Even the actress Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlet O’Hara, said that Scarlett should have been spanked, and probably a few solid spankings over Rhett’s knees could have saved their marriage - and ruined a great love story.

I agree - if women had not wanted all those spanking scenes in the movies, they would not be there. And women still find a strong male who is strong enough to take them over his knees for a spanking sexy, that is why we this subliterary genre of spanking novels - written largely by and for women.

The hairbrush is coming back in vogue for husbands to use on erring wives.

Neither John Wayne nor any other man could make Maureen O’Hara submit. She followed him home after the spanking because she loved and and wantedto stay with him, not because she had been beaten into submission.

To me it seems all wrong to talk about infantalising women. I would never hit or spank a child, but a woman who slaps or kicks me could be pretty sure to go over my knees for a good spanking. It is part of a sexual game, and I feel pretty sure that the reason spanking is so much in demand in romance novels for women…