Dear Miss. MacDonald,

Having now had the opportunity and absolute pleasure of visiting your website and reading about how unruly boys have, in the past, been "brought into line" by the use of petticoat discipline, I felt I could contribute to your excellent magazine’s 'Letters' section by recounting my own rather embarrassing and somewhat humiliating experience of "Petticoat Discipline", very humiliating at the time, but subsequently leading to a wonderful and fulfilling life. I hope you will find it of some value.

It was 1971 and I was then eleven years old, and had just started my first year at Grammar School in Hove, East Sussex. My mother had to go into hospital for three weeks to have an operation. Since I was an only child of divorced parents, it was decided that I would stay with a very good friend of my mother's, whom I knew very well, and that I would address her as 'Auntie Pam'. She had three daughters; Sylvia, aged 14, Barbara, aged 10 and Pauline aged 8.

Her husband Bob was away working on the cross-channel ferries at the time, and only came home once a month for extended leave. At the time of my staying with them he had only just started a new rota so would not be around, which was a disappointment to me since he often took me fishing with him when on leave. They lived nearby, so it was the obvious solution that I should go and stay with them. On the day my mother was due to go into hospital my bags were duly packed for the three weeks, and my mother drove me to Auntie Pam’s house.

Upon arrival and farewells to my mother I was then shown up to what was Sylvia’s bedroom, who, being the eldest daughter, had the privilege of her own bedroom whereas her two younger sisters had to share the same bedroom together. Although there was a spare bed in their bedroom, it was decided that it would be inappropriate for me to sleep in that room with them, and that Sylvia (much to her annoyance) would have to give up her bedroom and sleep with her two sisters for the period of my stay, so that I could have her bedroom to myself.

I soon settled in and unpacked my clothes into a spare drawer of a chest of drawers which still contained many of Sylvia’s clothes squeezed into the other three drawers. Likewise some room had been put aside for me in her wardrobe, although this too still contained her clothes. To avoid frequent visits to "my room" by Sylvia, she would take two or three days worth of clothes out of her room and presumably found some room for these in the girls' bedroom.

I was well looked after, perhaps even "spoilt" a little, and escaped many of the domestic chores that the three girls were routinely made to do. I was allowed to stay up "late", until about 9:00pm with Sylvia watching TV, whilst her sisters had to both go to bed at 7:30pm, although Barbara was allowed to read until 8:00pm. Auntie Pam was fair and kind, but also very strict, with her children and any "minor misbehaviour" by the two younger girls was promptly dealt with - usually by them having the tops of their bare legs smacked in front of everyone, although I once saw Barbara, who had just given Pauline a punch in the stomach following an argument, an act which warranted a "serious misbehaviour" punishment, being put over her mother’s lap and after having had her skirt lifted well up out of the way, then had her knickered bottom soundly spanked by her mother’s hand. I think that this apparently normal punishment was made worse by my being in the room at the time, judging by Barbara’s pleas! I never saw Sylvia punished, although she was once sent up to bed early for breaking a teacup and I guess she was considered too old to be smacked.

After two weeks of fairly routine activity, i.e. school for all of us each day, then home for tea, then homework, then some TV time, then bath & bed, I remember that it was a Friday evening and I was bored. Since Sylvia was out at Girl Guides I suggested to Barbara and Pauline that we play a game of cards. Since "snap" was the only game Pauline knew, we all played that. However we were a bit too noisy for Auntie Pam, who was trying to watch a TV program, and we were instructed by her to carry on playing up in the girl’s bedroom which we agreed to do.

Once upstairs, and after a few more games, I boldly suggested that we could make the game a bit more fun by having forfeits for losing. The girls agreed but couldn’t think of anything appropriate as a forfeit, and so I suggested that, on the grounds that as it was nearly bedtime anyway, any time someone lost the game they would have to take off an item of clothing. The girls were not too sure about this, but after a little coaxing and being called "silly little girlies" by me, they finally agreed.

After quite a while we were so engrossed in our game, which had become quite daring and exciting because we all knew what we were doing was "naughty", we did not hear their mother’s footsteps coming up the stairs and then suddenly she was entering the room saying, "Time for bed girls". The sight that befell her eyes as she fully entered the room must have caused her utter amazement. Little Pauline was wearing just her white cotton vest and bottle green school knickers only. Barbara was wearing her similar white vest and bottle green school knickers, her knee-length white socks and one black shoe. I was still almost fully dressed except for my school tie and pullover (I must admit to cheating a little). The separate pile of discarded clothes told its own story. Next to Barbara there was a green schoolgirl’s gymslip and yellow gingham blouse, a plain white petticoat and one black shoe. By Pauline there were similar clothes to Barbara (they both went to the same junior school and had the same school uniform), plus a pair of knee-length white socks and two brown shoes.

Their mother erupted. At first she was speechless and then after a verbal tirade that seem to go on for ages she suddenly stopped and said, pointing at her two daughters, "Right, .. it's the bathroom brush for both of you, don't move either of you" and she left the room.

I was left just sitting there feeling very ashamed but thinking that I was possibly going to escape any punishment! Their mother soon returned and in her hand was a long handled, white plastic brush which was used as a back scrub in the bath. I noticed how flexible it was when she then pointed it at the two girls and said, "Get undressed you two down to just your knickers .. right now." This done, she then went to the end of the spare bed and sat on it. By this time both girls were crying and pleading to be let off, but this was like water off a duck's back to their mother.

She called, "You first Pauline, come here to me now." Each girl was then in turn hauled over her mother's lap and severely spanked by her with the bathroom brush on the seat of their bottle green school knickers and the backs of their bare thighs.

Barbara received more than Pauline "as you are older and should know better," said her mother. Once she felt that each girl had been sufficiently punished she sent each of them to the ends of their respective beds forbidding them to rub their sore bottoms, and said to them, "You realise that this use of the bathroom brush means that this weekend will be a "punishment weekend" for both of you, don't you?" To which the girls replied a sobbed, "Yes, Mummy".

She continued, "That means full school punishment uniform for both of you for the whole weekend, no TV, and an over-the-lap bare bottom spanking each night before bed. I hope you both feel very sorry for yourselves because you certainly will do by Sunday, when I’ve finished with you. Now get your nighties on right now, and get to bed, and you will keep your school knickers on for the whole night, as a reminder not to be so willing to dhow them off like two little tarts!"

This done Auntie Pam then turned to me. "Do I presume that this little addition to an otherwise innocent card game, with two easily-led children was your idea?" She asked. I replied that it was in the hope that pure honesty might somehow get me off any blame, but it was not to be, and she continued, "You are far too young to be interested in seeing young girls undressed, and if your poor mother was not in hospital I would send you home to her in disgrace and leave her to deal with you. However since that is not possible I shall deal with you myself. I am going to teach you a very salutory lesson my boy, and one you will not enjoy in the slightest nor forget in a hurry.

"Since it appears to me that you are so keen on discovering what girls wear, then you shall find out for yourself by being dressed exactly the same as they were before you embarked on this little adventure, and you will then be spanked the same way that the girls were in front of them, just as they were in front of you! Everyone gets treated the same in this house, as you will now find out! Now get yourself undressed, while I find some of Barbara’s clothes for you to be dressed in. Since you are both about the same size it shouldn’t be difficult, but, since you are slightly taller, I think her school gymslip will be quite short on you," she added with a grim smile.

The tone and authority in her voice made it obvious that any attempt to plead my way out of this would be useless, and anyway I had nowhere to go. I had to accept her punishment and just hope that it would soon be over and done with.

Whilst I undressed, keeping my underpants on as long as possible, Auntie Pam collected the necessary items of clothing from Barbara’s dresser and wardrobe. Once satisfied she turned to me and sitting down once again on the edge of the spare bed beckoned me to her. "Come here you naughty little boy, I am going to change your ways!"

As soon as I got near to her I received a sharp slap on each of the backs of my thighs. "I told you to get undressed …and that includes these things," she said, pulling my underpants right down to my ankles. "Do not defy me again, child!" she warned. "Now put your hands on your head and step out of these pants so that I can start to dress you appropriately."

Having duly complied with this she then held out a pair of Barbara’s clean, fresh bottle green cotton schoolgirl’s knickers and indicated for me to put each of my feet in turn into the opening she was creating. As she slowly pulled them up I could instantly feel how tight they were as they passed my thighs and when they were finally pulled right up high, she let go of the elastic at the waist band with a loud "snap" of elastic on bare skin and I winced. Auntie Pam just laughed and said she always does that to the girls when they have misbehaved and she has to dress them during a "punishment weekend", then she turned to the girls and added, "That’s something it seems I shall be doing a lot of this weekend for you two, isn’t it girls?" It was a rhetorical question and the girls just looked a little more crestfallen whilst sitting upright in their beds.

A clean pair of white, knee length cotton socks was then added, and the tops neatly turned over, followed by a clean white, cotton girls' vest which Auntie Pam then tucked inside my green school knickers, a very childish and humiliating experience. Next I was dressed in a white petticoat, which was first pulled over my head with my arms up and then firmly tugged down until the hem rested just below my knickers. "Hmmm …" she said, "a little bit short but no matter".

Next was a yellow gingham blouse which, once on, felt unusually tight around the chest but otherwise fitted well enough and then finally a full, bottle-green girls' school gymslip was added. After being made to turn around this was then zipped up at the back and a hook and eye were closed at the top. I felt its hem end at just the same level as the hem of the petticoat that I was wearing, and realised that this was much shorter than I had seen the girls wear theirs. I was finally made to put on a pair of girls' black strap-over school shoes which to my amazement fitted quite well with the strap at its first buttonhole.

I was then paraded around the room by my Auntie Pam who, having observed my movements, remarked, "Ooh! …That gymslip is a bit short, isn’t it girls? It's just short enough to cover your cousin's school knickers and petticoats, and that's all."

Their mother then turned back to me saying, "So, little boy … how does it feel now to be wearing a full girls' school uniform instead of just seeing one?"

I couldn't say anything, there was a lump in my throat because it felt so  humiliating and embarrassing. "Oh good," she replied "I do believe we are getting somewhere! But of course we are not finished yet, you still have the rest of your punishment to come, just like the girls did, but first I fancy a nice cup of tea, so you girls can read for a little while, while you my lad will follow me downstairs, and stand in the kitchen with your hands on your head …and I had better not see your green school knickers, so you had better stand perfectly still. As the girls know, any glimpse I get of school knickers being shown is immediately punished with four hard slaps to the tops of each leg, so beware!"

I then accompanied my tormentor downstairs, who I suspected was starting to enjoy her revenge for my leading her daughters astray, and stood rigidly to attention with my hands on my head whilst my Auntie Pam made and drank a cup of tea. We were just about to go back upstairs to "finish the last part of my salutary lesson" as she called it, when suddenly the front door was opened and in came Sylvia wearing her full Girl Guide uniform. In brief Auntie Pam explained the evening's events to her eldest daughter and that I was about to be spanked with the bathroom brush in front of her sisters. Her mother then suggested that, as always, everyone in the house should witness any punishment and insisted that Sylvia joined us.

Sylvia readily agreed, and then came my second shock of the evening. Sylvia explained to her mother that she had noticed over the last week or two that whenever she returned to her main bedroom to collect some fresh clothes they seemed to have been touched, or moved from their usual folded position, as if worn for a short time and that on several occasions she had noticed creases in her otherwise freshly ironed dresses.

"I do believe that he has been trying on and wearing my clothes, Mother, that’s disgusting and and invading my 'privacy. I give up my room to him so that he can have privacy and this is how he repays us, secretly dressing up in my clothes!" I really wanted the floor to just open up and swallow me!

Auntie Pam was absolutely livid. She called me names which I didn’t understand, and smacked the backs of my thighs in front of Sylvia whilst we all stood in the hall. Finally she said "Right … I know just how to deal with you ... Get upstairs now and go back in to the girls' bedroom! Sylvia, you follow me also," and she pushed me towards the stairs. Once back in the bedroom, Auntie Pam explained to the two younger girls what Sylvia had said earlier, and then outlined to all present my punishment.

"Firstly we will finish the original punishment, the same as Barbara and Pauline suffered.  Come to me and I will undress you down to your green school knickers, just like the girls had to." This done, I was then dragged roughly to the end of the spare bed and hauled over Auntie Pam’s lap. The bathroom brush was still on the bed from its earlier use and was now applied long and hard to my knickered bottom, and bare thighs. I was unused to such a harsh spanking, and was soon crying my eyes out and pleading for it to stop. My Auntie Pam ignored my pleas and simply said, "You are such a little cry baby for such a big boy, the girls don’t make half the fuss as you are when they get spanked, now shut up Cry Baby, and put up with it. It's meant to hurt."

Once she had finished she kept me bent down across her lap and then outlined what my new punishment was to be for messing around with Sylvia’s clothes. As she did so she would punctuate her key words with further hand slaps to my bottom. She announced to all that I was to join the two younger girls in a "full school uniform punishment weekend", just like they would be, and that for this I would be dressed in the same clothes that I had been dressed in earlier, immediately prior to my spanking, since that particular gymslip was already short enough to be a punishment gymslip just like the girls would be dressed in and, also like them, I would be made to wear two pairs of green school knickers, one too small and tight and one normal, again just like the girls would be.

My bottom would be spanked before bedtime each evening, just like them, and I would wear a short nightie and my green school knickers at bedtime, just like them. In order to be wholly fair and equal I was now to sleep with the two younger girls in their bedroom, in the spare bed, and Sylvia was to have her own room back again with me being forbidden to enter it.

This said, my Auntie Pam then told me to stand up while she found a nightie for me to wear. Again one of Barbara’s was produced from a drawer in the dresser and I was put into it, a short pink one with some frills around the hem, which made me feel very sissy and embarrassed. I was then told to get into bed along with the girls as it was time for lights out. We were all warned of the dire consequences if any talking or whispering amongst ourselves was heard, and Sylvia and her mother left the room, locking the door behind them, which apparently was an additional humiliation for the girls during a school uniform punishment weekend, as they had to wait to be let out in the morning, like little girls who cannot be trusted.

The whole weekend was a complete fulfilment of everything my Auntie Pam had outlined. I became quite used to wearing a girls' school uniform, but did not enjoy the evening spankings nor the many times I received slaps to the backs of my thighs for "showing off my knickers," as Auntie Pam would call it, although in fairness the two girls found it sometimes impossible not to show their knickers, even momentarily, owing to the shortness of their gymslips, and were equally punished accordingly.

The tightness and discomfort of having to wear the two pairs of green school knickers at the same time was quickly obvious, and my only consolation was that my two peers were also suffering the same discomfort, and it was a relief at night to have to only wear one pair, even though these were the outgrown tighter pair. Oh! How hard-nosed and strict the girls' mother was during that weekend!

I returned home to my mother (a successful operation thankfully!) at the end of that third week, and nothing more was ever said by anyone about my punishment weekend. I started dating Barbara when I was 17 years old, and we contunued going out when I went on to tertiary study. Following my attaining an honours degree in Business Finance and Administration, I quickly gained promotion with a well-known international bank.

Once, during our early dating days, and whilst waiting for Barbara to finish getting ready to go out one evening, in her house, her mother confided in me that she realised during that punishment weekend that I obviously enjoyed wearing girls' clothes but that she simply could not condone it in front of two young and impressionable children. Therefore it had to be seen to be a punishment.

Barbara now fully understands, and is a very open minded girl. I married Barbara two years after finishing university, and we are still very happy together many years later. During our early wedding days Barbara acquired two full school girls' uniforms, including bottle green cotton interlock knickers … and a bathroom brush, to ensure that I was good husband. And believe me, it worked. But that’s another story!

Best regards, and continued success with your most excellent publication,

Donald

I think that you thoroughly desrved your petticoat punishment after this card game that you describe. Admittedly it is just the sort of thing that a rather curious schoolboy might dream up. I am amazed to hear that you married your cousin, however. Obviously you weren't studying genetics at university. Please give Barbara my regards, and tell her that she has my complete agreement with regard to her methods for ensuring your good behaviour.
Susan

I have received this letter from Deni:

Hi Susan,

You may have already receive a zillion letters about your response to letter #4 in the Winter 2004 edition of PDQ; but then again, maybe you haven't.  In case of the latter, I'd like to point out an error.

You wrote:

"I am amazed to hear that you married your cousin, however. Obviously you weren't studying genetics at university."

But it is clear to anyone who actually read the second paragraph, that Barbara never was his cousin.  He wrote:

"Since I was an only child of divorced parents, it was decided that I would stay with a very good friend of my mother's, whom I knew very well, and that I would address her as 'Auntie Pam'."
With warm regard,
Deni

I would like to thank Deni - she was the only reader who spotted this erratum in my reply, and, of course, apologise to Donald It was entirely my error.
Susan