Horribly smelly and slithery

Dear Lorraine

I'm interested to see the 'Correction' pages developing of late; I hope you can encourage more contributions and discussion about mackintosh discipline and punishment, as it's a fascinating area. A brief memory of my own . . .

The Prefects at my (all girls) school were allowed to discipline the younger pupils to some extent, which they generally did by means of humiliation. The uniform no longer included a regulation mac, but there were one or two still around from earlier days: SBR, and horribly smelly and slithery. If a Prefect caught you doing something wrong---like running in the corridor, say---you often got told to report to the Prefects' Common Room after school. Usually you just had to spend an hour or so 'fagging' for them: making tea, washing up, cleaning shoes and so on, while they made rude remarks about you to make you feel small. One Prefect, though, used to go a bit further, and make you wear one of the old SBR macs as well, all properly done up and belted. As well as being very embarrassing, it also made you very hot! On one awful occasion---I can't remember what I'd done---I was even made to go out to the local shop to buy some provisions. As well as the mac, I was made to wear wellingtons; they were too big for me, and flapped around my legs. Walking through the school being laughed at by the younger girls was bad enough, but having to walk down the street and into the shop was worst of all, especially since it was a sunny afternoon. The lady in the shop knew many of us, of course, and inevitably asked what I was doing trussed up in mac and wellies on a day like today; I had to explain that this was mackintosh punishment.

I wonder what that Prefect's real motivation was?! Perhaps she's reading this today.

Natalie

Dear Natalie

Lovely to have your letter.

I hate to think of mackintoshes, no matter how old, as horribly smelly (slithery, yes!) but I know what you mean. I suppose I could agree to thinking of them as horribly smelly if you could allow me to say I love their horrible smell!

(Actually, I do have to agree there comes a point when a mac does become smelly beyond all taste or affection. Just as it begins to stiffen up and die the death.. Is that what you mean? Oh God! They can't have made you wear anything in that condition! (But Prefects (old style) I know were capable of almost anything…) What stops me thinking you suffered in that abominable way is that a mackintosh into its eighties say would surely not be slithery…)

So I picture you being made to wear something horribly nice, which made you horribly nicely hot and gave you hot and thrilling washes of humiliation when the other girls looked at you and laughed to cover up the fact that they would so much like to be nicely humiliated like that themselves…

I've an awful feeling there's a positive feedback loop in there somewhere, so I had better stop.

I'm dying to know though if this mackintosh punishment was the start of something for you, or just a milestone along the way …

Best wishes

Lorraine

Dear Lorraine

You ask whether my mackintosh punishment was the beginning of something for me . . . well, why else would I be visiting your site and contributing to it!

I should say that I eventually became a Prefect myself, and couldn't resist getting my own back by maintaining the disciplinary codes under which I had suffered. I think this was when I began to be really aware of the power of the mack, and the effect it had on me seeing hapless juniors made to wear it. I often made them polish their wellingtons to a real shine while in the mack, then put them on and do PE exercises like running on the spot while we Prefects watched.

So I love wearing macks and boots now, but the pleasure for me is always mixed up with a (pleasurable) sense of humiliation, that by wearing these garments I make a spectacle of myself. Maximum 'discipline' would involve a sou'wester too, but I haven't had the nerve to go out in one yet; perhaps there's a female Prefect out there somewhere who will make me!!

I hope other contributors will add to the discussion of mackintosh discipline.

Natalie

Dear Natalie

Thank you very much for your very interesting letter.

I'm a bit worried when you say you have only to wear a strong black mac to feel yourself a 'spectacle'. You don't see many such about just now - in the UK anyway - but I have never thought they made you look anything but strong and a bit frightening.

I hope you wouldn't feel quite the same if you were made to wear any old unusual garment... I would love to think of a serious mackintosh as something really special for you.

When I asked whether your treatment by that Prefect was the start of something I really meant as opposed to building on an interest that was already there. It's really interesting that that one thing set you off.

I know it's indecorous to ask, but could you possibly put a date on any of the incidents you record? - I am really anxious to get a reliable record of fashions and manufacturers and uniforms and places during years that actually are slipping away from living memory …- well, will do if we're not careful.

I know what you mean when you half want a Prefect out there to make sure you don't break the rules (eg not wearing proper headwear). I had a really super Prefect once and she did wonders for me. Maybe PB would take you in hand?

Best wishes

Lorraine

 

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