Please stop equating physical punishment with abuse. I did not say the word abuse, so don't make a straw man of me. Abuse is, by definition, negative. We can't

Please stop equating physical punishment with abuse. I did not say the word abuse, so don't make a straw man of me. Abuse is, by definition, negative. We can't have any kind of discussion about whether physical punishment is negative or positive if you can't distinguish it from abuse. Our entire society is quite literally based around physical punishment for law breaking, in that you go to jail. Society does not function with solely positive reinforcement. I'm sorry about this, and I don't like it either, but it's just a fact of life. I fail to see any justification for the strange idea that a child or adolescent should never be punished physically, but an adult should be. If there exist adults who are deterred from bad behavior due to the consequences, and they obviously do exist, why do you think that such adolescents don't also exist? For such adolescents who don't respond to gentler measures, a spanking may very well deter the bad behavior. I very seriously do not understand why this is debated. In regards to the historical context, I find your opinion on that myopic and egoistic.