Since first starting this thread, I've read some more articles on corporal punishment and sexual identity. Anyone who finds the subject interesting should take a look at this page (warning: there is a LOT of content on sexuality, abuse, and other triggering subjects):

http://nospank.net/101.htm

On the right-hand side there are a lot of articles about sexuality. I particularly recommend the one called "The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children" (the first one). Had I not been already predisposed against spanking (because of the effects it had on my own sexual development), this article would have caused me to really think about it. There are a LOT of mixed messages in it.

There are lots of articles on that page about spanking and sexual development. The idea that spanking should be avoided because it can be innately sexual for some children (even though it was never intended that way) has actually been around since the 1700s. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau first wrote about it. I had no idea this had been talked about for so long! It's really been kept underground I think. It's an extremely inflammatory subject!

The right-hand side also contains lots of sad emails from people who feel that their lives were irrevocably damaged because they developed spanking fetishes. I guess there are a lot of people in the S&M spanking world who didn't want to be there.

Sidony