Why my hero won't use a belt

At the moment, I am writing my third book set in Victorian England. Much as I love writing about this particular period in history I have – for the third time – find myself cursing the restrictions that the men’s fashions of the day impose on a spanking author.

You see an Englishman in the 19^th century wouldn’t have worn a belt. He didn’t even have a place to put a belt on his trousers. The fashion was to have smooth high-waisted trousers which created a tidy silhouette. All very pretty but not much use to me when I want my hero to give a belt spanking to the heroine.

Phwoar

The belt is the perfect implement when you want a spanking to be impromptu enough for the protagonist not to have pre-arranged any implements, but still allow the characters to take things up a notch from a hand spanking. And I love a good belt spanking. I especially love the bit when the hero takes his belt off prior to chastisement.

Take this bit from Renee Rose’s modern day romance The Bossman:

“He smiled a slow, dangerous smile as he pulled the belt free of his belt loops and doubled it, smacking his palm with a resounding whap.”

Mmmmm. Oh wait, where was I?

Not that you have to set your story in the modern day to enjoy a bit of belt spanking. Belt wearing wasn’t unknown during the period I’m writing about. It just wasn’t going on it the bits of the world where my characters are.  Five thousand miles away in the Wild West, every guy had a convenient length of leather secured round his middle which he could use to redden the backside of a deserving young lady. No wonder everyone loves a cowboy romance.

Just look at the belts on those two.

It’s no good to me though. I have a young woman bent over a table in a furnished – but not lived in – gardener’s cottage and a stuffy Lord eager to give her the thrashing she deserves.

Previous protagonists have used a leather strap from a packing case and a razor strop to good effect but I can’t see why either of those things would be to hand in my current scenario. It’s so frustrating. I feel like I’m stuck in one of those 1980s text based computer games.

 What about a riding crop? Surely I could orchestrate a reason to have one nearby. I had considered a walking stick but that seemed a bit too brutal. Although having said that, take a look at the dapper young fellows in this drawing:

Every single one of them has elected to pose with the thinnest weediest looking walking stick imaginable. Those whippy little numbers would probably only be usefully employed in a spanking. I can’t imagine they would give you a lot of support if you wanted to go fell walking.

Clearly more research is in order, here.