Dumb Things White People Say: karnythia: So, I’m going to say this about this whole spanking/abuse...
So, I’m going to say this about this whole spanking/abuse debate running across my dash. A. There is a difference between corporal punishment & abuse. I’ve experienced both. Only one scarred me emotionally. B. Very often, POC parenting traditions are heavily influenced by the…
^Agreed. More so, since I know that psychological punishment can even fare worse than physical.
Also, I kinda need to add a little sorta story about a study I read on the subject a while ago. Basically, the the study said that children who got punished by light spanking, were more likely to suffer later on in life. However, it also (very briefly) mentioned that the children more likely to be spanked were very low class.
I’m sure that being low calss, and therefore less well fed, less exercised, less educated, more discriminated against, and more likely to be abused/raped/assaulted early in life had NOTHING to do with that. AT ALL. NOTHING.
CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION.
I also gotta say that the people more likely to spank are people who are stressed out.
Poor means a lot of things, including sometimes doing anything to stop something that’s stressing you out even farther.
That’s not an excuse, but it definitely affects how we should be looking at this. It’s not just “being spanked”. It’s “being spanked” and whatever else might come with parents who spank. I am very uncomfortable saying that all spanking all the time is bad, because I know a lot of people who are grateful for it even if I was not.
I admit, I don’t think of what my mother did as discipline. She was angry & lashing out. But the time I snuck off school grounds at lunch time to hang out with a friend, fell asleep, & had everyone thinking I’d been kidnapped? Yeah, my grandfather had every right to snatch me up for breaking all the rules & scaring the shit out of him. I think the reason they did things & the overall relationship with your parent/guardian matters a lot in this conversation.
