Source: Wikipedia
While Madonna has done several provoking things in her career, the spanking fetish keeps on shining through constantly. So there's a good chance it might be more than just PR.
In her 1990 album "I'm breathless" she release a song called Hanky Panky. During her appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show, Madonna said that the song was "about a spanking but not the kind that you get when you're bad".
There are several live performances of this song featuring indications of spankings.
Some of the Lyrics:
I just like things a little rough and you better not disagree
'Cause I don't like a big softie (no) I like someone mean and bossy
Let me speak to you frankly, you better...
Like hanky panky (hanky panky)
Nothing like a good spanky (good spanky)
Don't take out your handkerchiefs
I don't wanna cry, I just wanna hanky panky
Like hanky panky (hanky panky)
Nothing like a good spanky (good spanky)
Don't take out your handkerchiefs
I don't wanna cry, I just wanna hanky panky guy
[...]
(She wants you to) Treat me like I'm a bad girl
(She needs you to) Even when I'm being good to you
I don't want you to thank me (Don't thank her), you better...
It's rumored that this song was inspired by her real-life relationship with Warren Beatty who is said to be a spanko. This is noted in the autobiography, "Madonna: An Intimate Biography". If you check the Editorial Reviews section you'll see this quote: "Madonna's tune "Hanky Panky" reflects Beatty's favorite sport, spanking".
Of course they both starred in Dick Tracy.
Which is probably why her performance for "Hanky Panky" includes a Warren Beatty look-a-like playing his character, Dick Tracy!
From the biography is also this passage about her relationship to Warren Beatty:
"He's into all aspects of sexuality. This is why he's so perfect for me", she added. "He has no restrictions. He says to me, 'If you misbehave I'll just have to spank you.' I love that. Everything to him is living out his sexual fantasies."
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While talking to Madonna an interviewer also noticed she had placed "Jeux des Dames Cruelles" on her coffee table which is an illustrated history of female spanking!
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Then we have her movie In Bed with Madonna (1993)....
..and her appearance in The Next Best Thing (2000)
In August 2008 newsparer were reporting that Madonna asked her lawyers to stop the publication of several letters to her former boyfriend James Albright.
Some of the letters were said to be signed 'Spanky' and feature lipstick kisses.
She also likes to play with the SM theme in her book (Outtake), on stage, a Vanity Fair session in 1992, from her Vid "Human Nature" and in public (old picture, not sure if that's really her).
In 2014 she made a SM related photoshoot with Katy Perry for V Magazine, e.g. showing her on her knees with Perry holding a strap.
If she's into spanking, she's probably a switch I'd guess....
In 2015 she picked up speed again while playfully spanking a number of people on stage, including Amy Schumer, Katy Perry and Rita Ora. She also received a couple of swats from Jessica Chastain and was spanked by her dancers.
