The Forum - Question of the Week #48

Hello all.  I hope you had a great week.  Last week's question provoked some great responses that entailed some reality testing regarding the extent to which each of us is really willing to take on a 24x7 Domestic Discipline role, whether as the giver of discipline or the receiver.  This week, I underwent a bit of unexpected reality testing of my own regarding the extent to which I am really ready for a full-on Female-Led Marriage, including in the context of being directed or led, but without spanking involved.



How am I reacting?  It's mixed.  Part of me is elated that she is stepping up into a role that we have talked about and talked about and talked about.  But, when she is actually bossing me around and I have to drop what I am doing to serve her, I resent it to my core.  I have always had such deeply ingrained anti-authoritarian tendencies--to the point that one could truthfully call it my defining characteristic--it is just really, really hard for me to take orders from another person without bristling.  I've learned to do it a bit in the work world (but only enough to avoid getting summarily fired), but to be subjected to someone's orders at home is a new experience.

Well, at least, it is a new experience when it is happening as part of our daily interactions, as opposed to when she is informing me that I am going to be punished or when we are in the middle of a punishment session.

Which brings me to this week's question:  Would you still be into the idea of a Female-Led domestic discipline relationship if it did not involve spanking?  What if the spanking aspect were wholly removed and it was, instead, just about living under someone else's direction or control?  Or, for our Disciplinary Wives, is the spanking element of your DD relationship a necessary part of it for you, or would you be OK with the relationship if you got to exercise control over your mate but spanking was not part of the picture?

I hope you all have a great weekend.  As always, take a moment to leave a comment in the Guestbook or contribute something to the User Stories.

Dan

Question of the Week #49 - And Re-Opened Poll

Happy Friday to everyone.  I am not going to be close to a computer for most of the day tomorrow, so I decided to get an early start on this week's question.  Before we get to it, however, I wanted to point out the poll on the right side of this blog page.  I put it up some time ago, but Blogger's poll gadget was not working for the last several weeks.  It now appears to be working again, so please take a couple of seconds to tell us your status.

This week's question is a bit of a reaction to one of the comments on last week's question.  One of our readers had commented that his wife spanks him after he has an orgasm, as it takes the "fun" element out of the spanking.  I quipped that we have not done that, and I really don't want to, as I want to be disciplined, but perhaps not that much.  Another commenter then observed: "Dan to say you want to be really disciplined .. but not that much doesnt show to me at least, that you are ready to hand over control or even have controlled seized from you."

For the most part, I disagree with that comment, but it depends a bit on what the commenter means by "ready" to hand over control.  I am ready in terms of knowing that I do want to give up control.  And, if my wife would simply seize it from me -- even better.  But, that doesn't mean that I find giving up control to be easy.  Not in the slightest.  And, for us, that is kind of the point.  I am a naturally controlling personality, and my intensity level is pretty high.  But, I know I would be a happier, better adjusted person if I could learn to temper my controlling nature.  And, that is why I was so fascinated by domestic discipline when I first stumbled across the concept.  Fascinated, but also truly terrified at the thought of giving up control in that way.  Particularly when I read stories about men crying from their wife's spanking.  Sobbing during a spanking would, in my view, be the ultimate act of surrendering to my wife's authority.  But, the fact that it still has not happened is some indication that I have not fully surrendered.

So, I am "ready" to hand over control, in terms of I do want to do it, but I also recognize that it is a work in progress, and part of me really resists it.  And, I find the non-spanking elements of a DD or FLR relationship the hardest part.  My wife and I have talked a lot about her being more dominant outside the context of a punishment session.  Really taking control 24/7, bossing me around more, telling me exactly what she wants me to do, etc.  And, we've talked about trying non-spanking punishments, such as grounding me for bad behavior.  I do believe that our relationship will go in that direction over time, but I also find it very, very hard to submit to it now.  When she does order me to something, I resent it and always feel myself wanting to rebel.  At those times, my commitment to DD is shaky.

So, that is my question for those who are in a DD or FLR relationship:  Does it ever just seem too hard sometimes? Do you ever regret adopting a DD or FLR lifestyle.  Or, on the other hand, is submission something that you find natural and easy?  Also, I've asked this before, but I still want to get more answers:  If your partner did not start out as the dominant, controlling party, how did she grow into that role, and were there particular things you did to reinforce it?

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Dan

The Forum Question of the Week #48

Hi all.  Welcome back.

Confession time here at the Forum.  As is often the case, I come into this weekend tired and in recovery mode.  My job requires a lot of traveling, and a lot of socializing with customers and others.  And, when I'm not out with customers, there are the constant temptations to go out to discuss something with a colleague, over a drink.  Or a junior member of the team wants career advice, over a drink.  Or we got a major victory and everyone wants to celebrate, over a drink.  The net result is that most weeks, I hit Saturday and, instead of being able to really enjoy it,  I'm trying to recover enough energy such that I can start the whole cycle over again on Monday.

I bring this up in the context of our domestic discipline situation.  My tendency to let the workplace alcohol consumption, the late nights, and the intensity of the job get out of hand were some of the reasons we started down this DD path in the first place.  Yet, while we've made progress, ten years down the line the original problems still have not been fixed.  While I have to take 90% of the responsibility, I will place the remaining 10% on one factor: lack of consistency in our FLR and DD activities.  We have never quite gotten to where my wife really is exercising her power over me 24/7, fully embracing it and making me submit to her wishes, including her wish that I stop some of the unhealthy habits and pull back on the frenetic pace.  And, a lot of my bad behavior goes unpunished, often because our lives are so busy and there are kid and other distractions.

So, this week's question is really two related questions, one of which appeared recently over on Hermione's Heart.   First, have you had times when bad behavior went unpunished, and you knew you really needed a spanking, but it didn't happen?  Did you do anything about it?  How does it make you feel and impact your FLR or DD relationship?  Second, for those of you who have made that jump to a real, consistent FLR relationship, where the wife exercise firm, consistent control, how did you get there?  On the latter question, I would love to hear from some our DD wives on how they made the mental leap into the full-blown leader in the relationship.

Have a great week.

Dan

The Forum Question of the Weel #48

Hi all.  Welcome back.  I hope you had a good week.  Let's keep this week's topic both timely and simple:  Tell us about the last spanking you received or gave.  What did you do (if anything) to deserve it?   Where did it happen?  What implements were used? 

So, share with our little group:  What was your last spanking encounter, whether on the giving or receiving end?  I may move some comments to the User Stories tab, which is still pretty light on content, so please let me know if you would prefer I not do that.

 And, as always, please take a moment to fill in the Guestbook.

The Forum Question of the Week #47: What's in a Name?

Hello all.  Welcome back after an abbreviated work week.  This week's question extends from a discussion I got into over the course of commenting on an entry on another blog.  This particular blog has Femdom in its title, and in that context my comment included a reference to "Doms."  The author corrected me, saying that she usually does not refer to herself with that word, preferring the term Mistress Wife. The next week, there was a discussion about male subs and the word "sissy."  The discussion was engaging, as many different readers commented on their own or their spouse's personality and how it fits or does not fit that particular label.

And, it is that issue of labeling that is the impetus for this week's topic.   We humans seem genetically predisposed to putting ourselves, and everyone around us, into little boxes.   If you take any relatively homogonized group of people and leave them to their own devices for some period of time, they will almost instantly start breaking down their little group into sub-groups and assigning themselves and everyone else into groups made up of "us" and "them."  Whole psychological and sociological treatises have been devoted to the human proclivity for separating our brethren into groups based on personal differences, real or imagined.

We in the is community of people who engage in spanking-related activities are hardly immune from this desire to separate and label.  On one hand, it can be unhealthy, and we are might be better off if were to focus more on what makes us similar instead of what makes us different.  On the other hand, differences in what we do and what we are trying to accomplish helps us engage others with similar interests and may spark some genuine discussion about not only what we do, but how and why.  So, while I think labeling can dangerous to the extent it is divisive and exclusionary, it can be healthy to the extent it encourages people to learn about other people and practices and to approach them in an open and non-judgmental way.  And, for purposes of this particular post, I'm just curious as to what the breakdown among our readership is between people who are focused on domestic discipline versus other variants of spanking-oriented relationship, within the context of welcoming them all to enjoy the blog and join in the discussion.

So, if you had to assign a label to your particular relationship or to your interest in this subject, what would it be:  domestic discipline, Femdom, BDSM, simply spanko, or other?  And, how do you describe yourself and your partner in terms of your role: disciplinary wife, disciplined husband, top, bottom, mistress, sub, or something else?  And, as you may have noticed, I have a real curiosity around how these labels conform, if at all, to how you act and see yourself outside of the spanking activity, whether at your job, in your interactions with others, etc.  So, without  judging or excluding, let's talk about how we do this thing we do and what distinguishes what we do from the other varieties of spanking-oriented activities.

I hope you all have a great week.  As always, please take a minute to fill in the Guestbook if you haven't in the past or have something new you feel like sharing.

Dan

Question of the Week #46

Hi all.  Welcome back.  I hope you had a great week and than you in the U.S. are enjoying the long weekend.

This week's question was inspired by the small tiff between two of our readers regarding anonymous posting.  As I pointed out, the vast majority of those who post on this blog do so anonymously.  And, the few who comment using some kind of identity use a fake name or a profile with no information.  So, let's explore that issue a bit.  Why do YOU post anonymously?  What are the key reasons that make you unwilling to post anything in you own name?  Job repercussions?  Social stigma?  Family will be embarrassed or won't approve?  And, why post completely anonymously instead of creating a Google or Yahoo account with a fake profile?  Do you have a desire to be more open about your DD and spanking relationship or desires? Finally, is there a downside to your decision to stay anonymous? Does it inhibit communicating or building relationships with other FLR-ers?  For the women, does it keep you from blossoming into a stronger dominant partner?

My own reasons for posting anonymously are multifaceted.  I do think there would be repercussions in my career if I were open about being in an FLR marriage.  Submissiveness is not a quality that gets someone very far in my work world.  Also, we do have kids, and I wouldn't want them to be embarrassed.  Finally, my wife is far less of an exhibitionist than I, and she is not anywhere close to be willing to be "outed," and she also would probably face career repercussions.  But, I do think that her reluctance to be more open about being the dominant partner in our relationship keeps her from stepping more fully into that role.  Kathy at http://femdom101.blogspot.com/  recently noted that one thing that helped her embrace her Dom role was having a small group of similarly situated women to discuss the lifestyle with.

Personally, if you removed the career and family issues, I don't think I would be overly concerned about social stigma.  And, I do think about what it would be like to be totally open about this aspect of my life.   And, although I have not been willing to out myself, I also feel like I need to have some identity, even if part of it is fictitious.

So, what are your thoughts on this?  Thank you in advance for your responses.  Enjoy your weekend, and be safe out there.

Dan

Forum - Question of the Week #45

Hi all.  Welcome back. I hope you all had a great week.  This week's topic:  The Selfie.  It seems like every other on-line article has some reference to taking a picture of one's self.  Whole social media services have grown up around the concept of distributing pictures of yourself to others.  Sometimes privately, sometimes not.  So, this week's question relates to those moments we save for posterity and our desire to watch or observe.  Have you ever had a photo or video taken during a spanking?  Or, maybe photographed the after-effects of one,. i.e. a bruised bottom or one striped with marks from an effective caning?  What about watching yourself in a mirror while a spanking is delivered?  If you haven't seen yourself being spanked, or observed your spouse in the act of delivering a well-earned whipping, is that something you would want to do?

I hope you all have a great week.  Please visit the Guestbook and User Stories Section, and tell us a little about yourself or if you have something off-topic you might like to share.

Forum Question of the Week

Hi all.  Welcome back.  I hope you had a good week.  Mine really was not, and it leads me to this week's question:  Is there any downside to discipline, other than the obvious downside of getting your bottom blistered in a most painful way?  That's this week's question, but here is some context for it.  I've actually been thinking about this topic for a while, but this week's events brought it to the forefront of my thinking.  This post also will be a bit more self-revelatory than usual in terms of events happening to me in the "real world", so if I come into work on Monday and someone is treating me differently, I guess I will have just identified one of our valued Forum readers.  :-)

The background is fairly straightforward, and a situation most of us in corporate America have faced at one point or another.  I was passed over for a new role, in favor of someone who those hiring for the role see as more compliant. Unfortunately, no matter how much I know that submission can be as important in the boardroom as in the bedroom, somehow at work I just cannot bring myself to submit to anyone, including my superiors.  And, this is not the first time in my career that I have taken some kind of hit for being too outspoken and too forceful with my views.

But, here is the quandary:  I was a top contender for this role, and I don't know that I would have even been in the running, had I not attracted attention in the past, and I attracted that attention by not being submissive and by not being shy about voicing my opinions.  So, while a lack of discipline cost me this job, it also helped me leapfrog a lot of more experienced people who have been there a lot longer.

So, in your own life, is there any downside to becoming a more disciplined, submissive person?  Has it made you more timid?  Has it caused you to miss opportunities or to labor in obscurity?  Conversely, for our Disciplinarians, is there a downside to you in being the controlling party?  Does the responsibility sometimes become a bit much?  Or, do you find your domineering and controlling role causes you problems in other parts of your life?

I hope you all have a great week.  If you have a moment, please visit the Guestbook and tell us a little about yourself.

Forum Question of the Week #43

Good morning everyone.  Welcome back.  How did it suddenly become May?

We've talked a little bit about openness and whether anyone else knows about our domestic discipline and spanking relationships.  Let's go in the opposite direction a bit.  For those of us who are not "out" to friends, co-workers and family, what are some of the things you do to keep your domestic discipline relationship a secret?

Speaking for my own household:

• We store all our spanking implements under lock and key.
• Spankings generally occur in the basement, in a small storage area that has become our equivalent of being "taken to the woodshed".
• Spankings generally happen late at night, with less chance that anyone might overhear.
• I have to be careful about where I undress in the gym, and finding a way to get into and out of the showers without anyone seeing by bruised bottom can be a bit of a challenge.
• I blog about DD, but I use a pseudonym

Let us know what you do to protect the secrecy of your domestic discipline relationship.  And, as always, take a few minutes to fill out the Guestbook and tell us a little about yourself.   

Forum Question of the Week #42: Disciplinary Wives Born or Made?

Good morning all.  Welcome back.  It seemed like a long week.

We had a flurry of activity from or about the Disciplinary Women in our relationships.  It was great to get some participation from the "giving" end of the DD relationships.  Many of the comments discussed how or why the disciplinary relationship came into being, and the range of responses was really interesting.

Some learned about domestic discipline from a friend or co-worker, and decided to explore it.

Some are second generation disciplinary wives who grew up in a disciplinary home and learned it from their mother.

Or from overhearing or seeing a spanking being given.

Some began with the man asking for or suggesting it, while a surprising number were initiated by the women.

At the risk of stating the obvious, regardless of how each DD relationship began, they all involve a  woman either initiating or at least acquiescing to taking on the dominant, disciplinary role.  So, my question is, are disciplinary and otherwise dominant women made or born?  Do they tend to have naturally dominant personalities, or do they learn to take control over time, possibly using a "fake it 'til you make it"  strategy of acting dominant until it increasingly becomes their real nature?  Is there an underlying interest in spanking or dominance, or do they have some epiphany that leads them to want to give it a try?  Also, does disciplining their husbands lead to changes in their day to day life, such as becoming more assertive at work or more confident in social situations?

I know the "answer" is, of course, all the above.  But, tell us your thoughts and let us know the answers as they apply to your or your relationships.  And, as always, take a moment to put something in the Guestbook if you haven't in the past or just have something new to say.

Also, I've added a couple of stories to the User Stories section (see tab above).  Drop by and give them a read, and think about adding something of your own.  If it's a short story, just put it in a comment to the story at the top of the User Stories page.  If it's longer, send me an email and I'll post it.  Have a great week.

Dan

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Us!

Welcome back everyone!  I am one of those husbands/fathers/sons who would chronically miss every anniversary and birthday if not for  electronic calendars and alarms, and even then I still screw it up more often than not.  Therefore it came as no particular surprise when, after saying in a post that this blog was "almost" a year old, I checked the date of my very first posting and found that the first birthday of The Disciplined Husbands Forum actually came and went a month ago.  Time does fly, doesn't it?

So, let's reflect a little bit on where we are.  We've gone from a tiny handful of readers to over a thousand on peak days.  Not bad.  While our number of weekly comments still doesn't approach that of some other spanking blogs, in the last couple of months we've had several people become fairly regular posters.  While participation by disciplinary women remains pretty low, we do get the occasional comment from women who haven taken their problem-child husbands firmly in hand, so to speak.  So, all in all, this group has come a long way, and I want to thank all those who come back every week to see what we are up to and perhaps contribute a line or two.

We also have learned a little bit about the people who comprise this little community.  Here are the final results of my year-long, totally unscientific poll, which included 949 total respondents, of whom:

607 (63%) identified themselves as disciplined husbands
35 (3%) identified themselves as a disciplinary female
250 (26%) are "disciplined males in waiting"
18 (1/%) are "female disciplinarians in waiting"
6 (< 1%) are disciplined females
75 (7%) are just curious

Now, again, this is a completely unscientific sampling.  In the time this blog has been up, there have been over 200,000 page views, but less than 1,000 took the poll. But, it may provide some interesting clues to the composition and motivations of those involved in TTWD.  First, it is clear that the number of men who visit this kind of blog dwarfs the number of women, by a factor of 20x.  What isn't as clear is whether that means more men are interested in domestic discipline, far more men are interested in F/m domestic discipline than are women, or do men just spend a lot more time than women visiting blogs and particularly blogs with "kinky" content.  It would be depressing if there are 20 times more men looking for disciplinary relationships than women willing to accommodate them, and thankfully the numbers do not quite seem to bear that out, given that 63% of those who took the poll indicated that they are men who actually are being disciplined in their current relationships.  That would seem to indicate that the skewed poll results come from a skewed readership, i.e. there are just a lot more men seeking out and finding this blog.  Of course, the fact that the masthead identifies it as a forum for men might have something to do with that.  Duh. See below for more on that.

We've also learned a little more in the last few days about origins and how we came to be in or to want this kind of relationship.  Here, the trends surprised me a bit.  Based on other blogs, communications with other contributors, etc., I have assumed that domestic discipline relationships usually begin with the man requesting it.  Some of the recent comments here, in the Guestbook, and on a couple of other blogs I follow are leading me to question that assumption.  People seem to be finding their way to these relationships in a variety of ways.  One began with a spanking by a mother-in-law.  Some were instigated by the woman taking control at the beginning of the marriage, and those seem to regularly involve multi-generational F/m relationships, i.e. the new disciplinary wife grew up in a household where her mother was in charge.  Others transitioned into domestic discipline after years of traditional marriage, often because the tradition wasn't working.

As for the interest in spanking, there does seem to be a common, though not universal, theme of it starting early in life.  But, as I said, it's not universal.  I had no interest at all in spanking or DD until well into my '30s.  And, there doesn't seem to be any real pattern with respect to why people become fascinated with the idea of being spanked or with receiving female discipline.  Some were spanked in childhood.  Some were not.  Some had early encounters with female authoritarian figures.  Some did not.  Some associate the need for discipline as an adult with getting it as a child, while others think that they are interested in it as an adult precisely because they did not get it growing up.

In short, I've learned a lot over this year, and I hope you have, too.  One really important thing I learned relates to my own motivation for doing this and what I want this blog to be when it grows up. When I wrote that very first post, I was not really sure where I wanted to take it.  I knew that I wanted it to be very participatory and inclusive.  I also knew that I did not want it focused on me and my own experiences.  I wanted it to be a discussion, not a journal.  But, some contributors said they wanted to hear more about my own views and experiences.   And, a part of me does sometimes want to share a particular event in my own DD life, or some frustration that I'm experiencing, etc., and to experience some real communication about what is going on in my own DD life.  Though I still shy away from that to some degree.  But, I think the recent interactivity in the comments is working pretty well, with some real discussion and exchange of views taking place, and I'm trying to share more about my own life without this becoming a confessional about the bad acts that often result in me making that trip to our basement "woodshed." 

I also have learned that I really want this blog to be a resource.  Without getting all self-important, I do think that there is a very powerful transformational element to F/m domestic discipline.  I believe there are lots of real world examples of it empowering women, helping men become better husbands, and helping previously dysfunctional couples take their relationship in a more positive direction.  At first, I was a little leery of taking the blog in the direction of a "how to" website for domestic discipline relationships, to a large extent because I did not want to step on the toes of the Disciplinary Wives Club, which was a great resource that played a major role in helping my wife and I figure out how to experiment with this idea of her exercising more authority over our marriage.  My reticence on that front was much reduced when the DWC closed earlier this year, and I now feel like there really is a void out there that needs to be filled for couples who want to explore the possibility of changing the power dynamic in their relationship by empowering the woman to take control and exercise her authority over her man, often by making him bend over her knee or otherwise prostrate himself to receive a well-deserved dose of discipline!  In that vein, just yesterday I got this very gratifying comment on the Guestbook from a Disciplinary Wife named Colleen:

"Your site has been a great help to us. I enjoy the questions you pose, and the comments that follow are very insightful. Ed approached me a few years ago about his need to be disciplined. Through your site and the things said by those who have commented, I understand a little better what needs to be done so that both of us can grow in the areas that need special attention."

That pretty much sums up what I want for this blog.  I want it be an inclusive resource, where people interested in this lifestyle come together to share ideas, experiences, tips, etc.  And, I really hope for more participation from the Colleens out there, i.e. the Better Halves reflected in the 600 men who identified themselves in our poll as "disciplined husbands."  With that in mind, what would people think about changing the name of the blog to something like the Disciplinary Couples Club, or something that better reflects something that is not just a forum for men, but something to be shared by men and women alike, though keeping the focus on the F/m variety of DD?  Of course, such an effort might flop regardless, given that the poll results do tend to indicate there just are not a lot of disciplinary women seeking out these kinds of websites.  But, again, is it because the title of the blog has indicated something not so inclusive?

In order to emphasize the little manifesto set out above regarding group participation, in lieu of a weekly topic this week, I want to ask everyone (including some of the silent majority who drop by each week but never say "Hi" even with an anonymous post) to go to the Guestbook tab above, and enter a comment.  The Guestbook has a series of suggested questions, but they are just that -- suggestions.  You can answer them or not, but please just drop a line or two about yourself, your interest in DD, and also let me know what I can do to make this blog better as we get further into year two.  Thanks again for making it a great year one!

The Forum 41 - More on Beginnings and Others Knowing

 Hello all.  Welcome back to the Forum.  I hope you all had a good week.  We had some great exchanges last week, branching beyond the original topic, which is how a good conversation should flow.  Our original topic began with kids knowing about their parents' domestic discipline activities, and we ended up exploring that and a lot more, including how people arrive at their fascination with disciplinary spankings and others knowing about your DD lifestyle.  

So, this week, let's explore those themes a little more, and I'll deviate slightly from our normal practice by raising two topics.  Both come from exchanges from reader and new contributor Bart Stone, whose comments on last week's topic included the following related to an early spanking from his mother-in-law: 

"I know most of your readers are here to exchange stories about as you call it funishment. What my wife and I have mostly falls into that category. What I wonder about is how many readers trace their fascination to some real disciplinary spanking as a child or some interaction with a female authoritarian figure. I am now in my sixties and have carried the feeling of my first experience for more than forty years. It is a powerful memory and being able to interact with others who might get it is very valuable."

- and -

"It was really humiliating, and I was so worried that she would tell someone. As far as I know she never did. It took sometime before I could bring myself to tell my wife because I thought she would not only think it ridiculous but also that I was some kind of weakling. That night as I sat with a sore bottom I was embarrassed thinking the family some how knew. A few times over the years my mother in law made some comments and gave me a look that made me go weak in the knees."

The second of those comments drew this response from me:

"I really can't imagine how embarrassing that would be. Though I've never had a real desire to be spanked in front of someone else or to have others know about our DD relationship, there is something I do find more than a little intriguing about the posts from you guys who have other female relatives who know about it. It has to add to the sense of vulnerability, that you are not only spanked by your wife, but have also been spanked by other women or the family and could be again, or at least that others know about the situation, know you are subject to a woman's discipline, etc."

So, for this week's topics, tell us about:

(1) Whether your fascination with spanking started with some early disciplinary spanking or encounter with a female authority figure; and

(2)  Does anyone other than your current or former DD partner know about your spanking and F/m discipline lifestyle?  If so, how did that come about?  How does it make you feel that others know.

I'll kick things off with some observations from my own experience.  See below.  Also, a reminder that the poll I instituted at the start of this blog closes soon.  (See poll on the right side of the blog, just below the picture.)  If you haven't done so already, please take a minute to let us know your status as disciplined male, female disciplinarian, someone who would like to explore either of those, or just curious. Also, please take a moment to go to the Guestbook section and tell us a little about yourself. 

Poll Closing

It is very hard for me to believe, but it has been almost a year since I started this blog.  As evidenced by the fact that the reader poll I put up shortly after I opened the blog closes in 8 days.  I wanted a year's worth of responses, because I wanted to get some answer to the question: "How many of us are there out there."  No matter how unscientific it might be. 

If you have not done so already, please take a minute to respond.  

The Forum #40 - When Should They Know

Hi all. Welcome back.  I want to begin this post with an apology.  Last week, I offended a reader in the course of responding to one of his comments.  Although I really did not mean it to be a criticism of him, it definitely could have come off that way.  It was the result of me being flippant and caustic, which sneak into my communications on a much too frequent basis.   And, although I was reacting to what I saw as him being subjected to discipline for an unfair reason, it ran afoul of one of the rules I try to live by, i.e. not judging other people's kinks or their approaches to DD.  Different strokes for different folks (pun intended, even if it was pretty bad).  So, I want to own up to being less than fully welcoming to a guest and contributor, and for once again showing that there is a reason I first went to my wife and asked her to become my disciplinarian:  I am an imperfect person, I make mistakes and, unfortunately, I tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly. I do apologize and will try to be a better host.

This week's question extends from a reader named Holly, who wrote a really great post in the Guestbook last week.  Please migrate over there and check out the whole thing, but here are the sentences that most caught my attention and provide the fodder for this week's topic:

"There wasn’t any time I wasn’t aware of domestic discipline. Mom spanked our dad never in front of us but when she took him into the bedroom there was no doubt what was going on and anyone in the house could hear it. I didn’t think much of it except that mom was definitely in charge which everyone knew anyway."

Those three short sentences raise a lot of interesting topics for discussion:

• Do your children know about your DD activities?
• Do you come from a DD home, particularly one one in which your mother spanked your father?  If so, how did that affect you, if all?
• While most of us with children probably try to hide our DD activities from them, would such knowledge necessarily be a bad thing?

Generations of women have been raised in patriarchal households, seeing their mothers live their lives in subordinate roles.  Would it really be so bad for them to see a woman firmly in control?  And, does the child's gender matter?  For example, if a female HoH might serve as a role model for her daughters, would the subservient father be a negative role model for boys?

When I asked Holly some of these questions, she provided a very thoughtful reply, cautioning in favor of erring on the side of keeping knowledge of the DD relationship away from the kids.  I tend to agree, with some misgivings, but it would be great to hear your perspectives.

Have a great week.  And, please take Holly's example and take a few moments to enter something of your own in the Guestbook, particularly if we haven't heard from you before.

Dan

The Forum - Qusetion of the Week #37

Hi everyone. Welcome back.  Well, we did not get much reaction to last week's topic about contracts.  The comments from the few who posted seem to all be variations of: "A contract may be a good idea at first, but only until the woman steps into her full roll as a Disciplinary Wife and starts delivering spankings whenever she feels like it."  And, rest assured, we will address that in a topic in the near future.

But, this week, let's have some fun.  Last week, Hermione over at Hermione's Heart asked what fictional character people would most like to spank.  I would like to hit that topic from the opposite angle.  What fictional character would you most like to be spanked by?

I can think of several, but right now I have a major thing for Jessica Peterson, the managing partner on Suits:

Successful.  Powerful.  In charge. Exudes control in every way.  Her entire demeanor says, "If you don't perform, or if you don't play by my rules, I'm going to sit down in this chair, put you over my tailored skirt, and beat your behind until you leave my office in tears."

So, who is your ideal fictional disciplinary wife, boss, teacher, etc.?

And, as always, please take a few minutes to say something in the Guestbook.  We haven't had new entries in quite some time.

The Forum - Question of the Week #37

Happy Saturday to you all.  Sorry for being a little late in posting today. This week's question comes from one of our readers:

"Are written contracts a good idea? We tried it twice but it didn’t work for us but know another couple who use contracts successfully and read about many others. Contracts made us self-conscious and my wife (who went to law school) thinks they are inappropriate for discipline so we use a anytime any place for any reason system which works well for us."

How about the rest of you?  Have you entered into a contract spelling out our your DD relationship will work?  Think doing so is a good idea?

As always, please take a minute to fill out the Guestbook or submit a story.  Have a good week!

Dan

The Forum - Question of the Week #36

Hi all.  I hope you had a good week.  Mine got off to a bit of a rough start.  In fact, it's been kind of a rough month from a personal behavior and personal growth perspective.  Looking back at all those resolutions I set in early January, I have gotten completely off track on almost all of them, which reflects a personal, but also a disciplinary, failure. 

Which leads me to this week's question.  Are you leading a real FLR or DD relationship on something close to a 24x7 basis?  Are you aspiring to such a relationship?  Or, are you aiming for something in which FLR or DD plays an important but lesser role? Or, is it just "funishment" and you're fine with that?

I hope you all have a great weekend and a good week ahead!  As always, please take some time to fill in the Guestbook (see tab above) if you haven't yet or if you have something new to say.  The Guestbook has a question relating to new topics, and I would really appreciate hearing any ideas you may have.  I seem to be going through a period of modest writer's block and am struggling a bit to come up with anything very interesting to ask.

Dan

The Forum #36

Welcome back everyone.  This was a strange week, and it caused me to mull some DD thoughts around a bit.  Step back and do a little self-assessment, as it were.

As you'll see from the posts below, someone using various names kept posting comments that were off-topic and just sort of juvenile.  My reaction was, first to get angry when it kept happening, and second to take my email address off the website and start moderating all comments.  Simple enough and not a big deal, right? Well, as I thought about it more, the exchange with the little pest raised a couple of issues requiring some self-reflection regarding the state of my DD efforts.

First, it became clear that what really lit a fire under me with this particular commenter was that the postings were not just silly and off-topic, they were essentially confrontational and territorial.  This blog is about domestic discipline, but this person wanted to steer everything in a very different conversational direction. That direction included starting to hurl taunts my way, call me silly playground names, etc.  In short, this person was trying to set the tone for my blog.  Reacting to that with some annoyance may have been natural, but here's the thing:  That flare of anger and resentment at someone messing with "my" area is EXACTLY the kind of Alpha Male, Type A over-the-top reaction that I have wanted to rid myself of using domestic discipline.   It is exactly the kind of behavior that has, from time to time, gotten me into trouble and limited my upward mobility in my career.   Someone invades my territory or throws an elbow, and I instantly start seeing red.  They throw a passive-aggressive elbow, and I hit them with a baseball bat.   That's the way it's been throughout my adult life, and mellowing out that need to control everything really was one of the primary reasons I wanted to explore domestic discipline.  In handing control over to my wife, I hoped to reduce my own reactivity and Type A behavior.  Well, my over reaction to a garden variety pest certainly showed I have a long way to to go.

Second, the exchange also served to highlight a distinction I have explored on this blog a couple of times, namely that between domestic discipline and Femdom.  I am obviously an advocate for exploring domestic discipline of the F/m variety, and for extending that to exploring Female Led Relationships.  That means trying to accept my Wife's direction and discipline, and encouraging her to step into that role and take control of me.   But, wanting to submit to the authority of my Wife is very different from some kind of gender-based submission to ALL female authority.  That distinction was evident in spades in the exchanges (all of which have now been deleted) with my little blog stalker.  Although I strongly suspect the poster was actually a man, he/she did claim to be woman, and I at first assumed she was.  When "she" started getting aggressive and demeaning, my reaction was not submission.  Very far from it.  This blog was my thing, my area, and I was damn sure not going to let someone dictate to me the direction it was going to take, whether that person was male or female.  And, while my territorial reaction was indicative of a problem I need to work on,  I'm fairly comfortable with this second aspect of my behavior.  I am very interested in submitting to a woman, namely my Wife, but that is a very different thing from being subservient to some other random person just because they happen to be, or claim to be, a woman.

On a related note, it occurred to me that my suspicion that my little pest is a man is itself little more than a subtle form of sexism.   I have a hard time seeing those posts as coming from a woman because they were rude and juvenile, and most of the females in my life are professional and smart.  Therefore, I just have a hard time envisioning a woman as the author of stupid and aggressively rude postings.  But, of course, men hardly have a monopoly on boorish behavior, though it admittedly sometimes seems so.

So, that has been a very long introduction to this week's  Forum question, which is related a bit to the first issue I pondered above.  Assuming you are in a real domestic discipline relationship, or want to me in one, and your goal is to use spankings and other disciplinary measures to correct bad behavior, what are some of the behaviors you are trying to correct?   You can answer from the perspective of the giver or receiver.  To get the ball rolling, here are a few of my own behavioral issues:

• Generally, letting go of control and being more open to accepting authority and direction from superiors, even when I think they are full of shit.
• Showing my wife more respect, to the point of submitting to her will even when I am convinced that I am right and she is wrong.
• Becoming more self-disciplined regarding some personal behaviors, such as over-indulging at the pub with work colleagues on too many occasions

Have a great weekend.

Dan

Oops

In my effort to conduct a little pest control (see below), I accidentally changed my settings to make this blog "private" and inaccessible to everyone but myself.  My apologies to anyone who tried to view today and was unable to do so.

Dan

New Comment Policy -- And a Personal Observation

As some of you may have noticed, my blog seems to have attracted the attention of a weird little stalker who on various days calls himself Evelyn, Cheryl, Gretchen, or any number of other pseudonyms.  He's obsessed with panty-wearing and posts about it in response to every Forum Question and at various other places on the blog.  Now, if there was anything the least bit interesting about his comments, I might leave them up, even if off-topic. However, since his postings have the intellectual and grammatical sophistication of something scrawled in crayon on the wall of a truck stop toilet stall, I respectfully decline to let him continue using my blog as the equivalent of said toilet stall.

In addition to the generally annoying quality of his posts, he seems obsessed with the idea that I wear panties. But, while I have no problem at all with that fetish and recognize it plays a role in lots of DD relationships, he is simply wrong that it is part of my particular bundle of fetishes.  My wife and I tried it one time early on in our DD experimentation, and it did nothing for either of us.  It did, however, give me a lot of sympathy for what women go through daily, because in addition to doing nothing for us erotically, the panties were just really, really uncomfortable.  They chafed and scratched and were just generally unbearable to wear.  Of course, had we gone with silky "granny panties" the sensation might have been much more pleasurable, but the visual would have been even less appealing to my wife, so why go there?

So, while I very much appreciate and encourage comments from the rational readers out there who are into wearing panties or are are ordered to wear them by their DD wives (Peter, please keep the comments coming!  Love them and love the conversation!), I have had it with my little stalker and his annoying "hee hee" sixth-grade snickerings.  So, I am reluctantly changing my settings to moderate all comments.  I will try very hard to check the queue each day so there is little delay in approving comments from everyone but my new best friend.

Also, one other change.  I deleted the former User Stories section, which was a separate blog, and replaced it with User Stories section tab at the top of the home page.  Thanks for bearing with me through all these changes and experimentation.


Dan