Despite the bold claim of the title this is no more than a few observations about spanking erotica since the advent of the camera. Most weeks I run a feature called Vintage Sunday in which features old photographs that have some obvious appeal for a spanko readership.

Whilst actual spanking pictures are not rare as such, they are often not the most appealing. This is because the photographer often had no feel for the subject matter and was merely doing a job to order; ‘a bit of flage,’ as it is known in the trade.

I rarely explain or even know the background or context of the images, which is a shame. The ones above I stumbled upon on a short-lived Tumblr recently and I had never seen them before anywhere. They have the look of ‘flage’ about them and yet these Edwardian ladies maybe have something about them that maybe the photographer captured by accident.

I remember years ago watching a documentary about erotica (and porn) and several naked young women had to go through the motions of having sex for the camera. Once the shoot ended the impassioned women all went cool and business-like; all except one girl who was clearly lost in the experience. In the post production interview the previous self-confessed heterosexual woman admitted that she had enjoyed the experience and effectively came out as bi-sexual on camera. One wonders how often this has happened for spanking and BDSM related projects.

For me the difference between pornography and erotica is in the intent. Erotica is an art. It is a genuine attempt to explore sexuality and project either a genuine fantasy or reveal the truth of one. This is as opposed the ‘industrial’ exploitative ‘see what sells’ approach that is sadly in the majority.

The best picture not only reveal the heart and soul of what is arousing to the photographer, but carry on through to the model and is in her eyes: in short she too is touched by the scenario and lets it show.

I have included some racier BDSM images below, one of them is really quite graphic so don’t scroll down of you are of certain disposition. I do not know the artists but it is clear that no ‘flage’ exploiter could have easily faked this, the scenario’s are too specific. Also note the eyes of the woman below and those of the ‘tormentor’ in the next picture.

Maybe some of these are early amateur to or even documentary subjects, but that is the point, the artists cannot fake it, which is while they hold genuine appeal to us sometimes more than 100 years after they were taken.

Most of the artist here are unknown to me at least, but show a true feel for spanking and BDSM art right up to modern. The 1930s images above are by Carl Breuer-Corth I believe and the last image below is by Martin Zurmühle, who very much pursues this tradition.

I think it is interesting that these images all feature only women. One supposes that historically professional productions had only one audience in mind. But it is worth pointing out that there are many F/M BDSM that capture something real as far back as the 1920s and are excluded here as they are off-topic. The real shame is that M/F art before recent times was so very rare and usually have an exploitative feel.

Nevertheless, we will return to this subject and focus on M/F at a future date.