Lite spankings

Remember my claim that spanking is becoming more mainstream in the press? I've seen more and more mentions of our favourite topic in the papers, and with one notable exception, the coverage is mostly tolerant. Ignorant, yes, and any discussion of sexuality that doesn't try to turn the whole topic into a joke is still rare, but that's British prudery for you. Humour is one of the oldest responses to discomfort, after all.

I don't read the free London papers often - they're worst than the tabloids for small-minded bigotry, consumer mania and celebrity obsession - but I found myself on the bus tonight with nothing to read except the abandoned copy of the London Lite on the seat beside me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered not one, but two startles within its pages.

The first was an article about Kate Moss's first appearance on the catwalk after a four year absence alongside Beth Ditto. The photo showed Kate wearing a dashing top hat and carrying a sleek black walking cane; the caption read Whipping girl: Kate Moss gave Ditto a "thrashing". I assumed this was a bad pun until I read the article:

When the show started, [Kate] ran to the side of the stage and grabbed a top hat and whip from the rails. She then started whipping Beth for fun, more as a kind of show. She was overheard joking "I'm going to be your pimp tonight". After the show Kate took Beth to her North London pad to continue the party.

I sincerely hope Beth Ditto was a willing participant in all this ... but if so, I've have loved to be a fly on the wall at that party.

So I was thinking about how the symbols of burlesque and BDSM have become increasingly fashionable, and how trendsetting supermodels have the freedom to be publically outrageous in ways that lesser mortals can't.

Then I turned the page, and found this in the letters section:

Really, what a lot of babies all those X-Factor judges are! If my children sniped at each other and generally behaved like they do, I would have to spank their bottoms and make them stand in the corner for an hour or two.

Which is pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum to celebrities prancing around on stage. And I don't approve of the use of corporal punishment on children. But those are the kinds of words that have sent a thrill down my spine since I was first able to read, and I wasn't expecting to find them in the London Lite, of all places.

So Kate Moss pretending to cane Beth Ditto on stage is sexy, funny and glamourous? You have to wonder what the same journalists would think of me reading that sentence on the opinions page, and getting all squirmy.