I don't have children either, but the topic interests me too because of my past!

I've been thinking about the idea that spanking is considered sexual in some situations but not in others. Like we said earlier in this post, everyone knows you can buy paddles and other spanking implements in a sex shop. No one's questioning that they're sexual in that scenario. Also, if an adult spanks another adult without consent (like in a case of office sexual harassment) -- in addition to assault, it's likely to also be considered sexual misconduct. And no one thinks twice about that. People widely view spanking as a sexual act between adults. It's only when you have an adult and a child (and an intent to discipline rather than a sexual intent) that it's considered non-sexual. And I guess I'm concerned by the idea that something can be circumstantially sexual. I think a person's own sexuality is independent of anyone else's intent (i.e. no one intended corporal punishment as a sexual practice when I was in school; yet I did end up connecting it with sexuality because of my age and development, etc.). Offhand, spanking is the only thing I can think of that's considered sexual between adults but not between an adult and a child (though I'll give it some more thought and see if I can think of something else). That's kind of confusing in my opinion.

Okay I hope this post isn't too triggering. I really appreciate that we've been able to discuss this the way that we have, and I'm not suggesting I have any answers on parenting. I'm mostly interested in this subject because of how it affected me, and I want people to know that such possible negative effects are worth taking into consideration.

Sidony

(edited to add trigger icon)