It's Not Fair 12

It's Not Fair 12

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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.

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This story is set in the Puericil Universe.

See chapter 1 for an explanation about this series. This is another selection of letters from the "It’s Not Fair!" letter column, in "Boy Stuff" magazine. In them, boys complain about how little privacy they are allowed, and about the double standard that makes it OK for people to see them naked but protects girls’ modesty. The intention of this article is illustrating the attitude changes that the Conservative Resurgence has brought about: children, particularly male children, are firmly controlled by adult authority figures, who often make a point of emphasizing that control, in order to keep boys in their place and out of trouble.

Please feel free to contribute any similar letters if you wish to, and I’ll be happy to write the magazine’s response.

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Letter published in the It’s Not Fair section of the magazine called Boy Stuff:

From: Lawrence (14)

Dear It’s Not Fair,

I read the magazine every week. I love the articles, especially the ones about wild animals and about sports, and I also like the It’s Not Fair letters. I really think that a lot of things that boys complain about are not fair. I know boys are supposed to mature slower and all that, but we still get embarrassed and want our privacy, and we can be reasoned with instead of getting spanked whenever we do anything wrong.

Take me and my brother, for example. Our mom and dad are very no-nonsense parents, and the only way they punish us is with spankings. Each of us has to keep a paddle hanging on our bedroom wall, and whenever we annoy mom or dad they bare our behind and send us to fetch our paddle. And this is not just for big stuff, like lying or stealing. It can be for anything, really. You have to believe me, it’s like it’s really routine, like it’s no big deal at all.

Like what happened yesterday: I’m watching TV and Irvin (that’s my 9-year-old little brother) starts pestering me because he wants to watch some kiddy TV show. We are not fighting or anything, just arguing. I was there first, and Irvin gets really whiny when he doesn’t get his way. Then mom is there, angry and scolding us for not sharing and not getting on. She scolds like we are toddlers, shaking her finger in our face. We are just looking down and saying, “sorry, mommy”, and we are really scared, because we know she may decide to spank us, and that really hurts! And that’s exactly what she does. She stands me up and unbuttons my jeans. I mean, right there, in the living room, where anyone can came in and see. My parents never worry about stuff like that. They say that if we don’t want spankings we have it easy, ‘cause we only need to behave. But I don’t want spankings, believe me, I’d do anything not to get them, and still it’s so difficult to be perfect all the time.

So she unbuttons my jeans and pulls them down, and I keep my hands away and don’t interfere in any way. I know better, ‘cause that really bothers my parents and then I get an extra spanking at bedtime, and I really do not want that. And you know what? Sure enough, my sister Suzy arrives just then. Suzy is 12, and she always acts kind of superior, as if she is a grown-up and we are just infants. Well, guess what, I’m almost two years older than her, although you’d never guess by the way our parents treat us. I mean, I know girls mature faster than us boys, but she is not even a teenager yet, and I am! Try telling that to my parents, though. Hope you have better luck than me, ‘cause you bet I have tried. “When you behave like a teenager we’ll treat you like that, little mister” my mom told me last time. “Until then, you’ll be treated like a little boy.” And then my dad added, “how can anyone treat you like a teenager when rarely a couple of days go by without us having to bare your butt and paddle it for you?” How can you argue against a logic like that? ‘Perhaps if you weren’t so strict I wouldn’t get paddled so often’ that’s what I think, but I know better than saying that, because they may decide that I’m talking back and being disrespectful, and that will get my bottom bared and paddled in a second.

So anyway, there I am, with my jeans around my ankles and my briefs on display in the middle of the living room. And Suzy has that smug look on her face.

“What have the kids done this time?” she asks.

The kids! I’m older than her, you know.

“They were bickering again,” mom says. “I’m so tired of having to paddle their bottoms all the time.”

Gee, mom! It’s not like anyone is forcing you to do it if you don’t want to! But I keep my thoughts to myself. I’m really not in a position to talk back.

“Can I help?” Suzy asks, all concerned.

“All right, thank you sweetie,” mom says. She changes so easily from the angry, scolding tone she is using with us boys to the nice tone she uses with my sister. “Please, bare Irvin’s bottom.”

“Please, no, mommy! I don’t wanna spanking!” Irvin whines, but no one pays him any mind.

“Right away, mom,” Suzy says, always so helpful. “You stay still, Irvin, while I bare you for your spanking.”

Mom meanwhile hooks her fingers around the waistband of my briefs and pulls them down. Just like that. And there I am, a teenager already but bared from the waist down right in the middle of the family room, as if I were a little boy like Irvin.

Suzy bares Irvin too, and we stand there side by side, looking down while mom scolds us some more. Irvin’s already sobbing and I feel like doing the same. It’s so shameful. I’m feeling really bad and nervous, and then my pee-pee goes and gets stiff. It sometimes does that on its own and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. That’s even more shameful.

I look up for a moment to see if they have noticed and Suzy surely has. She is looking right there! Then she looks up at my eyes, smiles sweetly and says:

“Listen to mommy, Larry,” she tells me. “That way maybe you won’t need to get spanked on your bare bottom so often.”

Mom scolds us for a really long time, going on about being good brothers and not fighting.

“Mom, look at Larry’s pee-pee. It’s hard again,” Suzy says. As if mom can’t see for herself.

“That’s OK, honey,” mom tells her. “Little boys’ pee-pees do that sometimes. It’s no cause for concern. Just ignore it.

Suzy nods, but she does not ignore it, at least judging from the way her eyes are fixed on it.

Finally mom is done scolding.

“Go get your paddles!” she says, looking at her watch. “Fast!”

And we start running. We have to do that, because we know mom is counting the time and she’ll finish the paddling with as many swats as the number of seconds we take to return and hand her our paddles.

I forget about my jeans and undies tangled around my ankles and I almost fall down. I have to kick them off and run after Irvin. Behind me, I hear my sister giggling.

“It’s so funny when they run bare-bottomed like that to fetch their paddles,” I hear her say to mom.

We are back in record time with our paddles. Nothing like a good motivation.

“Same time for both: 26 seconds,” mom says, looking at her watch. “OK! Irvin, Suzy’s gonna help with your paddling, so get over her knees. You come here, little mister,” she tells me. “Let’s see if we can help you act your age and behave by putting some fire on your bottom.”

They sit and Irvin gets over Suzy’s knees while I get over mom’s. I feel clumsy and weird in that position, even though heavens know I should be used to it. My pee-pee is still hard and I have to find a comfortable position for it, so that it won’t get trapped in a painful way. We are in front of each other and turning my head I can see Irvin’s bottom and how Suzy is tapping the paddle against it, as if eager to start. I guess it’s a habit she has picked from mom, who is doing the same to me.

“All right, darling, let’s get this chore done,” mom says. For her it’s a chore, but for me it’s the most awful thing in the world. I wish she would realize that, although I guess she would not care if she did. For her we are just silly children getting our hineys paddled. And with Irvin she has a point. He’s just a little child and he acts silly all the time. But I’m not like that. I’m a teen, for goodness sake!

They start paddling, hard and fast, and I forget about everything except for the fire being lit on my bottom. I can faintly hear Irvin bawling, as if from far away, and in a moment I’m doing the same.

I’m delirious with pain, howling and blubbering incoherently, but it just goes on and on.

Then it stops and I lie there crying hard.

“And now we end with 26 swats,” I hear mom say, “because that’s how long you took to bring your paddles.”

They restart the paddling, still hard but slowly, counting the smacks although not aloud, as far as I can hear (which is not much because I’m bawling again).

When it’s over we are made to stand up and my hands fly to my poor bottom cheeks. I’m crying, tears and mucus all over my face, and I’m jumping around, trying to find some relief. Somewhere far away, I hear Suzy giggling.

“It’s so funny when they do that. Their pee-pees jump all over the place!” she tells mom. As I calm down I notice mom shaking her head, but she has a smile on her face.

Then we are sent to the corner. One of the corners of the living room is assigned to me, and other to Irvin, so we know where to go. We have to stay there without talking, hands on our head and red bare-bottom on display for all to see. One minute for each year we are old.

Mom leaves, telling Suzy to watch us. As soon as mom leaves, Suzy is standing right behind me.

I jump as I feel her hand on my bottom.

“Be still, bro. I’m not hurting you,” she says, “I’m just feeling how warm your bottom is… It’s really warm, you know.”

I just sob.

“Poor Larry,” she says in a consoling voice. “What are we going to do with you? Why can you behave your age? You wouldn’t have to get your bare bottie spanked so often. I know boys are really immature, but one would expect you to behave better than Irvin, since you are five years older, but I swear you get spanked as much as he does… I guess you’re just a naughty boy who needs his bottom warmed from time to time,” she said philosophically. Then she chuckled. “You should have seen yourself when you were doing your spanking dance.” (That’s what I do when I’m rubbing my burning bottom after a spanking and jumping around. She always calls that spanking dance.) “Your little pee-pee was waving all around in the air. Next time I need to remember to take a video of it.”

She removes her hand.

“Let me get my phone… I’m gonna send Brenda a picture of you standing in the corner.”

“No! Please, Suzy, no!” I beg.

“Hush, Larry. You know what dad said when you complained about my doing that, so don’t make a fuss. And do not speak while you’re in the corner, young man! I should tell mom and then you’ll get spanked again.”

I shut up, and listen to Suzy taking a couple of pics and, I assume sending them to her friend Brenda. That girl is a pest, always teasing me. Since she got her new phone, Suzy sometimes took pictures of me when I was bare for a spanking or something and shared them with her friends. I found that very embarrassing. I mean, being seen naked is awful, but at least when it’s over there is only the memory of it. But with a pic it’s like people can be seeing me naked all the time. There was nothing I could do, though.

I had complained to dad a couple of months ago and he said “Don’t be silly, Larry. Your sister just loves her new phone and is always using the camera to chat and take pictures of everything. She’ll get tired of that soon enough, I expect. And in the meantime, if she wants to take pictures of you I don’t see the problem.”

“But dad!” I had said, “I’m naked on them.”

“So what? What difference does that make?” dad said with a baffled expression. “You are just a boy, Lawrence. It’s not like you need any of that false modesty. Everyone knows what a naked little boy looks like.”

“But I’m not a little boy, I’m a teenager,” I complained.

“Well, you sure act like one, don’t you?”

“And you can see my bottom is red in those photos!”

“As if people don’t know that little boys get spanked,” dad said. He’s always telling me not to roll my eyes, but I swear he just did that! “Look, Larry, no one cares if someone sees you naked, or if your sister takes a pic. It doesn’t matter, it’s no big deal at all, OK? Most people just find a picture of a naked little boy cute. So get over it and don’t make a fuss.”

And that’s what my parents are like. They just don’t understand how embarrassing it is.

So I could do nothing, and no doubt Brenda is now giggling at some new pictures of me and my bare bottom, standing in the corner. I’m sure she’ll tell me all about it when she teases me.

Finally Irvin was released, but I still had to stand there, bare-bottomed and staring at the wall, for five more minutes before Suzy told me I was allowed to look for my jeans and undies and get dressed.

I tell you all that so that you understand that I’m not just complaining ‘cause I still get spanked at my age, but because everything has to be so embarrassing instead of just doing it in private in my room and maybe even letting me keep my undies up.

And don’t think that it’s just the family seeing everything. Oh, no. My parents do not care the least bit who sees me. Not at all. I get spanked in the living room, and whoever happens to be around gets to watch. Neighbor ladies, Suzy’s friends, Irving’s friends, my own friends. Doesn’t matter to my parents.

Once they caught me playing computer games with my friends (I’m not allowed to play them without permission), and down came my pants and undies, right in front of them, and I have to run for my paddle right in front of them, naked where it counts. I was paddled right there, with them watching, and I did my spanking dance in front of them. Talk about embarrassing. At least my friends are all on Puericil too, so they know how it is. They all get spanked bare bottom too, but at least they get it in private. I have never watched them getting it.

Suzy’s friends are often there during my spankings too. I swear those girls must have a sixth sense or something, because they always seem to know when I’m going to get it. It doesn’t stop my parents that they are girls. They are not going to ask them to leave or anything. Oh, no. For my parents it doesn’t matter at all who is there. I misbehave and I need to get spanked, it’s as simple as that. For them is just a chore. “Honey, I need to go buy more milk and cereal for breakfast. Do you have time to spank Larry for me, please?” one of them will say. “Sure, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.” Just like if stripping me and paddling my bottom was a normal household chore.

Of course, when I get in trouble at school Suzy usually hears about it and then she often invites some of her friends to come home. As soon as we’re through the door, she says “mom, I think Larry has something to show you!”. Then I have to show her the note from school, and I know all those giggling girls are going to be seeing my bare bottom and my pee-pee in a minute.

Afterwards, when I’m sobbing in the corner, they are all around me, laughing at me, commenting about my paddling and my spanking dance as if they were talking about a movie they had just watched. Those girls are mean and really enjoy teasing me.

“Boy, you sure howled when your mommy was paddling the top of your thighs, Larry!” Brenda said last time.

“And he looked so silly when he was jumping around, clutching his bottom, with his weenie flapping all around!” Kayla said.

“Yeah, what a baby. I would never carry on like that if I ever got a spanking,” Sammie commented.

“Don’t be silly,” my sister said, “you’re a girl, and girls do not get spanked. Only boys do, because they are so immature and infantile.”

“Yeah, like Larry here. What is he, fourteen? You’d think he would have learned how to behave at that age,” Sammie agreed.

“Nah, boys are just too dumb. They only learn by getting their bottoms blistered all the time. My mom says so,” Rylee piped in.

“Look how red his bottom is. Can we touch it?” Brenda asked.

“Sure, go ahead. Mom doesn’t mind,” Suzy told them.

Well, I sure did! Not that anybody asked me. They just went ahead and touched my sore bottom all they wanted, giggling all the time.

My pee-pee then chose that moment to go hard (I told you it does that at the worst times, without me being able to stop it). I tried to get closer to the corner so that no one would see, but Suzy noticed something and she looked around me.

“Look, his pee-pee is going hard!” she announce delighted.

One by one the girl took turns looking around me to stare at my pee-pee and laugh and tease. It’s so embarrassing!

Well, I guess you get the idea. I’m not a baby like Irvin, and it’s just not right! It’s not fair!

The magazine’s response:

Dear Lawrence,

Thank you for your letter. We understand that getting spanked in front of people can be a double punishment: it’s embarrassing and it still hurts just as much. It’s good that you wrote us a long letter, because talking about it and getting it off your chest helps. That’s one of the purposes of this section, to allow boys a place to vent about their problems and read about other boys’ problems, to see that you are never alone.

The problem is that, even if you would prefer to be spanked in private, the decision is not yours to make, but your parents. It seems you have already talked to them about it, but they have not changed their mind. Your mom and dad are the ones who love you, take care of you, give you clothes and food and are able to guide you because they have more experience about the world. They are also the ones who know you best, so if the rules they set are in your best interest in the long run, even if you do not like some of them now. You need to remember that they would not spend time and effort correcting you if they did not care about you.

You are not the only boy who asks for more privacy, but as you know from other boys’ letters, there are many parents who feel that boys need very little modesty. The research of child psychologists also support that opinion, and it has been determined that boys should be allowed much less privacy than girls, since their minds mature at such a different pace.

Therefore, you need to be patient. Remember that your parents will notice when you start behaving more maturely, and they will treat you accordingly. The best thing you can do is be obedient, not talk back and try to behave as well as you can.- Do not get frustrated if you keep getting in trouble and getting paddled even though you try. Making mistakes is part of growing up, and spankings are a matter of fact for boys. It’s something that happens, so do not let it get you down, at least not once your bottom is no longer sore. For adults, making mistakes can mean losing your job or getting in trouble with the law, so if you put things in perspective you’ll see that boys don’t have it so bad. If you misbehave you get a sore bottom and some embarrassment, but after the punishment is over the problem disappears.

Regarding the girls teasing you, do not worry too much about. It’s normal and part of growing up for them too. Girls mature much faster than boys, and they notice that they are expected to act maturely while boys their age and older are not. Teasing boys and some feelings of superiority are quite normal at that stage, and it allows them a moment when they can, to put it in simple words, rest from having to accept all the responsibilities that are expected of them. Some teasing even helps a boy not to get too full of himself and it does no lasting harm. Just think of it as part of the punishment for misbehaving, just like the paddling itself.

Good luck to you, and try to behave so that you don’t earn many paddlings and you let your parents see that you are maturing.

Additional (not published) comments from the author of the magazine’s response, a female psychologist who specializes in boys’ emotional development:

[One things that it’s worth noticing is that Lawrence, despite being a quite articulate teenage boy, is rather naïve about sexual matters, as shown by his lack of understanding of the behavior of his penis. This is a consequence of the emphasis on sheltering boys from detrimental influences and ideas that would make them grow up before they are ready for it.

Not so long in the past, 14-year-old boys would have had access to all kinds of information about sexual matters, but nowadays a great deal of effort is made to protect them from sexual education. Nobody would speak to them about sexual matters except in childish and simplistic terms, just like one would speak to small children. Their use of the internet is heavily monitored, with powerful intelligent-filter programs that protect them from any harmful content and alert their parents of any attempt to circumvent the restrictions. Boys, even teenage boys, are children, and should be allowed to remain children. It’s not like they need any sexual information, since they are certainly not going to be having sexual intercourse. That’s another important improvement. Believe it or not, not that long ago it was not so unusual for teenage boys to have sexual relationships. No wonder they were out of control.

And, speaking about Lawrence’s being articulate: that’s not so unusual now. Boys still lag behind girls in academic performance, but they have improved. Nowadays, most of them are kept under tight control by their parents, so the removal of undesirable distractions and the incentive to study provided by the judicious use of corporal punishment are having their effect.

One of the achievements of the Conservative Resurgence is winning the battle of ideas. Parents are convinced that boys are very immature from an emotional point of view, and need to be treated accordingly. Notice how both parents dismiss his protests are silly complaints from a child.

Another thing to notice is the reaction of the girls in Lawrence’s life. In spite of all that’s been said about boys immaturity, girls are also immature in some ways. It’s just that this immaturity doesn’t make them get in trouble, rebel and spoil their own potential, like boys’ tend to do if not controlled by adult authority figures. The thing is that most girls love how they are treated as responsible young adults, while boys their same age and even older are treated like little boys. It’s very common for them to tease and torment boys, but there’s no permanent damage done. At certain ages they just enjoy lording it over boys and asserting their superior status. As I said, it’s normal behavior for underage girls and it’s no cause for concern. A bit of teasing even helps remind boys of their place.

Puericil is what has made it possible to control boys’ destructive tendencies and keep them under control so that they can become valuable members of society.

By the way, when boys send letters to It’s Not Fair they must include their ID information. That allows me to contact their parents and ask permission to publish the letter (a necessary step, since it involves an underage child). When I spoke to Lawrence’s mother I suggested to her that it might be good for Lawrence to allow his sister and her friends a more active role in his discipline, to get him used to accepting girls’ authority as is proper because of their superior maturity. I told her that giving the girls some limited authority to discipline Lawrence on their own, without having to refer to adults, would benefit all parties.]

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Letter published in the It’s Not Fair section of the magazine called Boy Stuff:

From: Lawrence (14)

Dear It’s Not Fair,

I have been trying to behave better, but I don’t seem to be getting spanked less often. After a paddling, I promise myself I’ll never earn another one, but it’s never more than three or four days before I do something wrong, even if it’s something very small. My parents are really strict, so just anything gets me another paddling. Often, I do not even make it to three or four days between paddlings. I just don’t know what to do to avoid them.

Anyway, that’s just the way it was, but I’m writing because something new has happened. Something bad.

Suzy was having a sleepover with her friends when my parents sat all of us down (that means Irving, I, Suzy and her friends), saying that they wanted to talk to us. They started going on and on about how the girls were growing up and becoming more responsible and all that stuff. I kept thinking that I’m growing up too (I’m two years older than they, after all), but no one seems to care about that.

Anyway, they said that raising boys was a lot of work, because we needed more attention and more supervision, since we were so immature (really, I’m so tired of hearing that! It’s not like it’s my fault, in any case). They said that now Suzy was ready to help more, and that from now she would have authority over Irvin and I. They said she would help with our baths (the girls all giggled at that). Really, I was VERY embarrassed. I mean, I’m 14 and I’m perfectly able to bathe myself, but mom is really old-fashioned and she says that boys can’t be trusted to wash themselves properly, so she still gives me my baths as if I were a baby. I mean, it’s OK if she bathes Irvin, because he is a baby, but I’m not! Well, Suzy obviously knows that, so I guess maybe her friends know too, but having it said like that, in front of them! And then I realized they had said Suzy would help now.

“You mean help with Irvin’s bath, not mine, right?” I asked.

“Certainly not,” mom said, “we mean with both of you. In fact, bathing you is more work than bathing Irvin, since you complain and grumble so much if I do not put a stop to it.”

“Mom!”

“Don’t mom me, little mister,” she said, causing the girls to giggle again. “We can’t always do all the work around here, and your sister is now old enough to help, so it’s only right. We will also raise your allowance, honey,” she told Suzie, to reflect your increased responsibilities.

“But mom! I don’t want Suzy to help with my bath. That’s embarrassing! Daaad!” I said.

“Lawrence, do not whine if you don’t want to get your bare bottom paddled,” dad said. “Little boys do not get to make decisions in this house. We are not asking you, we are telling you how it is going to be.”

“And we are telling all of you,” mom said, looking at Suzy’s friends, “because you are also welcomed to lend a hand if you want to. You are all young ladies now, and soon some of you will start babysitting or looking after your brothers, and this can be a good way to practice.”

“But mom!” I said.

“Lawrence! The next time you interrupt me I’ll remove your ability to sit for a week, little mister!” she said. I shut up and she went on, “Suzy will also be allowed to discipline you with the paddle when you misbehave, without us parents having to be involved. From now on, you boys mind your sister, and you obey her orders, because if I hear that you have disobeyed her you will get the spanking of your lives. Suzy, you can paddle your brothers if they misbehave around you, but for the moment you are only allowed to give them ten swats with the paddle on their bare bottoms. Understood?”

“Bare bottom?” I asked in dismay, “but mom…”

“Yes, bare bottom,” mom said firmly. “When have you ever been spanked any other way, little mister? If you think your sister’s having authority over you is going to change that you are sadly mistaken. Boys in this family get spanked on their bare bottoms, and that’s all there is to it. It won’t change now and it will never change for as long as you live in this house. Yes, I don’t mind if you are fourteen or nineteen. If you misbehave you’ll get your bottom bared and paddled hard.”

Irvin seemed not to understand what was going on (he can be kind of dumb) but I was on the verge of tears. How could something so awful be happening? Suzy was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. Her friends were openly snickering.

After some more talk about the rules and how to deal with naughty boys, mom said that tonight the girls would be giving us our bath, so that they could practice and we could get used to it. We were warned to behave or else.

So we all marched to the big bathroom. It’s big, so there’s room inside for all of us. The girls were allowed to undress us, and we boys had to let them do it. They took my clothes one by one, laughing as they took down my trousers. It’s not fair, that was all much more embarrassing for me than for Irvin. Although it was embarrassing for him too. When Suzy took down his undies he put his hands over his pee-pee, protecting it from view.

“Keep your hands away from your pee-pee, filthy little boy,” Suzy scolded him as she swatted his bottom twice.

“Oww!” Irvin yelped as he let go of his little pee-pee and rubbed his bottom instead. Mom and dad just nodded approvingly at Suzy, as if they were all proud of how she was handling this.

“Please, let me take down Larry’s underpants,” Brenda asked.

Permission was granted (by Suzy, by the way, as if she had any right to be allowing people to take down my undies).

“Look at me, Larry,” she told me, so-sweetly.

I did, and she smiled as he as he slowly pulled my briefs down, uncovering my pee-pee. Then she looked down at it and let out a giggle.

I tried to cover myself with my hands, taking care not to touch my pee-pee like Irvin had, but it made no difference.

“Naughty boy!” Suzy told me. “Brenda, smack his bottom, please. Hard.”

Brenda reached around me and smacked my bottom four times. I had to let go of my pee-pee, and I knew everyone was looking at it.

“See? That was not so hard, was it?” Suzy asked me. “You and Irvin are just little boys, so it’s not like you have anything to hide.”

Then Sammie (one of Suzy’s friends) giggled and sang in a teasing voice: “I see London, I see Greece, I see Larry’s Pee-Pee!”

Everyone laughed, and Sammie added, “I’m sorry, it’s just that he is blushing so much I can’t resist teasing him.”

Dad smiled and said, “Don’t get so red-faced, son. It’s not like this is the first time these girls see a naked little boy. It’s not even the first time they see you naked, is it? So why all the fuss? Didn’t I tell you it doesn’t matter who sees you naked?”

“Look at Irvin,” mom said. “He is not blushing so much and he is naked just like you.”

Yeah, mom, but Irvin is nine. I’m fourteen!

Then we were made to get into the tub, together Irvin and I. It’s a big tub and there’s room for both of us, but I did not like sharing a bath with my little brother. Not that there was anything else about the situation that I liked.

The girls started bathing us, and it was a messy procedure, because there were five of them, all wanting to give orders.

They got us wet and managed to soap our hair. I had to close my eyes because there was soap all over my face. Then they started soaping the rest of our bodies. I was made to stand there with my hands on my head and, with my eyes closed, I was feeling girls hands all over my body, soaping me without even using a sponge. The girls were laughing and pushing each other to get room, and mom even had to tell them to be careful or because there was water all over the floor. I mean, if I had done that I’m sure I’d be getting spanked, but they just were told to be careful.

Then Suzy said that since my pee-pee was the most difficult part to wash, they should all take turns washing it. By then, my pee-pee was doing that thing it does sometimes and getting all stiff, and the girls were all laughing at me.

“I see Mickey, I see Minnie, I see Larry’s little peenie,” Rylee sang.

“Not so little now,” Kayla chuckled, making all of them giggle. Even Irvin giggled!

Brenda was soaping it now, moving her hand along it.

“Aren’t you embarrassed that I’m touching your peenie, Larry?” she asked me. “You shouldn’t be, you know. It’s OK for people to touch a little boy’s peenie when they are washing him. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“But I’m not little,” I could not avoid saying. I hated how it came out all whiny.

“No, you are not so little are you. What are you, 14? And still you can’t wash yourself on your own. Well, boys are so immature that I guess it’s normal,” she told me, sounding so smug and condescending.

Then my pee-pee was passed to another of the girls, who soaped it again, just as thoroughly, while another girl’s hands washed my bottom.

I was feeling very strange, and suddenly my pee-pee started shaking in Kayla’s hands, and I felt as if I was going to fall down. All the girls started laughing so loud that mom had to restore order, and I was feeling even more embarrassed, although I was not sure what had happened exactly, or why my pee-pee had done that.

They finally rinsed us. Then they dried all my body, laughing and talking to each other all the time, while I was there almost in a haze. Then they dressed in our PJs and I could finally get away from them.

I don’t think it’s fair that my sister, who is younger than me, gets to boss me around and bathe me while I’m naked and even has permission to paddle me on my bare bottom. But even worse is that her friends also can help. It’s not fair!

The magazine’s response:

Dear Lawrence,

Sorry to hear things are not getting better for you. At least you are trying to behave, and we are sure that sooner or later your efforts will pay off and you will no longer be treated as a little boy. It’s embarrassing that your sister now has authority over you, but at least rest assured that you are not alone. Plenty of boys are in that situation. Since girls mature faster, many parents give their daughters more responsibilities, and that includes helping with household chores. These things happen, so it’s better not to let them get to you, or at least try not to. Remember that your parents just want you to be clean and healthy, and your sister and her friends are accepting an extra chore to help, even if they sometimes have fun teasing. If the girls tease you, remember that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. Keep in mind that when people tease you it’s because they enjoy getting a reaction out of you, so it’s better not to give them the satisfaction.

Until your parents decide that you can be trusted to wash yourself properly these embarrassing situations are always a possibility, so maybe you could work of that. You could try asking your parents to let you wash yourself sometimes, and they can then inspect you to see whether you are clean enough. If they let you and you do a good enough job, soon you might find that they are letting you take a bath on your own more often. After all, that means there would be less work for everyone.

Good luck!

Additional (not published) comments from the author of the magazine’s response, a female psychologist who specializes in boys’ emotional development:

[As I mentioned before, nowadays boys are usually quite sheltered and naive, but I have to admit that young Lawrence is more clueless than most boys his age. He does not know how to interpret the feelings he gets in his little penis and lacks even a basic understanding about sexual matters. However, naivete does not mean a boy won’t experiment and seek sexual pleasure. It just means that he doesn’t understand its nature.

Since the target audience of the magazine are underage boys, we take care not to publish overly sexual content in the letters. Therefore, I had to remove a paragraphs from Larry’s letter in the published version. Here it is:]

“After that, when I’m in bed I sometimes rub my pee-pee like Kayla did, until it shakes again like it did when she was washing it. I’m scared that there’s something wrong with it, but I still rub it ‘cause I kind of like the feeling I get. It’s weird, but it kind of feels good. I want to ask mom, but I’m embarrassed.”

[To a certain extent, embarrassing situations that a boy is complaining about are fine, even if they are somewhat sexual, but an account -no matter how innocent- of a boy purposefully masturbating is not appropriate.

When I talked with Larry’s mother regarding this letter she was already aware of her son’s newfound masturbatory habits. She scolded him for playing with his pee-pee and gave him a bare-bottom spanking (not a paddling). She said that since he was already in bed she did not want to make him get out of it to bring his paddle.

She was not sure her reaction had been adequate, but I reassured her. As a psychologist, I told her that boyish masturbation is normal and not actually harmful unless it becomes an obsession. However, it is good for a boy to be kept in the dark about those details, and to be made to feel shame about his sexual explorations. That helps keep him childish and in his place, and does no lasting harm.

She agreed to spank him whenever she found him masturbating, just explaining to him that playing with his pee-pee was bad, without elaborating on the reasons. She said she had heard there are means -technological means- to make sure a boy can never masturbate without being discovered, but I advised her against it. I explained that completely denying a sexual outlet to a boy who wants it is not healthy in the long run. However, I told her that random checks were perfectly fine. She can open his door without warning from time to time to check on him when he is alone, she can check the state of his PJ pants in the morning, looking for suspicious stains, check whether his hands smell of sexual fluids and check his penis periodically (although the real point of the latter is to cause some healthy embarrassment).]

(The End)