Did you read the story about the 32-year-old who became the first woman in Malaysia to be given a punishment of caning under Islamic law after she pleaded guilty to drinking beer.
She is to be lashed six times after she was caught drinking alcohol in a raid in a hotel night club. The prosecutor said the rattan cane to be used on her would be lighter than the one used on men and its purpose was to "educate'' rather than punish. She said she wanted authorities to cane her soon so the part-time model can resume her life.
Several politicians and women's rights activists have criticized the penalty as too harsh.
It is too harsh, of course, especially for drinking beer, but I couldn't help thinking about how some bloggers debate on whether they do or don't like punishment spankings. Now here is a real punishment spanking even though it's supposed to "educate.'' I assume she doesn't like to be spanked, but who knows?
Your thoughts?
Spanko Brunch 2.0 #567
4 hours ago
Educate? Educate her about what exactly? About how the law can be applied in such a ridiculous fashion? That's on par with expecting our current penal system to rehabilitate criminals. How silly.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure these sort of canings are pretty wicked, but come on...how bad are they really? Am I being naive? I'm thinking of some canings I've taken, and some I've seen, and I'm wondering how much damage do these things do? Do they break the skin? I don't mean to be flip, and I'm very sensitive and appalled at the poor treatment of women in some countries. And to be sure, if you aren't a devoted spankee, it's a lot to get your head around...being caned as punishment.
Never mind that canings as punishment in a civil society is absurd. And certainly caning a woman for drinking is beyond the pale.
But that's not the point or FloridaDom's question. A caning doesn't "educate". It punishes, it humiliates, it hurts worse than we can probably imagine. But it doesn't "educate".
Interesting...
ReplyDeleteCaning can educate. Doesnt mean i agree with this woman being caned though.
But its not the caning itself that educates, its the reason behind the caning and how its inflicted as well as why.
Certainly I dont see the education in this example though. Crazy, in my opinion.
FD hi, hope alls well with you.
ReplyDeleteShe is a model, so is she going for publicity?
Some people here in the UK who agree with this law and apparently the Archbishop of Canterbury is calling for Sharia law to operate here in the UK
It is only Muslims in Malaysia that can be flogged for drinking alcohol.
Interesting post.
Ronnie
xx
Melissa: Thanks for commenting. I think this may be your first one on my site. I agree that the spanking in this case doesn't educate.
ReplyDeleteKitty: Thank you for commenting, too. And I don't see the education in this example.
Ronnie: I didn't hear that about the Archbishop of Canterbury calling for Sharia Law to operate in the UK. I imagine that would be quite controversial.
FD
At least they are not chopping her hand off.
ReplyDeleteHello FD it's my first time visiting your site and I wanted to thank you for stopping by mine.
ReplyDeleteI have also come across an interesting topic here. I can't really give an opinion on this topic since I've never been caned, nor spanked in public. I do though have a few thoughts. I have been spanked once by my father when I was old enough to remember it ( I was 11) and it was humiliating. It was supposed to be educational, but it didn't educate.
As with children I don't think that hitting them will educate them, it just humiliates them especially if it's in public.
Whether she enjoyed it would make a huge difference. It would mean that she can be strong and use it to her advantage, for publicity as ronnie suggested, and hopefully to use that publicity to empower Muslim women. I'm sure this is not the case though.
I think that in these situations it is also important to understand what the general public think. Here I think that there are two main currents of thought, one is that she deserves it, and the other is that it's abuse. It's difficult to enjoy something when people think you're being abused or that you deserve to be hit, which I suppose is why it's so humiliating.
Just a few thoughts...
I'll be a follower as soon as I get on to a bigger computer. I can't even see the "Follow" button on this tiny thing!
FD, sorry I haven't been around to comment recently - just been busy!
ReplyDeleteHowever in regards to this post; wow, I am not sure I agree with that girl being caned for just drinking beer - however from the sounds of it she seems to be taking the idea of it well!
I have not heard about the Sharia law before, and it is certainly interesting to hear that the UK could be contemplating it.
However if the UK was going to bring back corporal punishment, I think they should start within the school systems first!
Just my two cents worth ;-)
Mrs M
In another case in Sudan a woman journalist faced the prospect of 40 lashes for wearing pants in a restaurant. The other women arrested with her were caned 10 times and fined on the spot.
ReplyDeleteI am not a masochist however I still enjoy a D/s style caning. The kind which leaves bruises for a week but doesn't break the skin.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in asia for a while (part of that time in Singapore), and am going to presume that judicial caning in Malaysia is similar in nature.
In Singapore, a rattan cane four feet (1.2 metres) long and half an inch (1.27 cm) thick is used for prison and judicial canings. It is larger and heavier than the canes used in the domestic, school and military contexts. The cane is soaked in water beforehand to make it heavier and more flexible.
The caning is so severe that each stroke is intended to break the skin. The officer administering it is required to put his full force into every stroke. The caning is sometimes spilt into sessions, so that the human body can take it.
I doubt that humiliation plays much of a part in the experience. For obvious reasons, I hope the women are treated less harshly, though I suspect that none of us would find what happens to them to be in any way pleasant.
Please don't be quite so flippant. If you would like to educate yourselves about judicial canings, please just google.
flower
Mrs. M -- Glad you returned to comment although I'm not a big fan of corporal punishment in schools. I think canings are best for consenting adults.
ReplyDeleteSin: Hadn't heard the Sudan story but some of those countries do things that are hard to believe in the 21st century.
Anon: Don't know if you're a maochist but if you like canings that leaves bruises for a week, you must like intense ones. Do you have a blog where you post about these canings?
FD
Anon: I forgot to add that you're right, I shouldn't have been so fippant. I already heard about te canings in places like Singapore and they sound like torture.
ReplyDeleteFD