along with this preference of mine and would refer to me as a sister or daughter, but never a mommie. I particularly remember admiring their dresses. This was the late 50s and they usually wore short, lace-trimmed dresses which buttoned up the back.  I sometimes caught a glimpse of their panties, but they usually wore tights.

Since I was an only child, I was somewhat spoiled and oftentimes exasperated my mother. Unfortunately, she apparently wasn't aware of the benefits of petticoat punishment. I certainly didn't have the courage to express my liking of the clothes my girlfriends wore, but I do recall asking her once for a pair of plastic nappy covers. She declined this request. However, Mummy did dress me in short pants and require me to wear English-style sandals with the vertical strap, or alternately, sensible oxfords, and she kept my hair long by American standards. This was certainly not in keeping with the appearances my schoolmates presented: blue jeans, sneakers, and crew cuts. I was subjected to a large amount of ridicule, though not as much as a proper petticoating would have caused. Nevertheless, I believe that small amount of dress enforcement did me good.

I was also subjected to an occasional bare bottom spanking. I vividly recall the first one: Mummy was giving me a bath and I was fussing because I wanted to play with my toys instead. Extremely annoyed, Mummy lifted me out of the bath, took me swiftly to the bedroom, put me across her knee, and spanked me soundly. How I cried! I was put to bed and didn't get to play with my toys at all that evening.
Although Mummy didn't utilise petticoating as a means of controlling me, there was one incident that occurred when I was about eight. We were visiting the home of some friends, and I had an 'accident' and wet my pants. Since I needed dry clothing I was given a pair of the friends' daughter's panties and leggings to wear. Although I protested, my mother was firm; the daughter was the only person in that household who had clothes my size, and wear them I would. If I'd had the sense to use the bathroom instead of staying in the garden playing until it was too late, the accident wouldn't have happened. My parents certainly weren't about to cut the evening short on my account.

I was lucky there were leggings available, otherwise I might be in a skirt. Secretly, I rather enjoyed the feeling of the panties, softer and more delicate than the underpants I'd been wearing. I believe they had a floral pattern and lace trim too. I do remember enduring teasing by the girl who contributed the clothes, and the bemused expressions on the faces of the adults. I wore the panties and leggings until we got home, when it was my bedtime anyway. I suppose Mother returned those things to their rightful owner, as I never saw them again.

When I was perhaps 11 I found some of my mother's discarded clothes in a box in the cellar. These included a dress and a girdle, which I took to my bedroom. I was in the process of trying on these garments when to my horror I realised my mother was standing in the doorway watching me with a smile on her face.

Blushing, I stammered some excuse about trying to put together a costume for Hallowe'en. I'm sure this rang untrue, since the incident occurred in the springtime and Halloween is 31st October. She just laughed and told me I looked nice. She allowed me to keep the clothes. I believe it was that year that I did dress as a girl scout for Hallowe'en, the uniform provided by my mother, who at one time had been a girl scout leader. As an aside, that reminds me that when I was young Mummy took me with her to the girl scout troop meetings where I was minded by the girls. I'm sure that had a beneficial feminising effect on me.

In American high schools throughout the 1970s it was customary to wear uniform attire for P.E. classes.  Boys wore shorts and tee shirts. Girls wore gymsuits.  These were one-piece romper style outfits that snapped up the front, were often belted, and almost always had elastised bloomer-style legs for modesty.

When I was 13 we had a co-ed P.E. class one day, playing volleyball with the girls. I was instantly enthralled with their gymsuits: green, belted, and with bloomer legs, and I determined that I was going to obtain some. This happened in short order when I found one in the school's lost and found room. I took it home with me and upon putting it on found the effect remarkably satisfying. It was at that point that I began to see myself as indisputably feminine. I immediately began wearing the gymsuit to bed and around the house when I had privacy.

I obtained several more gymsuits in similar fashion and soon realised that panties were the logical thing to wear underneath them. My first pair was shoplifted from a local shop, me being too embarrassed to buy them. On reflection, if this offence were to have been detected I believe I should have been subjected to a full petticoating punishment to curb any budding larcenous tendencies. Nevertheless, I took these panties home and tried them on.

The effect was simply magical. They were pink nylon high waist briefs with full lace covering over the front and they fitted me perfectly. Wearing them I felt calm, collected, and submissive. I soon acquired several more panties and always wore them with my gymsuits. Within a short time I collected several more items of girls' clothing, most notably a couple of frilly nighties and a girls' playsuit, which was a sunshine yellow colour in a checked pattern, and with matching panties. It was rather small for me, but being light-framed I was able to fit into it for some time.

My last two years of high school included a personal tragedy. Both parents died, and because of this I missed a year of school, and had to take a double P.E. class for graduation requirements my final year. My P.E. teacher was an ex-military man who took a dim view of the long hair styles some boys, myself included, were sporting in those days.  Exasperated with the tendency of some of the boys to neglect to bring their required uniforms to class, he announced that henceforth any boy without his uniform would wear a girls' gymsuit and take that day's class with the girls.

I don't think any of believed him, but sure enough several weeks later one boy showed up unprepared. After setting the rest of us to calesthenics, he marched the offending boy into the locker room from which he emerged shortly, red-faced in a girls' gymsuit, and shuffled over to the girls' class on the other side of the gym. This occurred again a few weeks later to a second boy. Of course word spread around the school in no time, and these boys were subjected to merciless teasing.

Due to my now well developed passion for gymsuits I managed to gather up the courage to see if I would be subjected to the same dressing punishment. I was. I was marched back into the locker room , handed a gymsuit, and told in no uncertain terms to get dressed and report to the girls' gym teacher straightaway. He also suggested that I get a haircut and arrange to have my gym uniform brought to school before my second class that afternoon. I explained that I had no parents and the young married couple who had taken charge of me were not available, since they were both graduate students at the local university and were in class all day.

I dressed as he instructed, and, trembling as I exited the locker room, became conscious of the titters of my classmates. The girls' gym teacher was a willing participant in this method of discipline, and immediately placed me in the charge of two of her more athletic girls. I believe they were both active on school sports teams. They were to ensure that I participated fully in the activities of the day. As luck would have it the weather was nice and class was held out of doors. We were to play girls field hockey in the field adjacent to the school. So out we went with me in full view of nearly half the school and soon my minders had me running up and down the field chasing the ball with my hockey stick. At the end of class I remember one of the girls remarking that I had been so much more cooperative than the other boys who had been similarly punished. I lingered as long as possible before returning to the locker room but was still subjected to a thorough teasing by the boys. The two who had been through this before me, however, were strangely silent.

Since I had a second class that afternoon, I was subjected to a similar routine, minded by a second pair of girls. Word had gotten all over school by lunchtime and the classmates in the second class knew what to expect, and were teasing me already. And this time I didn't have the opportunity to go out to the gym unprepared. The teacher simply walked up to me and handed me the gymsuit I was to wear, and pointed in the direction of the girls' side of the gym.
I underwent similar discipline on two other days that year. To my knowledge, no other boy forgot to bring his uniform to class, or if they did they made arrangements to have the missing things brought to school or missed class altogether. I was the only one subjected to it multiple times.

Sadly, I'm afraid this kind of discipline is missing from schools today. While mine was a case-specific example, and it admittedly was something I craved, I believe petticoat-style punishment would do much to remedy the bad behavior, falling test scores, and general chaos that is so prevalent in schools today.  Instead, children seem to be allowed to wear whatever provocative or offensive clothing they wish, be rude or threatening to authority, and generally create a disharmonious learning environment.

A few American schools are requiring uniforms for class attire, but this seems to be the exception to the rule. It seems to me it would do no harm whatsoever to require disruptive boys in those schools to wear the girls' school uniforms for a prescribed period of time.  Indeed, it might do a world of good. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the "progressives" would likely stand in the way of any attempt to do this, citing 'mental trauma' or some other such nonsense.

I've rambled on far too long and will save an account of my further experiences for a future letter. Again, I want to tell you that you have a wonderful site and that I am in complete accord with your ideas. I neglected to bookmark it so I can't cite the date, but one of your pages contains a picture, submitted by one of your contributors I believe, of a brother and sister, similarly attired in pink dresses, white tights, and shoes. I'm assuming the picture is authentic. I can't help but be struck at how happy and well adjusted the boy appears. He clearly understands how lucky he is to be so attired and to have a loving elder sister to help him find his proper place in the world.

I'm not a parent, but if I was I'd definitely utilise traditional petticoating, applied firmly but lovingly, in the upbringing of sons. This would, of course, include my setting the proper example by wearing my own appropriate feminine attire. I really do believe that a matriarchial society would be vastly more beneficial for humankind.
Keep spreading the word,
Respectfully,

Mikki

Mikki is also the author of a short note on the General Correspondence page. This is an excellent letter, which described the once-common practice of 'fancy pants' punishment for male school pupils who had 'forgotten' to bring their physical education shorts and t shirt to school. There is at least one other letter in the archives which describes this practice. Of course in this case Mikki was a willing participant.

Petticoating aside, getting rid of school uniforms had a calamitous effect on American education, along with the replacement of rigorously examined learning by sloppy left wing tripe, and an unending series of progressive 'experiments', all of which were patently idiotic, and all of which failed dismally, before they were replaced with some new experiment using children as the laboratory rabbits. Of course it has happened over here too, and in all English-speaking countries. To me, the only solution is the complete separation of education and state, like the long-standing separation of church and state, and for the same reasons.

Thank you for this delicious memoir Mikki, and thank you for finding the time to write. It is readers like you who keep the magazine going.
Susan