In judicial or roleplaying punishments,it's common to declare the number of strokes beforehand. But should that be the case with other "punishment level canings? All subs vary in their ability to endure pain,so a declared number might be too much for some to take or insufficent for others. My own opinion is that the Mistress should decide how far a punishment goes,and ideally take her sub to his limit. She's best placed to judge when he's at or near his capacity. I'd be interested to hear the views of other members,both dommes and subs.

You've hit the nail on the head there, SubC. When roleplaying my Mistress always tells me what the sentence is before administering it, normally once I'm tied up and thus helpless to argue the toss anyway, but she does always keep a watchful eye on proceedings. If she thinks I'm near the edge she will ease back on the strength and/or frequency of the strokes but I always get the full sentence. However, when a (thankfully rare) proper punishment session is warranted my limits go out the window. She decides the sentence, announcing it beforehand and that's the end of it. It is then administered in full, as hard as she can and no ammount of begging or pleading has the slightest effect.

Regarding the number of strokes in a punishment session Is fine,but the number of sets should be left totally to Dime otherwise it would not work for me .It would distract from the whole purpose of the punishment my mind would be in maths mode not on the reasons why I am being punished.Also as pointed out earlier The Domme as a better view of the proceedings and can decide if the punishment fits the crime or when excessive caning could cause lasting damage to the bottom's skin where medical attention is needed.A good Domme knows by instinct which sort of cane delivers the best results on her subs as no one's skin is the same.

Best Swishes

Triksta

PS Is there Domme based South or Central London looking for a new sub?

A Mistress who's known to come onto this forum has a rather interesting way of administering a punishment. She performs something called "burst birching" which entails a birching with a preset time limit. For example a miscreant might be sentenced to a 30 second burst on the birch - the miscreant will be continuously and rapidly birched for 30 seconds. This is very very intense and an interesting alternative to a set number of strokes.

I wonder if the BCS will adopt timed thrashing for certain offendors???

I've been birched before,but never experienced a "burst birching" though I expect it could be hard to endure. I find that I can cope with hard but measured strokes from a heavy cane such as a Dragon,but rapid fire strokes from a thinner cane will usually take me to my limit too quickly for me to savour the experience.

If I have to receive a caning, I prefer my Mistress to count out each stroke just before she administers it.

There is a certain level of anticipation and formality in declaring the number of strokes before punishment and it has a certain properness and ritual to it. Declaring your punishment lets you know how much you will be getting and no matter how hard you try, your mistress will not be letting you off easy without delivering the punishment he/she saw fit for your transgressions. It builds up anticipation and helps you mentally brace the punishment and get thru with it.

Most times I am punished, I am told beforehand what I will be getting and when I will be getting it and it makes me squirm in anticipation and nervousness with butterflies in my stomach for the time to arrive and the punishment to proceed and be over with. My Mistress knows my limits and how far She can push me so she declares her punishments as she sees fit and when she is giving it, she would make sure it counts.

So to me, declaring the number of strokes is a part of the punishment ritual and of course your Mistress or Master can punish you as they see fit without declaring the strokes or till they think you have had enough but declaring it beforehand gears them up to deliver the punishment with intensity with the amount of strokes they declared.

Perhaps why a 'six of the best' was so feared in schools because you exactly know what is coming to you and you know the Headmaster or Headmistress won't be doing you any favours while delivering it

I agree. Those who have never been on the receiving end of a proper caning can sometimes be flippant about the term 6 of the best associating it with the rough and tumble of boarding school life. As a recent recipient of 6 of the best I can testify that the pain of a senior school cane across thin PE shorts is excruciating and will draw tears from the most stoic adult disciplinee. A master who I have visited occasionally expressed his firm view that given the anticipation involved prior to a caning he could not risk a situation where I left his study feeling that the punishment was not as bad as I had feared. Declaring the number of strokes well in advance of the punishment will heighten the dread.

I only ever declare a number of strokes to administered in a Judicial caning or a Judicial scenario. Even then, I reserve the right to add additional sets of six "until I feel the offender has made full atonement".

Having said that, it can be difficult for bottoms to cope if they don't know when the end is coming. I always tell people when they are about to receive the final two sets of six so that they can prepare themselves for harder strokes and also so they know the end is in sight.

I'm not a fan of counting strokes in general.

Declaring the number of strokes in advance can certainly add to the anticipation - the sheer dread if the number is more than you've taken before. But it doesn't have that effect if you have experienced such a caning (or a worse one!) before. You know that you have taken it, even if it did hurt. The number on its own is pretty meaningless anyway - a dozen applied properly will hurt more than a hundred wishy-washy strokes.

It can even make it easier to take the caning stoically if you know what's coming "... ow, nearly over, only two more strokes to go now, whoosh - ow, only one more". But it's a different matter if you get a few extra hard strokes in the middle when you don't know what's still coming.

So I think Lady P has got that right - add more strokes until you are satisfied with the effect on the offender, and don't let him think it's nearly over.