What is a Brat? What is Funishment?

The submissive may also be breaking the rule intentionally because she is a brat and wants to be punished. This is another topic entirely. There’s no reason bratting can’t be part of your dynamic in a DD/lg relationship, but it doesn’t have to be. Not all littles are brats, but many are. Bratsenjoy breaking the rules and being punished. Such punishments however are not real punishments because they are not unwanted and do nothing to discourage the bratty behavior. Instead, this is role play punishment, which is also referred to as “funishment”.

Funishment is Role Play

It’s important to acknowledge when you’re engaging in funishment as opposed to punishment. Funishment is a type of role play and is not the same thing as real punishment. A real punishment is uncomfortable/painful as is something the submissive does not want which helps to discourage the unwanted behavior. Engaging in bratting and funishment does not mean the submissive doesn’t also from time-to-time require discipline or actual punishment. Funishment is role play and does not have the effect of disciplining or punishing the submissive.

There’s a Difference Between Bratting and Disrespect

There is a big difference between bratting and simply being disrespectful too. If the same bratty behaviors are removed from the context of role play, then they are just plain disrespectful and toxic. Being disrespectful is never ok unless it is done as part of an agreed upon scene, such as a bratting scene or degradation scene. It could be the case that the sub is naturally disrespectful and needs a dom who can help her learn not to be. But ultimately what is needed in that case is to teach the sub some self-discipline. If the sub successfully learns to be more self-disciplined and ceases to be disrespectful, the couple can transition into a bratting/funishment dynamic where this behavior can be expressed as role play instead.

Bratting Requires Excellent Upfront Communication

Bratting can, and often is, something that takes place outside of designated scenes. But that bratty dynamic within the relationship is one that must be carefully negotiated in advance. The line between playfully acting disrespectful, in ways in which it has been agreed in advance are ok, and actually being disrespectful can be very thin. If the battiness crosses over into something that genuinely makes the dom feel disrespected or powerless to control the sub, that is no longer bratting and is just disrespect. That can occur accidentally on part of the brat. It is very important to address those situations immediately and to correct them going forward. This type of dynamic requires an exceptional amount of negotiation and communication to be successful.

Impact Play by Itself is Not Punishment

Impact play is especially associated with punishments. Impact play includes spanking on the ass, which is the most common thing that comes to mind when people think about punishment. But impact play does not have to be on the ass, it can be anywhere else on the body as well. Many different tools can be used for impact play. Some common ones are belts, leather straps, crops, paddles, floggers, whips, or with a bare hand.

Although closely associated with punishment in many people’s minds, impact play by itself in not the same as punishment. You can enjoy impact play without pretending you’re being punished. There is no reason why impact play needs to be the go-to punishment method, or any reason why it makes for a better punishment than any other method. Your little may be a masochist and enjoy receiving painful spankings. Your little may also enjoy spankings without being a masochist – spankings do not have to be done in a painful way and can be done more as sensation play rather than pain play. If she enjoys being spanked, the spanking is not a punishment at all. The type of funishment many brats are looking for specifically is spankings, and masochistic brats like being spanked hard. They may do so for the role play of being punished, because they want to receive pain, or both. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but an impact play scene does not have to be framed that way. Neither role play nor masochism are required to enjoy a spanking.