SimplyMichael -> RE: Punishment Dynamic (4/28/2008 8:03:04 AM)
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Fail to show up for work? Punishment, docked pay, set down and talked to, then fired. Disobey laws....jail....fines Thanks for a perfect example of why punishment doesn't work, or at least why it sometimes doesn't work. People who get fired tend to get fired over and over again, people who go to jail tend to do so over and over again. In that case, the punishment is ineffective. I don't think anyone is against punishment as a concept, it is just that most of it is ineffective, poorly thought out, and improperly applied. BitaTrouble's example is perfect, she did something, her owner applied a discipline/correction that successfully allowed her to change her behavior. So, the point is there is nothing wrong with punishment IF it achieves the goals you seek. Most doesn't and so I disagree with most punishment. Let's take an extreme example. If your submissive cheats on you and you beat her/leave her etc. what have you achieved? Nothing. Imagine if instead you sit down with her and find out that you don't use her hard enough, that you don't give her what she needs and by talking to her discover that she wants the darker things you hide for fear of rejection! Together you create a relationship better than anything you ever dreamed of! She cheated because she needed something she wasn't getting but you secretly wanted but weren't getting either, you can't fix that by punishing her, only by being open with each other. A child runs into the street, you take them and swat their ass hard, create a tiny bit of trauma they associate with running into the street and they never do it again, effective punishment! Okay, I wrote that at the end of a long rambling post so only read past this if you are bored. Unfortunately, that isn't what we often see with punishment. Instead we see people try and punish someone for some issue that is clearly a symptom of some deeper problem If they are not self aware enough to see that, communication isn't going to help them because they don't know what to say. Without that self awareness, designing a punishment that will result in the proper behavior is difficult if not impossible. If that "proper behavior" runs counter to the core of someone, you are never going to punish them into doing it. Also, sometimes love and acceptance is a better tool to get what you want. BSB and I started as a fun fuck buddies although she was looking at it as that more than I. We hit it off better than either expected but she was still much more of a bottom to me than a slave. What pushed her past that and into a place of deeper submission wasn't punishment, but love, understanding and acceptance. I accept that she is a dominant to others, I understand she is scattered, I love who she is as a person. The act that most pushed her was me allowing her to use me to fulfill a dominant fantasy of hers. Now don't get lost on the act of what I did, focus on the concept. I gave her what she needed to find her way to where I wanted her to go, that she meant so much to me that I would do that for her her, that I would risk myself for her and make myself vulnerable. For some, that act IS punishment, they need someone who can create structure and enforce it with punishment but I think that too many rely on punishment because it is easy. BSB needs structure but more so she needs the freedom to be who she is AND the safety net that I am watching that freedom and ensuring that it has boundaries. It is an imperfect balance and for us, rather than sitting down like an accountant and micromanaging it, I simply ensure that in the big picture she is where she needs to be. I have rarely punished BSB in the classic sense, I don't say that because I am some great dominant and don't need to but because I get better results by doing other things. I get much better results simply explaining to her how her actions make me feel, how I would prefer her to act and WHY, and step back and let her work on it herself. Part of the joys of being with someone who is self-aware and a mature adult. That isn't to say she is perfect but that she can see where she is doing wrong. Same goes for me, which is perhaps even more important. I make mistakes and it isn't that I am infallible that she loves me but that I understand and deal with the fact that I am far from it. In fact, one of the few times I really punished her (which was to be 24 hours without contact) turns out I had completely misread something and blew it. She handled it poorly because she knew I was wrong and said some nasty things. The fact that I was wrong and admitted it as well as apologized to her showed her how to handle things better, I didn't say "yeah but", I accepted blame directly and dealt with it. If I had punished her for being a bitch, it would have made a bad situation worse but instead we made lemonade out of it and it brought us closer.
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