Crimson said most of what I wanted to add, and I'm glad no one sees it as a contradiction of the points made earlier. A word, a look ... can sting as much as the whip. And a spanking done as a punishment, to a sub who relies on Master's approval and happiness for her/his own pleasure and sense of worth, is a miserable sub indeed ... now even the spanking s/he enjoyed is robbed of its joy and the pleasure has to await forgiveness.

Personally, however, I'm not sure when I would employ a spanking as punishment. I prefer punishment that is corrective as well as unpleasant. If it is merely unpleasant it seems to me to be less valuable. For example, a sub who has spoken out of turn may have to deal with a punishment that denies her/him the right to speak for a period of time; or if s/he has been thoughtless and careless and broken something may be denied some other privilege while s/he goes about repairing it. And so on.

her_Joe