Monday 1 February 2010

Fantasizing about reality

One thing I love to do in role-play is to add authentic touches to a scene. Because of that, I spend (waste?) a lot of time reading historical accounts of situations that might provide scene-fodder. I love sites like corpun.com that document the history of corporal punishment, and (as you've seen) I do a lot of my own digging in the archives. I also scour Ebay and the like, looking for authentic uniforms, accessories, insignia. And of course authentic implements.

I know that not everyone approves of this. Some people feel it's too close to the bone, perhaps even that it trivialises real suffering. I can see that argument, but I don't agree with it. The scenes I do in role-play may borrow some elements from reality, but I use the parts I find appealing and discard the parts I don't. The resulting scenes aren't the real thing and in playing with them I don't condone the real thing. Even a school caning was pretty unpleasant in reality.

Well, that's the principle. But just occasionally there's a news item that's just too perfect, and I came across one today. It's about a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, who caught an 18-year-old girl doing naughty things with her boyfriend in a parked car:

A six-member Tarrant County jury convicted Craig Arlen Murrah of official oppression because he mistreated the 18-year-old after ordering her out of her car in Oakhurst Park shortly after 1 a.m. on June 22, 2007.

The woman, now 20, testified during the two-day trial that she and her boyfriend were having sex in the car when they saw the lights of a patrol car as it pulled into the parking lot.

She tried to get dressed but was still nude from the waist down when Murrah made her get out of the car and put her hands behind her back. That caused her to drop the shirt covering her lower body. Murrah forced her to bend over and spanked her on her naked bottom, she said.

Official oppression? I didn't know that was an offence!

But I don't need to add much to turn this into a fantasy. In my version, of course, I am that cop. I recognise the girl as the spoilt daughter of a local politician, who knows just how displeased Daddy will be if she's brought home in a police car. There'll be no way to keep it out of the local paper: her father's "family values" campaign will be in tatters, and her longed-for Caribbean cruise will evaporate in an instant. How much easier to accept the spanking she knows she deserves, right there in the parking lot...

Hmm. I may have to photograph this.