There are several common positions that are traditional for punishing adult males on the buttocks. One of the most widespread is with the victim lying on the ground or on a low bench. This is probably very uncommon in the West nowadays, but was widespread in the past. Egyptian farmers who were late paying their taxes had their bottoms warmed in this position.
In Sub-Saharan Africa this position is widely used today in the punishment of street criminals, which can sometimes be an impromptu affair.
This older photo is captioned "preparation for the bastinado", a term often associated with the brutal practice of flogging the soles of the feet, but also used in reference to punishment on the buttocks, which is clearly what is in store for this poor fellow:
This is not a knout, but some other whip used in Russia. The culprit is tied on a low bench with ropes and his buttocks exposed:
Until the mid-1800s most Russian guys were serfs who were disciplined at the pleasure of their masters (and mistresses) and the commonest implement used for this seems to have been the birch rod. Russia, of course, has birch available in abundance, an intriguing implement since it is only effective when applied to the bare skin.
I don't know if this painting illustrates a serf being punished on an estate; this may well be a judicial punishment; in any case, Russia is an interesting case to me, because of the millions of strapping bearded men who got their bare and very white bottoms stung and reddened by the rod. If only that were the sole crime against humanity committed by the Czarist system and its successors! Once stripped, I think this guy is going to be made to lay down on that blanket covered bench:
In China and Korea criminals were routinely sentenced to have their bare bottoms whipped with huge paddles, lying on the ground or a low bench with their trousers down. There was no shame attached to this, and men of high power and status were often punished in this fashion for things like taking bribes, and then sent back to their posts. The Korean film Chun Hyang shows a powerful general getting his butt publicly paddled in this way, for having displeased his lord.
The patta is a leather paddle used in Northern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, both to punish street criminals and to maintain order in jails. Its use has clearly not died out.
In Chechnya, as in Iran, CP is piously inflicted on fully clothed men and often drifts up and down from the buttocks, from shoulder to heel.
