I am disappointed that we have not had more letters recently on the subject of petticoat discipline for husbands. There is no doubt at all that putting him into petticoats is the most amusing and most effective of all ways of disciplining a grown male, and keeping him reminded of his subordinate role in the household, and it does, of course, lend itself to all sorts of delightful variations.

My own husband for instance has all sorts of duties to perform as 'maid of all work' about the house, for which I have designed for him a costume intended to cause the maximum humiliation and discomfort. His frock is a simple grey alpaca, very suitable for a servant, and it has a high starched collar which forces him to keep his head up. I corset him very tightly, down to a twenty one inch waist, and these long heavily whale boned corsets mean that he can bend only from the hips, and is kept in a rigid unbending imprisonment which can be unpleasantly painful after even a short while. For underwear, he has a starched white linen petticoat, with just a narrow lace frill round the hem, and women's bloomers which are passed on to him by my mother. Having to wear his mother-in-law's discarded bloomers is particularly humiliating for him, but it does wonders in keeping him reminded of his inferior status.

If I am entertaining friends, he is expected to prepare and serve tea for us, but his outfit is then made a little more fussy and attractive by the addition of a little lace bib and apron, and by putting him into two or three flouncy and heavily belaced taffeta petticoats. Needless to say he gives much amusement to the ladies as he minces around serving and waiting on us, with much swirling of petticoats and frequent displays of his humiliating little bloomers, which he can not avoid because of the shortness of his frock.  I keep his hair cut short, so that he is instantly recognisable as a petticoated male, and just to add to his miseries visitors are always informed that he is wearing his mother-in-law's used and discarded bloomers, with never fails to arouse much laughter at his expense.

When he is not engaged like this in household duties, I keep him dressed as a little girl, which I find is another extremely effective way of reminding him of his subordinate and inferior status. Being fairly tall, he naturally looks ridiculous in short, childish, little frocks and white frilly petticoats and knickers, and his little girl appearance is heightened by making him wear white silk ankle socks and low-heeled black patent shoes fasting with a strap or button. As some consolation he is allowed to discard his hated corsets, but whilst this does allow him a little more freedom of movement, it does nothing to lessen his shame and humiliation at being dressed in this absurdly childish way. I find it amusing to chide him constantly for not behaving in keeping with his childish attire, and I love to watch him squirm when I tell him to 'pull your frock down - your petticoats are showing', or draw attention in other ways to his juvenile status.

About six months ago, one of my women friends, who had seen him a number of times in his little girl outfit, brought him a present of a baby's dummy, saying that she thought it might help to 'soothe the child' if he was given a dummy to suck. My poor husband nearly died of shame, but the idea amused me immensely and, in spite of his almost tearful protests, the little rubber teat was pushed into his mouth and he was told to be a good little boy and us it regularly, as 'Auntie Jane' had been kind enough to buy it for him. From then on whenever he was in his little girl clothes his dummy was always brought out and given to him, to the great delight of any visitors.

And it was 'Auntie Jane', visiting us a few weeks later, who brought along another present for him - some extra big towelling nappies which she herself had made for him! When the parcel was unwrapped, and he saw the nappies, he refused point-blank to wear them, but I am not accustomed to such disobedience, nor will I permit it, and, with Jane's assistance, it wasn't many minutes before our naughty and rebellious  'child' sat sobbing and squirming in front of us, very firmly and securely pinned up in his nappies. And he had the unpleasant and extremely humiliating task of thanking her nicely for her gift, which almost choked him!

Unlike some of your readers I do not keep my husband to the permanent wearing of nappies. For one thing, complete baby attire of this nature would not be suitable for carrying out housework in, nor could he answer the door dressed as a baby and sucking a dummy, whereas he is expected to do so in his pinafore and petticoats. But, because I know how much it humiliates him and hurts his pride, I do now frequently dress him up in this way for the benefit of visitors, and indeed many of them ask specially that he should be put into nappies when they come, as they enjoy seeing him like this. Also, I make him wear a nappy to bed, which gives me complete control of our love making, so I am more than grateful to Jane for her idea.

I do hope that we may look forward to further letters on this delightful subject, as it is one of the things which has always made 'Janus' such an interesting and enjoyable magazine.

Alice (Cardiff)