On the Confinement of Young Ladies in Workhouses and Prisons

Victorian Workhouse 1

In the press at the time, a correspondence on corsets and tight-lacing was followed, in 1868, by a large number of letters supporting the whipping of girls in workhouses and prisons. A correspondence on the moral desirability of whipping and birching young women rumbled on in papers like the Family Herald, with the discussion coming to a head in 1869 in The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. Women who were held in prison could be subject to corporal punishment.

A large number of letters support the whipping of girls in workhouses and prisons. It was never explicitly stated, but only occasionally inferred that these whippings and birchings would be applied to the female posterior. The actual baring of the buttocks for punishment was never discussed.

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Male workhouse foremen held power over their female inmates. Here, one is finding fault with a woman’s work - the switch plainly visible in his hand.

All of the new arrivals were determined to avoid such a fate, little knowing that the prettier ones had been sentenced to what was in essence a private flagellation harem.

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Sent up for punishment, she was told to remove her outer garments by a gruff looking man who played a cat and mouse game. He was exceedingly polite, knowing full well that he held all the cards. She was still unnerved having to do this before a male, not to mention the thin wispy cane he was holding.

But she succumbed to stern threats of even worse. Turning her back towards him, she proceeded to strip under his gaze.

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As she turned to remove her blouse, he starred her profile in gleeful anticipation of what was to come.

Hoping to keep the punishment to just a threat, she slowly slipped down the drapery of her dress.

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A large number of Victorian era letters supported the whipping of girls in workhouses and prisons. It was never explicitly stated, but only occasionally inferred that punishment would be applied to the female posterior. In an era when showing so much as an ankle was considered provocative, the actual baring of the buttocks was never discussed.

Without fail, the first time they were whipped in prison, the women pleaded with the foremen to let them keep their undergarments on.

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“Can you not at least permit me my underdrawers? They certainly will not afford much protection.”

They would eventually slip them down only with great hesitation, and even then only after a stern rebuke.

”Why you’ve plenty of room down there for some stripes. We’ll teach you a proper lesson alright“.

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She could actually feel his lascivious glances on her bottom as she bent over the fixture.

She could not believe they would let such a crude man punish her like some schoolgirl!

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He seemed to take as long a time as possible, slowly tapping the cane several times so as to set the distance, and whisking it through the air so as to get a feel for its springiness. He drew out the time considerably.

“Now, as to yer punishment. I’ll give ya the dozen, but I won’t go too hard, provided ya put yer bottom up nice and high fer each stroke, and bounce it up and down real nice-like each time I whip ya. Else I’ll have to lay that dozen on right smart. I’ve been workin’ here fer two years. I know how to whip a bottom.”

He went on whipping her very slowly, so that she felt the full sting of each stroke across her bottom. While these strokes were not as bad as she had first feared, they still carried a fair amount of sting. To dispel the smart, she winced and squirmed every time the switch fell on her quivering bottom, and was soon swinging her hips from side to side, arching her loins at one moment, and then flattening herself down. Between her gasps she pleaded with him to "Oh, please!--Oh, please!-Please don't whip-me-so- hard! Oh! please!” stop whipping her.

… but her entreaties only brought chuckling.

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“By the time he was done, my backside sported a set of closely spaced red stripes. He stood there admiring his handiwork as I regained my composure. During the whipping I had become, quite contrary to my expectations or will, quite turned on. I was in a paradox – I wanted more but did not risk asking for such.”

“Finally, he untied me and I was free to redress and go. At first opportunity I grabbed by stinging backside and rubbed it vigorously to dispel the smart, and involuntarily taking in the warm glow.”

“But I quickly caught myself, and turned toward him hoping that he had not caught on to the embarrassment of my aroused state. He just laughed at my discomfort, commenting that I had put on a good show and that he had enjoyed giving me a whipping.”