As women, our interest in this excellent site obviously indicates our enthusiasm for the subject of petticoating the men in our lives As an enthusiast, like most visitors to this site, I have read a great deal and recently have been in reflective mood, considering the whole subject, and my thoughts on the various aspects of the art which one encounters on one’s literary travels.

First of all you will note I use the word “art” in my title to this piece. I was undecided whether to use this or “The Science of Petticoating”, but, in the light of my dislike of science in my far-off schooldays, I decided that something as enjoyable, and allowing such scope for creativity, had to be an art.

In seeking out literature on the subject, one must differentiate between “transvestism”, or cross-dressing, and “petticoating”. The former relates to men who voluntarily indulge their wishes to dress and behave as women, and good luck to them, however they have little to do with the enforced petticoating of reluctant males that we visitors to 'Petticoat Discipline Monthly' so enjoy. Petticoating literature then seems to further divide into “adult babies” and what I suppose could be called “she-males” or “male maids”. The former is quite rightly catered for in 'Petticoat Discipline Monthly', but holds little interest for me personally. I can see that the helplessness engendered by enforced regression to babyhood may be attractive to some dominant wives, but I far prefer my petticoatee to be adult, active and useful in his subordinate role – the attraction of having a baby around the house has long since waned!

Having established the particular area in which my tastes lay, there is then a further sub-division that one encounters in the literature and correspondence on the subject. This is one that may not be obvious, and which some people would not acknowledge, but which I think exists nonetheless. This is between “Petticoat Punishment” and “Petticoat Discipline”. It may be felt that these are the same, but I don’t think so. The former to me implies a short to medium-term “short, sharp shock” as a punishment of a man for a particular misdemeanour, applied as a corrective measure in the same way as, say, corporal punishment.

Petticoat discipline, on the other hand, implies to me an ongoing regime, where the petticoated male is disciplined into a long-term lifestyle of proper subservience to his lady. Those who have read my previous correspondence will know that this is what I have achieved with my husband/housemaid, Penelope. I will try to explain and give some examples of what I see as the difference between “punishment” and “discipline”, and also show how the methods of some of the correspondents have been useful to me over the years. This exchange of ideas is one of the main benefits of a publication like 'Petticoat Discipline Monthly', and I am always willing to try something new!

Recipients of Petticoat Punishment typically seem to be husbands who have been caught out “playing away”, boyfriends similarly unfaithful, or, in either case in some other way mistreating their wife/girlfriend; work colleagues, or superiors, who treat female workers disrespectfully, brothers who have physically or verbally given offence to a sister, and unruly sons, usually of single parents, whose mothers use skirts and petticoats to bring Junior into line (I should state here that this last holds little interest to me, I prefer my petticoating to be of grown men who present more of a challenge).

In most of these cases the punishment is decided upon, and carried out, with the assistance of other strong-willed ladies. This is often the wife’s mother and/or sisters in husband-punishing situations, or a vengeful group of fellow-employees in work-place retribution, or friends of the girl-friend or sister in those particular situations. Almost always, the punishment involves a degree of public humiliation, with the exposure of the hapless victim to selected interested parties, or, in rare cases, to the world at large.

Husband-punishing seems to be the most popular topic in this area. An early story from 'Janus' (which, in its early years carried a wider range of subject matter before becoming a specialist spanking publication) was entitled “Hair-do for Errant Husband” and was a classic of the type. The writer, a hairdresser, was invited to a friend’s house for an evening, and asked to take her equipment. Finding a group of friends present, she expected to be giving a hair-do to one of them, however a shock was in store, as she found herself practicing her skills on the husband! He had been sowing his wild oats once too often, and had been presented with an ultimatum to accept his wife’s punishment, or get out and face divorce.

He was brought, cowering shamefacedly, into the roomful of women, wearing a very elaborate French Maid’s outfit, which had been hired from a fancy-dress shop for the occasion. After being forced, to the great delight and amusement of the company to serve as a maid for an hour or so, he duly received his humiliating hair-do, (a bee-hive, if I recall) for which he had to thank the writer profusely, (and pay her!), a process which, we are informed, finally reduced him to tears. The correspondent reported that the punishment had the desired effect, and her friend encountered no more problems.

This was one of the earliest letters I read on the subject, and I found it inspirational. A few boyfriends at the time certainly felt the strength of my early petticoat discipline experiments, as, much later, as you all know, did my husband. This letter may also have been the inspiration to the perpetrator behind an experience, recounted in an issue of “Madame” many years later, in a letter entitled “Steve’s New Place in Life” Although published some time after the letter referred to above, the writer states the events occurred in the seventies, which was about the time of that letter, so I think there may have been some connection.

On this occasion, the punishment was the idea of the wronged wife’s mother. The hairdresser was invited to an evening at the mother’s home, along with two of her other friends whose presence turned out to be in preparation for a return to the miscreant’s home the following day – petticoated! The two friends, it turned out were dressmakers, who had produced pinnies and overalls, as feminine as possible, for a mysterious “new home-help” that Steve had agreed to provide for her daughter. The unwitting Steve, of course, had no idea that the home-help was to be him, and certainly none that, having reluctantly agreed to go along with the idea for the weekend, to earn his wife’s forgiveness, that he was to be presented in his new attire to a group of his mother-in-law’s friends!

Worse was of course to follow, as like any petticoated male he was now completely helpless and forced to go along with the wishes of his captors. After being teased unmercifully and forced to practice his new duties for a while, he was hit with the bombshell that he was now to be in petticoats for the weekend, and was to be taken in his new working clothes to his home the following the morning to beg his wife’s pardon, and begin his weekend of penance! The really enjoyable part came next, as he pleaded that he could not possibly walk the streets to his home, obviously a man in skirts. He was informed that if he asked really nicely, the hairdresser/ letter writer would do his hair in a nice feminine style so that he might just get away with it.

How wonderful it must have been to see this once proud, arrogant male, clad in the frilly costume of a female domestic servant, pleading to have his hair and make-up done…the mother-in-law must have been a very strong-willed woman to bring all this about, and even more so to march him, skirts swishing and swaying in the breeze, in the public gaze through the streets to his home. Regular readers of my letters will appreciate how the use of friendly dressmakers caught my imagination from reading this letter.

The introduction of exposure to public humiliation in this letter is a common theme, and, I think, a major difference between "petticoat punishment” and “petticoat discipline”. It would, I feel, be very difficult to maintain an orderly domestic routine once the sort of extreme public humiliations meted out to some petticoated victims had taken place. One that particularly springs to mind was reported in a letter to 'Madame' from a lady called Mary Tyson from Lancashire. This letter is unusual in that Ms. Tyson was not, in fact, involved in the punishment herself. The incident apparently took place at the Rochdale carnival in 1991, and, again unusually, is supported by newspaper cuttings showing pictures of the miscreant in the carnival procession (though there was not, of course, any explanatory text).

Apparently a man of about 45 was delivered to the starting-point of the carnival by a woman of about his own age, presumed to be his wife, and a younger woman. The man, who appeared panic-stricken, was dressed in a very short, pink satin party frock, with full petticoats, a matching bonnet, frilly knickers, apparently often visible under his petticoats, and tights and black patent pumps. He was then abandoned to walk the length of the carnival, to huge ribaldry and hilarity from spectators and fellow-participants. (Ms. Tyson appears to have been a spectator). He was then apparently left waiting in the carnival field a considerable time, steadfastly refusing to answer numerous gleeful questions as to how he came to be there, before the same two ladies turned up in their car to whisk him away.

Can you imagine that? What on earth had he done, and how much in their power must he have been, to have to undergo such an abject humiliation? Ms. Tyson had failed to find out any more information than that related, and actually requested any 'Madame' readers who knew any more to write in. Some correspondence followed, and a few theories were advanced, but as far as I know, no further light was ever shed on the story. As nobody seemed to know any of the people concerned, I would surmise that they came from a different area, and that the punishment (which, there seems no doubt it was) had been carried out away from people who might have known them. A small mercy I suppose, though I doubt the frocked and petticoated victim was all that grateful that afternoon! Doubtless he had thoroughly merited this awful humiliation, and I’m quite certain it would have been totally effective, as he would have done anything necessary to avoid a repeat of it.

A particularly fertile area for petticoating as a punishment would appear to be the work-place, especially where the majority of the work-force is female. Stories abound of humiliating punishments and initiations inflicted upon hapless males by groups of their female colleagues. One of my favourites was the letter entitled “Clive’s Comeuppance”, which I referred to in a letter to your website last year. As you may recall, the punishment of the said Clive, a supervisor in a women's wear factory, for his arrogant behaviour to the girls working for him was a classic. His petticoating in the most outrageous of frilly costumes, and his subsequent exposure to the entire workforce in his humiliating attire, undoubtedly cured him of his male chauvinism very abruptly.

The excellent 'Madame' magazine, sadly no longer published, printed several letters over the years concerning workplace-related petticoat punishments. One letter entitled “The Punishment Gang” related how a group of office girls had enticed their “wandering-handed” young male manager to one of their flats, got him into a compromising position and then had all burst in to catch him making advances to their attractive colleague.

It would appear the company’s rules forbade manager/staff liaisons, and the man was presented with the ultimatum of going along with their plans, or being reported and risking dismissal. Their “punishment plan” for him consisted of forcing him to dress in some 50’s style dance costume style of outfit they had got together from various of their mothers’ attics, giving him a hairdo, insisting he learned and performed a little dance whilst singing “I Enjoy Being a Girl”, and posing whilst various embarrassing pictures of him were taken, to be used against him in the future. Finally, he was taken outside and bundled protesting into their car, before being driven two or three miles away and kicked out of the car to find his own way home in his finery. [I have published this letter as 'The Office Girls' Revenge'. There was a following letter I believe.]

He certainly stopped being a nuisance to the girls after all that, in fact, with the threat of the photographs hanging over him they had quite an easy life from then on until he left soon after. Clearly, the photographing of the petticoated male during his humiliation, is a very powerful weapon, and the threat of the pictures being shown to various key people, certainly ensures that he toes the line in future. As you know, I use this method myself. It’s amazing how the threat of exposure to certain people keeps Penelope on his toes, despite his being regularly “on show” to 50,000 plus like-minded visitors to your website.

Another letter on the “workers’ playtime” theme was submitted by a witness to a punishment rather than a participant. The letter writer was in a pub enjoying a lunchtime drink when a group of women from a nearby factory came into the bar. She and her companion watched as the group found tables etc. and they were struck by the fact that one of the girls seemed to be the object of a lot of derisive laughter, and that also she was wearing a short, tight skirt and black stockings with her overall, whilst the rest of the group were all wearing trousers. Only when the “girl” was pushed, tottering on obviously unfamiliar heels to the bar to buy a round, did they realise, to their astonishment, that the “girl” was in fact a young man!

His plight now obvious to all, he quickly became an object of ridicule to the bar staff and all the occupants of the crowded bar, and spent a very humiliating half-hour or so. Apparently the writer learned the story behind this case when meeting one of his tormentors in the toilet. It appears he was a rather stuck-up holiday temp at the factory, apparently a college boy. He had managed to get up the noses of most of the down-to-earth girls on the factory floor, and the last straw had been when he had sounded off in the canteen the day before about how unattractive they all looked in trousers. They had decided there and then to give him the opportunity to find out how impracticable skirts were as a working garment. He had been grabbed before work, frog-marched into the ladies' toilet, stripped and given the option of putting on the clothes they provided or spending the day naked! He had spent the morning the object of much ribaldry and wolf whistles, and then had been informed to his horror that the least he could do to thank the girls who had kindly lent him there clothes was to take them for a drink. Very much a case of the punishment fitting the crime, and I doubt that young man criticised any women’s choice of dress again.

The letters show that uncompromising petticoat punishment and public exposure must be a very salutary lesson indeed. My own occasional much milder semi-public punishments of Penelope, such as the shopping trip to buy his pinnies, and the night-time walk to the post box as previously related, are very traumatic for him, God knows what traumas must have been caused to the recipients of the above treatments. There is no more effective means of punishment for an arrogant male than a good dose of petticoating.

Another intriguing point is that invariably, we ladies, when confronted with a petticoated male, react with such teasing, tormenting glee. From my own experience when introducing new friends to Penelope, I have never found one showing him much pity. We all seem very happy to jump on the bandwagon and increase the unfortunate victim’s discomfiture by whatever means possible, the more so, I expect when he is being punished for some upset to a friend or colleague as in the letters above. Why do we enjoy the predicament of a helplessly petticoated man so much? I don’t know, but the enforced petticoating and frocking of an unwilling male, especially when accompanied by a degree of humiliation, is great fun, and why shouldn’t enjoyment for the punishers be as much a part of the punishment as the humiliation of the victim?

I would now like to move on to the area which I regard as my personal speciality: that of Petticoat Discipline. Readers of my correspondence with Miss Macdonald will be well aware of how I have used a succession of elaborate petticoats, frocks and pinafores to gain absolute control in my relationship with my successful businessman husband, known to you all by his house-maid name, Penelope. I like to think that this is a good example of how to gradually condition a man with all the normal undesirable male attributes into someone who provides me a lifestyle which I now regard as just about perfect at present.

The essential difference between this form of discipline, and my previously-quoted examples of punishment, is that my methods are designed to provide an ongoing relationship which is to my satisfaction. The petticoat-punishers, on the other hand, are exacting retribution for wrongdoing with, in many cases, little thought or desire for there to be any relationship after the event. I would accept that in some cases the short, sharp shock treatment may have been used to rectify a situation in the hope that the man would see the error of his ways and become a more satisfactory partner, but I have difficulty seeing how, after some of the events described, any sort of normal relationship could have continued.

By contrast, in my case, and in most of the other cases I will look at in this article, a relationship built on love and respect has resulted. My husband continues to work hard at his business to provide us with a comfortable lifestyle, but in our domestic situation has become conditioned to accept my absolute authority without question. After my careful training he has come to accept this situation as normal, so I rarely get any difficulties from him. Thus Petticoat Discipline has provided me with a man giving me a good lifestyle, an attentive and obedient housemaid, and a very good lover (Yes, as mentioned previously our sex life is excellent, especially after some of my humiliation sessions).

Apart from the circle of my friends who witness events such as the modelling by him of one of his newly-created uniforms, his domestic situation remains a separate part of his life. This is important to my regime, as the threat of exposure to a wider audience remains one of my most powerful pressures on him to “keep in line”. The occasional “showing” of Penelope is a useful, and very entertaining, way of keeping him on his toes, and a reminder to him of what might lay in store if I ever became dissatisfied with him.

A situation which seems to crop up fairly regularly in petticoat discipline correspondence is the domination by an older woman of a younger man in a mixed-age relationship. I can well see that, in such a relationship, a degree of discipline might well be needed to keep the younger man on the straight and narrow and away from the temptations of girls of his own age, and a number of ladies seem to have found that a regime of enforced petticoating provides just the answer. Two excellent letters, again to 'Madame' magazine, illustrate the point nicely, and from both points of view.

In the first, the young man openly admits his attraction to the “lady of a certain age”, who apparently was an acquaintance of his mother. Fascinated by this “handsomely-built woman”, who appears to have been a divorcee with something of a reputation as a man-eater, he seeks a way into her bed, and cleverly (he thinks) picks up on a comment that she is having problems maintaining her garden, and offers to help out. The lady obviously quickly realised her opportunity, and doubtless by using her expertise to provide the young man with an experience he had not known from girls of his own age, soon had him very much at her beck and call. He soon became conditioned to carrying out more “female” housework tasks when unable to work in the garden, and, to his embarrassment, was soon wearing a pinafore and a headscarf to deal with such tasks.

The day arrives when a “surprise” visit occurs by a couple of the lady’s friends. He is, of course, mortified to be caught in what he regards as humiliating attire, however, worse is in store. Teased by the new arrivals about his pretty pinnie, he is requested, to the accompaniment of much ribaldry, to provide tea.

A remark about how the “pretty maidservant” would look so much nicer in skirts is quickly seized upon by his mistress, and he soon finds himself in a pretty floral summer dress, with his pinnie tied firmly over it, spending an hour or so amusing the company. He admits that, following this he was so excited that, once the friends had left, he found their love-making more enjoyable than ever. The die was cast, he thereafter spending many months as the “male housemaid” of Elsie, his mature lover, an arrangement that seems to have been very satisfactory to this clever woman.

I find it interesting that even in this account, written a number of years after the happenings described, the writer still seems to think that the events of that morning were pure chance. I am quite sure that Elsie knew exactly what she was doing. A few weeks of conditioning had got the lad used to his subservient role and to the wearing of a pinnie. The friends had obviously been invited at a time when he was going to be thus attired, and had obviously been chosen as women who would find his situation amusing, and could be relied upon to steer the conversation in the direction it took. As the writer admits, he became putty in the hands of this woman, and spent a period under “petticoat discipline” that shaped his outlook for life from then onwards.

This letter seems to demonstrate very clearly my point about how petticoat discipline, skilfully applied to a susceptible man, can produce a very satisfactory longer-term relationship, certainly for the lady concerned, and very probably for the male. In this case the young man will certainly have enjoyed and benefited from the sexual expertise of his older partner. He admits that he found her attractive in the first place, though he certainly didn’t anticipate the depth of involvement she enforced. Incidentally, 'Madame' magazine illustrated this letter with a quite superb drawing, I believe the best illustration of Petticoat Discipline in a domestic situation that I have seen. The look of amused contempt on the faces of the ladies, and that of abject humiliation on that of the young man, captures the very essence of petticoat discipline to me.

Another similar mixed-age relationship is described in another letter to 'Madame', this time from the point of view of the dominant lady. The victim in this case is the boyfriend of her daughter, and the situation arose from an occasion where he turned up late for a meal with mother and daughter, soaked to the skin after his car had broken down in a summer thunderstorm. The mother insists that he showers and dries, and then provides a pair of her pink slacks and blouse for the boy to wear whilst they eat the delayed meal.

As he is teased playfully about his pretty clothes, the mother realises just how submissive he is becoming, and how exciting she is finding having some indefinable power over him. She insists he wears a full-length flounced pinafore whilst washing up to protect her clothes, and that he poses with her in his kitchen-maid attire whilst her daughter takes some pictures “just for fun”. Out of his earshot the two women laughingly muse on his new-found femininity, and the mother comments that he would look good in a dress. The daughter bets the mother that she could never achieve this, and that if she did get him into a dress she "could keep him, as I wouldn’t want a boyfriend who was such a wimp”. Unbeknown to any of the participants at this time, his fate was sealed.

The mother suggests that whist his clothes are drying he lets her dress him up “just for fun”. When he refuses she feigns anger, and threatens to send him home there and then in her slacks and blouse if he won’t join in the fun. Obviously rather weak-willed, he finds himself unable to resist the power of this mature woman. Reluctantly he complies, and a short while later is triumphantly presented to his girl-friend fully “en femme”. The daughter genuinely flies into a rage and storms off out for an evening with her friends, leaving the lad to the tender mercies of her mother.

As in the letter above, he finds himself incredibly aroused by his petticoated humiliation at the hands of this scheming older woman, and a prolonged and extremely energetic lovemaking session ensues. This clever lady describes in her letter how she realises that, by pure chance, this unlikely sequence of events has presented her with a unique opportunity, and determines to use her acquired power over the young man to her long-term advantage. He is informed that he is now to be her lover and housemaid, and that unless he turns up for duty the following weekend, the various photographs that have (inevitably) been taken will be made public.

As a further refinement, and to prove her power once and for all, he is told that he must buy a suitable housemaid’s costume and bring it with him. She describes how the following Saturday she waited with great trepidation to see whether he would really turn up, and the tremendous excitement she feels when he does. She insists on him dressing in very feminine undies that she provides, and his Alexandra overall that he has duly purchased whilst she watches and waits, teasing him unmercifully. This very full account goes on to describe his training, both domestic and sexual, and the various little humiliations she and her daughter put him through to enforce his status.

His mistress has a wonderful situation which she says gives her a whole new lease of life. Housework is largely carried out by her male maid, she enjoys the ardent attentions of a much younger man, and, interestingly, enjoys the company of a status symbol “trophy male” at social events. This lady keeps his petticoated domestic situation secret, the threat of its exposure being sufficient to ensure his compliance with her every demand. She describes how, at social events, her circle of friends are in awe of her and wonder constantly at how attentive her attractive young escort is to her every whim. If only they knew, she remarks wryly, what he was wearing under his outer clothes…

This young man, like my own Penelope, is truly the recipient of my idea of petticoat discipline. As long as he continues to do the bidding of his dominating beloved, he enjoys her love, and one imagines, a reasonable lifestyle, and he knows only too well the consequence of disobedience. His lady describes how the exercise of petticoat power over this apparently attractive and intelligent young man transforms her own life. She becomes far more self-assured and confident (I can personally vouch for this from my own experience), and finds that she becomes very attractive to men.  A real petticoat discipline success story!

The letter closes with her musing over an advance she has received from a very well-off man of her own age, and wondering how she could take advantage of this opportunity whilst finding a way of retaining the services of her young, petticoated lover/maid.

Another frequent subject of correspondence occurs when the lady in a relationship takes advantage of the fascination of her partner for soft, feminine lingerie or similar. Any man with such an enthralment is obviously going to be susceptible to carefully-introduced petticoat discipline, and there are numerous examples of ladies using their males' enjoyment of the sensations of wearing silk and satin to cleverly lure their partners into a web of petticoating from which there is no escape.

Those who have read my dear Penelope’s account of his entrapment will recall that it was his enjoyment of the heightened sexual response he achieved wearing my undies that started him down the road to his current situation. In all letters or stories of this nature, there comes a key point in such a process, of course, where the “game”, to the man’s horror, must become reality, and it is the handling of this moment that will determine the lady’s success or otherwise in establishing “petticoat discipline” in her home. Firmness is the key, the victim must be made to believe that the threatened consequences of refusal will be carried out, and that submitting to an ongoing petticoating regime is preferable to these consequences.

For the lady who wishes to achieve domination of a petticoated partner, this approach would seem to be possibly the likeliest route to success. From the numerous accounts that I have read over the years, it appears that a surprisingly large proportion of men find the sensation of being attired in frilly silk and satin quite thrilling, and it is not too difficult to get them hooked on the idea of lots of loving attention in return for the wearing of a few items of lingerie. The "silk road" to frocks and pinnies is then open.

I have not quoted any letters as particular examples of this type of petticoating as I am allowing myself the small conceit of thinking that the story of my own Penelope, as related in his own words in this website’s Christmas Special last year, is a pretty good example of this route to the acquisition of a petticoated and pinafored house-husband. However, one piece of fiction, a story by John Silver entitled “Showtime” is worth mentioning, as it is very well-written, and provides an almost perfect illustration of how this male weakness can be turned to advantage.

The wife in this story, whose name is Susan, leads a full social life, doing a lot of work in the community, whilst the husband, she believes, prefers to stay at home as he is “much too tired after a hard day’s work in town to want to go out in the evening”. He in fact, of course, is taking the opportunity of her absences to make free with her underwear. She, who also has a long day running her own baker's shop business in partnership with Sylvia, her best friend, is becoming a little tired of what she is coming to see as the lazy and anti-social attitude of Dennis, the husband.

She returns one evening from her Women's Institute drama group to announce that she thinks it’s about time he did something for the village himself, and that she has volunteered him to take part in the group’s forthcoming charity revue. When he asks in what way she laughingly tells him that the producer had asked whether they could get three husbands to volunteer to dress as schoolgirls and perform “Three Little Maids from School” as a novelty number, and that she had informed the group that he would be delighted to help out.

He, of course, feigns horror and reluctance but is secretly rather excited at the prospect of being able to dress in girl’s clothes legitimately, albeit somewhat uneasy about the public exposure. It is the following week, when the still unsuspecting wife brings home his costume for him to try on, that his problems start. Despite another initial show of reluctance, he really can’t wait to get into the sexy “St. Trinians” style costume that has been provided, and his wife is startled at the speed and ease with which he deals with suspenders, stockings, bra etc. Suddenly it dawns on her, the little changes she had thought she had noticed in her undies drawer from time to time are explained – her lazy husband has been trying her undies on. As he stands before her in his short gym-slip she resolves to find a way to use this new knowledge to her advantage. An opportunity soon presents itself.

The wife is taking part in a sketch with Sylvia and another friend, a comedy item involving two women and their clumsy maid, and they are to rehearse, and take some publicity pictures at their home. He is told that he can rehearse his song for them and is dressed in his costume when her partner arrives. Reluctantly, to a great deal of teasing from the two women, he performs his number, and is told that he “looks the part – just have to work on the voice”. Whilst he is rehearsing a call comes from the third lady, who plays the maid, apologising that she is unwell and cannot make the rehearsal.

They are debating what to do when the friend has an inspired idea that is to have far-reaching consequences. “Look, I’ve got the maid’s costume in my car, it’s a non-speaking part, our little miss here can fill in for us.”

As he starts to protest she marches off to her car. “I’m not dressing as a maid – I can do the part without dressing up”, he storms to his wife.

This, as in all such instances, is the moment of truth. The wife stares at him firmly: “You will dress as a maid, in fact you’ll dress as whatever I tell you, unless you want Sylvia and everybody else we know to be told what you get up to in my undies drawer when I’m not here!”

He is dumbfounded at this revelation that his secret is out and, trance-like, allows his wife and the returning Sylvia to help him out of his gymslip and into the maid’s dress, cap and pinnie. He is again mockingly complimented on his appearance and forced to go through the sketch routine. They then remember the publicity shots that are needed. He starts to protest, but is silenced by a stern, meaningful look from his wife. The ladies agree that he looks quite good, and with a bit of make-up, and if kept in the background, he will not look too obvious. So a series of pictures are taken with him in the background, ironing, hoovering and serving tea. He can’t believe he is doing this – he isn’t enjoying wearing his wife’s borrowed undies this time at all.

A few days later it’s the night of the concert. Sylvia arrives, she has taken a call from the producer to say that their third lady in the sketch is still unwell, so they will have to cancel it. She smiles at Susan: “I told her that wouldn’t be necessary, that we had a ready-rehearsed replacement,” she laughs, “I still don’t think she believes that it’s going to be Dennis.”

As Susan compliments her friend on a brilliant idea, Dennis finally explodes. “I’m not going on stage in front of all your friends dressed as a maid, your mother’s going to be there for God’s sake!” he rages.

Susan takes him firmly by the arm and leads him in to the lounge where an envelope of photographs is on the coffee table. “Don’t worry about Mother, you know she thinks you have a soft life, she’ll be pleasantly surprised at you doing something for me for a change. Anyway, I don’t think you have too much choice, these photographs could soon find themselves at your office, the golf club, all over the place really. I think you’ll be surprised at how recognisable you are doing your household chores in your nice maid’s costume, would take a bit of explaining I would think…”

She hands him the photographs, which he looks at with growing horror.

“You wouldn’t…” he begins, but his wife just stares at him evenly.

A few minutes later they are back in the kitchen. Sylvia looks at her friend enquiringly: “Oh yes, Dennis will be delighted to help out”, she says with a smile. “In fact I think 'Denys' might be more appropriate for this evening.”

The evening is a success, the schoolgirl song and dance routine being greeted with great hilarity, and his appearance in the maid sketch with much curiosity, and he finds himself being taken home by his mother-in-law, whilst the other ladies change. She makes the excuse that she has to get home quickly and there is no time for him to change out of his dress, his wife having insisted that he remained in costume for the finale.

When he gets home his mother-in-law decides to put him back into his pinnie.

“Oh no, I’m not wearing that any more,” he protests.

His mother-in-law smiles “Oh yes you are,” she mocks. “Susan’s showed me your pictures. I’m not sure she’d really have the nerve to carry out her threat, but believe me, I will, with pleasure. It’s about time Susan had some help around the house, and I’m going to help her make you the perfect little housemaid. Now get this on, and your pretty little cap, and get ready to serve drinks to the ladies when they arrive, my darling.”

So his little weakness for undies has resulted in him being thoroughly “stitched up”. He duly serves the assembled company to great hilarity, which is increased when Mother-in law informs everyone that as he has done so well "in his new role” that she has decided the arrangement should be permanent, as Susan could do with a lot more help around the house. Vanessa, the producer, agrees wholeheartedly, saying that when informed that “Denys” was to be in the sketch, she didn’t think it could be carried off, but complimented the ladies on their training, and was sure he’d make an excellent maid – she thought many of the ladies in the group could follow their example – ideally more husbands in the village might well be finding themselves in full skirts and pinnies!

The following day, whilst his wife is at her shop, Mother-in-law takes him to for an embarrassing shopping trip to purchase undies, dresses, pinnies and overalls, in which he is presented to a delighted Susan on her return, having, of course cooked her dinner in the meantime. The story ends that night, as “Denys” does his marital duty, with her threatening to employ him in the shop as a Saturday girl.  A severe warning to any man to keep away from his wife’s undies drawer, and a real object lesson of the opportunity available to any wife to turn this weakness to her advantage, I think readers would agree.

Even more easy to condition, and ultimately control, must be the man who harbours the secret fantasy of being “forced into petticoats” by a dominant woman. Again, there are numerous examples in Petticoat Discipline literature of women, who have discovered this fantasy in their man, turning it very much to their advantage. They get an obedient, if reluctant, male housemaid, whilst the helpless male discovers that the reality is a great deal different from the fantasy.

In one letter, a lady, invited to call on her friend on a Saturday morning, is startled to find the door answered by the friend’s husband – shamefacedly wearing one of her dresses and a pinnie. As the unfortunate man is sent to make coffee, her friend explains that whilst cleaning his study she noticed that a drawer in his usually-locked desk was slightly open. As she went to close it, she caught sight of the cover of a magazine with a most unusual picture. Sure enough she went on to find several magazines and cuttings, all on the theme (previously unknown to her) of petticoat discipline of the male.

Shocked at first, then curious, after consideration this wise woman realised that the situation held great possibilities for her. On his return from work, the husband was presented with her findings, and also with an ultimatum – get out and take his “disgusting magazines” with him (and she would tell everyone why he had been compelled to leave), or stay and accept the position of “weekend maid” in the household - after all, he seemed to like the idea.

After a great deal of begging and pleading he had finally accepted his fate, and today was “the start of the rest of his life” He was currently wearing some of her clothes that fitted to get him started in his new position, but wasn’t at all looking forward to the rest of the morning. The happy wife explained that her friend had been invited to accompany them to assist in choosing a range of suitable outfits for him at the local branch of Alexandra Work Wear – and the clothes would not be found in the men’s section. Definitely hoist with his own petard. (Incidentally, from the amount of times Alexandra appears in correspondence as the supplier of ladies' uniforms, pinafores etc, one must imagine that men undergoing petticoat discipline must make a significant contribution to their sales – the working day of an assistant in these stores must get quite interesting at times).

I hope this piece has not proved too long. All of the letters and stories mentioned have been inspirational in some way to me over the years, and have given me many ideas for dealing with, and gaining control of, the male of the species. As you will have gathered, I like my petticoated men to be subservient to women and certainly heterosexual. I hope readers find interest and enjoyment from this article, I am always prepared to learn from other ladies' experiences, and find the opportunity for us “petticoat-governing ladies” to exchange ideas and experiences one of the great benefits of Miss MacDonald’s superb site.

Lesley
Sept. 2002

Lesley has made an excellent contribution with this essay,

'John Silver' by the way is Maid Angela's pen name, so Lesley has been influenced by the writings of one of the senior members of staff at the Works in Grimsby. I am sure Maid Angela will be thrilled to learn that one of her stories has been an inspiration towards the petticoat domination of Penelope.

Ther's letters seald, and my two Schoolefellowes,
Whom I will trust as I will Adders fang'd,
They beare the mandat, they must sweep my way
And marshall me to knauery: let it worke,
For tis the sport to haue the enginer
Hoist with his owne petar, an't shall goe hard
But I will delue one yard belowe their mines,
And blowe them at the Moone: ô tis most sweete
When in one line two crafts directly meete.

Lesley's use of the proverbial 'hoist with his own petard' (an archaism for a bomb or mine) brings to mind these tremendous lines from 'Hamlet', the most engaging of Shakespeare's plays. The double-crossing schoolfellows are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. And Lesley's own essay is indeed one in which 'two crafts directly meete'.
Susan