The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-20
THE BIRCH IN THE BOUDOIR.

The Saturday Review, in tho course of a long
discussion Of the articles, in favor of whipping
girls in England, THAT appeared in the Eng
hshman's Domestic Magazine, says:
A17other step has been taken in tho onward
march or feminine aggression. On all sides
the fortress in which masculine presumption
has 80 long been intrenehcd is now assailed.
and ono by one the outworks are falling. That
h'deous Old superstition Of the supremacy of
map having once been denied, and his claims
10 an exclusive use OF any virile properties,
from brains to breeches, having once been
v,tiated, 1t is astonishing to see how RAPIDLY
the whole social and political fabric which has
Deeh constructed on that foundation is tumb-
ing TO pieces. Mau's monopoly OF cigars, OF
clubs. OF the pulpit OF the liberal professions,
or sports, or academical life, and OF the fran
chlss having each OF them been moro or less
successfully infriDged ono might almost have
beenlncllned to fancy that there was little else
left Which woman could grudge him; that he
had oeen stripped OF every shred Of his ancient
eHcr3achinents, and that, except the tritiing
and accidental distinctions OF sex and of bodily
strength. there was now really no property and
no Quality Loft undisputed which might be
mae Brlton. But such u conclusion would
be 1remlture. There is at least, it seoms,
one more great privilege, one more time
honored custom, which the male inhabitants
to themselves, and Of tho exercise OF
which there are divers notorious embcms and
instrumcnte. Tho male Inhabitants of Great
Britain have been hitherto distinguished from
their female compatriots, as from the lnhati
tants OF most other countries, by the peculiar
Insular privilege of coiving corporeal chas-
tlsement ut certain stages and in certain con-
dltlOns of their existence; and indeed, until
very recently, it would not have been an mac
curate account Of the difference between Eng
lisb men and English women which described
the former as that portion IF the community
which is, and the latter as that which IS not,
ho4ged. 1t was not likely that women, in their
present mood Of sef-assertlon, would long
allow such an invidious distinction to remain
unchallcnged. 1t the young English woman Is
to be trained to be in all respects as like as pos
slble to what the young English man las boon,
It is clear that means of discipline and correc-
tion SIMILAR to those which havo been in force
among men must be brought to bear upon
tho girls. 1t was to be expected that before
long that should occur which has now,
i. seems, in fact occurred; that mans monopc-
lHof the birch and the cane as instruments of
training or education, should be attacked in
the same way as his monopoly of the academy,
the pulpit and tho franchise; that sect of
female hagellants would arise to swell the
plre; and that to tho women who wish to
preach, tho women who wish to graduate, and
the women who wish to vote, would shortly be
added the women who wish to fog.
Some s Of these ladies' are DOWNRIGHT enthusiasts
tor the birch and the taws. They seem to glory
in the privilege OF tlirashng their girls. They
give faithful Representations, carefully drawn
from the life, OF their own pet mode
OF conducting the operation. The pre-
limiparcs, the place of cxccuton-some-
times a bedroom. sometimes boudolr-
tho instrument OF torture. the behavior of the
victim before, during, and alter the inflctlon
OF the 11ogglng, i'll short, the most minute de-
tails OF the entire process, arc described with
that graphic force which some women exhibit
when writing on a subject which powerfully
interests and excites them, These Writer'S do
not even take the line of apologizing for tue
shame, which must be Involved in the the 'o process e'
of stripping and fogging gn of fifteen or
sixteen years old. On the contrary, some Of
them, VINO seem to have sort OF mission for
propagating the doctrine of hogging girls, are
most keen in recommending means whereby
the pair may be made as severe ana the shame
as overwhelming to the sufferer as possible.