and...

There is a good body of literature dealing with corporal punishment at home and at school, especially at times and places where The Cane or The Belt (rather than bare hands) were used. Many of the authors argue convincingly that it was a legitimised form of adult sexual contact with children, and that there is more than enough evidence that many of the adults engaged in the punishing got off that way.

Apart from the obvious denial that exists among more contemporary pro-spanking advocacy that the activity is sexual... I think this also relates again to the usual dynamics of situational offences. Adult has access to a child > adult gets off using the child; yet the child was always an object rather than an active participant. In both cases, the adult usually justifies themselves with a variant of "I had to".

Because of the above, I think that the same way that a crticism of molestation that arises from situational circumstances should be accompanied by a reaffirmation of consent in other cases; in the same way a criticism of spanking arising as a byproduct of the power imbalance should be accompanied by an acknowledgement of consent in other cases.