I've noticed over the years that British Dommes seem to award CP in dozens of strokes rather than a specific number like 50 (most Canadian and Aussie Dommes too) and caning seems to come in sets of six. When I've played in the US it's often been in sets of 10 as in "That's going to cost you 30" or "Oh, I think you can take 20 more". You also find a lot of CP videos with titles like "100 strokes of the Cane?

Subs, what's your experience? Dommes, what do you tend to use?

Interesting observation. I wonder if it's cultural? Have people in the UK had corporal punishment in school, with strokes in multiples of 12 and people in the US in multiples of 10?

Personally, I have no set number or rhyme or reason; I just do what I want. Sometimes it's multiples of 5 or 10. Sometimes "it's your birthday so you're getting X. Often "I'm going to whip you 3 more times. Okay, 4," kind of like when you take 3 cookies from the bag and then go back for one more.

I just go with whatever feels right in the moment.

It very well might be cultural! The thought has crossed My mind, being Jamaican, I know that CP is administered via “switch” which typically would be a found branch from outdoors and the “pow pows” are given in increments of 10. Like a lot of the culture, that might have also been another thing that derives from the UK. I personally have never *really* counted incrementally. I dish blows based on how I’m feeling and within the confines of what the submissive can physically take before failure. Heavier players get the heavier blows, the ones that come with skin and broken blood, and I usually have the submissive count them out. Sometimes I’ll implement the “two for flinching” rule but instead of two, I mean 20, just for personal sadistic pleasure.

I suspect it is a historical/cultural thing for the UK and commonwealth countries. After all caning in a BDSM context is known as "The English Vice" and British public schools used to award the cane in increments of six and 12. ("six of the best") The Royal Navy flogged sailors with a cat of nine tails in multiples of 12.

I suppose it's a moot point unless you are always told what you are going to get. I much prefer this form of play where the Domme tells you the number of strokes you have coming (and with what implement or implements) before she starts rather than not knowing how long it will go on.

Whichever method you use, I've found both 60 and 5 dozen feel about the same......and hurt A LOT!

Interesting. Do you usually tell the sub what punishment he has coming or do you tend just to punish until you are satisfied with the results.

Personally I prefer the slight dread/excitement of knowing what I'm facing (and the slight shock that can come from hearing an unexpectedly high number) but I can see how fear of the unknown could be exciting too.

Yes, it's 100% a cultural thing: I went to schools in the UK where punishment was regularly practiced by the schoolmasters and mistresses (yes, that is what they were actually called and what we had to refer to them as). The standard unit of punishment was "six of the best".

Prior to the 1970s, the UK used all sorts of measurement schemes for money and weights that were non-decimal i.e. until 1971 the UK did not use a currency that divided into 100 subunits e.g. 100 cents in a dollar. Instead a pound was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 (old) pence - there's that number. You can read more about this bizarreness here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day

Personally, I like both approaches, i.e. being given a number in advance or a Mistress letting loose until she's satisfied. I was once owned by a mistress who took both approaches: She would start off by just letting loose and start a long, heavy, cold caning with no indication of when the end would come. Then she would announce that next would be becoming my last 10, and I would have to count them. I would count them diligently and thank her for each one; however, without fail, when the count reached eight, she would correct me and tell me that the correct count was actually seven. I would apologize and adjust my count to seven, and then the count would move to eight again, and she would correct me and reset me back to seven and keep correcting me back to seven until she had probably corrected me more times than the original 10. The wildest part of it for me was my complete acceptance of her absolute right to define my reality this way.

Great answer! I have to say I’ve never been a fan of counting. I much prefer being securely gagged during a CP session and one kind of precludes the other.