A growing number of married American couples are agreeing to allow husbands to keep their wives 'in line' by taking to corporal punishment.
The trend is called Christian Domestic Discipline and much of what is known about the practice is published on the website Learning Domestic Discipline, published by husband and wife CDD duo, Clint and Chelsea.
The website states: 'It is an arrangement between two adults who share the belief that the husband is the head of the household and with that position comes the right to enforce his authority.'
Clint and Chelsea have also written a 50-page packet on the practice called Beginning Domestic Discipline.
Scroll down for video
Manifesto: Learningdd.com is a source of a lot of information on the new painful Christian trend
Discipline: In CDD, husbands spank their submissive wives in order to correct misbehavior
In the packet they describe CDD as a ‘practice between two consenting life partners in which the head of household (HoH) takes the necessary measures to achieve a healthy relationship dynamic.’
That translates to all methods of punishment, not exclusive to spanking. Clint and Chelsea advocate lecturing, removing privileges, corner and bedroom time – essentially the ways most people discipline their children.
For CDD enthusiasts, this type of punishment isn’t sexual in nature.
Vera (anonymous last name), who is in a CDD relationship with her husband told The Daily Beast that the practice is in no-way sexual.
'The pure CDD people don't go there. A lot of folks think of Fifty Shades of Grey - but this is not that.’
Spanking is clearly the bread and butter of this kind of relationship. Eighteen pages of the CDD manifesto are dedicated to spanking and how to properly go about administering spanks.
Tools: A hairbrush is one of the listed items sanctioned for spanking on in the Beginning Domestic Discipline packet
Paddle: A wooden spoon is another spanking tool. In the packet, Clint and Chelsea warn that one of the cons with this tool is that it 'can break easily'
Clint and Chelsea talk about all aspects of spanking such as the ‘awkward’ first spanking, the various tools that can be used to administer the spankings, what position the wife should be in and the pros and cons of spanking over or under clothing.
Corporal punishment at home obviously leads to questions about whether or not this is domestic abuse. Clint and Chelsea stress in their packet that CDD should only practiced by consenting adults and that the HoH should never punish while angry.
‘If the HoH becomes angry, they must do whatever it takes to get themselves back to a calm, reasonable, rational, level-headed, and collected state before making any decision or carrying out any punishment.’
But as evidenced on many forums dedicated to CDD, the practice has turned violent in cases.
‘I wanted the spankings to stop and my husband told me it was either DD and marriage or divorce. I chose divorce. I couldn't handle the pain of spankings anymore, emotionally or physically,’ a woman named Michelle wrote on a popular CDD blog found in reporting by The Daily Beast.
What’s scarier is how little fear is expressed in these forums.
XOJane writer Laura Rubino investigated the issue and trolled the internet looking for horror stories but was surprised when she ‘didn’t find as many of those as I was expecting to.’
RELATED ARTICLES
'Don't take vitamin pills': U.S. doctor warns that some... 
A very indecent proposal? Sex toys masquerading as RINGS...
Share this article
Share'Most of the women who write about their CDD experiences online are not complaining. Many of them report feeling extremely calm and relaxed after being disciplined, and believe it is an expression of their husband caring about them and their marriage, enough to help them modify their behavior,’ Rubino said.
The punishment, Rubino said, offers these women a clean slate and they don’t have to worry about passive aggressive tension after a fight.
While many of these women rave about CDD, it’s not something that Rubino would voluntarily sign herself up for.
‘Walking around my own home, conscious of the fact that any perceived transgression could result in physical pain and a surrendering of control of my body? That would stress me the f*** out. I don't find that sexy at all. Scary, yes. Hot? Not so much.'
Jim Alsdurf, a forensic psychologist who has written a book on abuse in Christian homes, agrees.
‘No fool in his right mind would but this as a legitimate way to have a relationship. A relationship that infantilizes a woman is one that clearly draws a more pathological group of people.’
Even conservative Christians aren’t behind this trend. Radio host Bryan Fisher told The Huffington Post that he finds no basis in Christianity for such a relationship. He described the trend as ‘horrifying,’ ‘ bizarre,’ ‘unbiblical’ and ’un-Christian’.
'God in the New Testament clearly asks wives to arrange themselves under the leadership of their husbands (in Greek, the word 'submit' means 'to arrange under.') But there is no place where husbands are instructed to make their wives do it or punish them if they don't.'
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWJ%2FdICVbHBsZ4Sdsm6Px6ugrKyZlrtuuc6vnKadnql6tbHLpapmoKWor6K6w6xkjIhxg5huw8ivnKxlk6S%2Fs7HCrWSmoaOXsqmt1aKmq2aYqbqt