32

[Dept of PMM Castle Life]

Most men find it MUCH MORE DIFFICULT to become Gorean, because they have been subject to the same social stereotyping and restraints as women, but because the expectations where not on "their side" of the equation, they are, generally ill-prepared to deal with the reality of an unrestrained female sex drive. Recall that it was and is male-dominated cultures that spend thousands of years trying (vainly) to stuff that (female genie) back in her bottle -- to no avail.
Traditionally men had relied on STD's and childbirth and social (and religious) stigma to assist them in maintaining "control" of the female sex drive, but on Gor those obstacles have all been removed. The result of this is that most men who claim that they are "Gorean" or wish they were Gorean fall FAR short of the challenge. The challenge, of course is to accept, in totality and without reservation, the lack of restrain on the female sex drive. For many, this unrestrained female sexuality displayed in its purest form before their disbelieving eyes, terrifies them beyond control.
The male fantasy, and this is what we are dealing with, is a double-edged blade. Part One is the unrestrained female, and Gorean ideas and ideals place that within reach for the very first time. Part Two is the insidious idea that somehow he is so sexually superior that all of that sexual energy will be kept for him and him alone. The problem is that men "cannot" have it both ways. Prior to the creation of the Gorean Model, what has been the solution is to BLAME the woman for HER lack of responsiveness while at the same time DEMANDING that she ONLY be "out of control" for just one man. (The lady in the parlor and the hooker in the bedroom fantasy.) Which is, of course, stupid and makes the woman the Victim and the Guilty at the same time.
Let me give you an example. I have a horse, a stallion. He is generally friendly, but extremely powerful and also very intelligent. We enjoy each other's company. If I call him, he comes to me. He will not come as easily or as quickly to anyone else, even those he is familiar with. When he comes to me, I pet him. This system works. Now from time to time, I also give him a treat. He really enjoys these treats. Sometimes other people also feed him these treats. Should I beat him if he takes the treat from a hand other than mine? Tell him he is a dumb and cheap horse because he enjoyed the treat that someone else gave him? What sort of a relationship do you think would develop if I did that? Right, you would tell me that I was being totally unrealistic and cruel, that the treat is a treat regardless of the hand that offered it, and that If I wanted him to prefer my treats to the treats offered by others, I should treat him better than others do and perhaps make certain that I give him plenty of treats so that he is not so eager to get them. Maybe you will even suggest that I find other things to share with him so that he has other things that pleased him than just the treats. And in each case you would be correct.
The reason so many men are unable to deal with the Gorean model is that they want BOTH the unrestrained sexual energy and the restrained control that directs that energy to them as the sole beneficiary. The result is that they get NEITHER.
Granted, it is possible to train the horse, or the slave, to only take a treat from your hand, but it is quite another to expect, as men are prone to do, that they will not WANT a treat that is offered to them, clearly visible and desirable. The price for that restraining is the dampening of the desire OVERALL, which is not the goal of a Gorean female slave, because she accepted the collar with the understanding that she was not longer going to be forced to dampen that desire, that indeed, the OPPOSITE would be REQUIRED of her.
I have been known to say that possessiveness and jealousy have killed more slaves than disobedience, and I stand by that statement. What few who casually read that rule understand is that the possessiveness and jealousy I refer to is NOT the sole property or problem of the Gorean slave, it is equally (and shamefully) the province and problem for some GOREAN MASTERS as well.
Let us turn our attention to the "contract" between a Gorean Master and a Gorean kajira (female slave). We will use the contract model because it is a clear outline and because, living on Earth, we do not have the advantages of Gorean law and social norms to work with. Indeed, because we live on Earth, the very nature of such a contract as we envision is "illegal" within the strictures of an Earthly legal system, and, like many useful and necessary social contracts, it is unenforceable" except as regards the honor of the contracting parties.
First, as regards to property: implicit in this contract, and indeed in all things "Gorean" is the acceptance of the fact that any animal can be the property of another. On Earth, however, except in rare cases, only governments are allowed to exercise this right. Which does NOT keep the idea of "I belong to" or perhaps more importantly "you belong to" from being used (and relied upon) by lovers, family, friends, employers, schools, churches, cities, states, fraternities, etc. etc. .etc. Examples abound everywhere. What is lacking is the open acknowledgment of this principle, which is no less then hypocrisy in action. However, as I stated, generally only governments are allowed to ENFORCE this ownership.
In the Gorean Model of things, there is a shift of ownership to the more personal level. A clear and precise line: The collar. Tangible or, as is the case in many Earth/Gorean relationships, a creation of the mind only, the collar signifies that "this one" is the property of "that one". Further, the visibility of the collar removes all chance of doubt as to the legitimacy of this condition. On Earth, it is of double weight, because a collar is accepted and worn in defiance of the previously operative social norms. So, when a woman on Earth accepts the condition of slavery, Gorean style, she is giving up all rights, present and future to self-determination, self-control, property ownership, and the uses of her body and intellect. As one kajira stated to me, on reflection, it is almost like being married and in the Army at the same time.
For a contract to have legitimacy it must have three parts; authority, that is the ability of the persons to enter into the contract; purpose, that is the terms and conditions for which and under which the contract is formed, and valid consideration, that is the payment or exchange from one party to the other party (or each to the other) that creates the equity or balances the terms and conditions.
In the Gorean contract, it is the Master who must supply the valid consideration, i.e., he must be willing to give the kajira the things, be they physical, psychological, social or emotional, that she exchanged for her freedom. Of course, on John Norman's Gor, society provides many of these things, so the "slave contract" is a different burden. On Earth/Gor it is a matter of quid pro quo.
Although many of the details of this exchange are left as exercises for the students, it does behoove us to touch on a few of the more troublesome ones. The MOST troublesome is, as we might have guessed, the sexual contract. TO make this work, the female GIVES UP any and every pretense of sexual control. By the urging or biology and the lessons provided by kind and loving training, the "normal" woman is transformed into a living expression of sexual desire and desirability. She learns to NEED the sexual contact and stimulation society has long denied her, and need it without reservation or inhibition. On Gor this would be "normal" on Earth it is dangerous! Imagine the woman who, because of a complete expression of her biology is willing to do anything with anyone who offers her a way of achieving sexual fulfillment and pleasure and who, if not regularly pleasured and stimulated will seek out a suitable male and beg him to supply the stimulation she needs.
Of course, in a MAN this would be considered "normal" and "moral" throughout most of history. On Gor, it is normal and moral for the female ALSO, indeed only on Gor is the woman able to become the SEXUAL EQUAL of the man, which could be well why woman are willing to beg to be collared. For the man's part comes the challenge to himself to live up to the Gorean Model, to protect his property by guarding her from the social pressures to retrain herself AND to protect her against and from his own fears of being "sexually" inadequate. He must see that her needs are either met, personally or by PERMISSION, but, having required that she be unrestrained, he must be fully and completely willing and able to deal with all the ramifications of that lack of restraint. If she is loyal to him and he to her, he will not EVER question her chastity, just as if she is loyal to her collar and her contract, she will never assume that chastity, his or hers is a virtue. The assumption is that one of the foundations of the relationship will be the permission and license for her to be a TRUE KAJIRA. He will have to learn manage, cherish and value her as what she is, one who is without hypocrisy or restraint in her sexual hunger, which are the very things that HE became a Gorean to experience. She does not demand or expect that he will not be a Master, exercising his sexuality as is appropriate - it is a non-exclusive relationship. He does not demand or expect that she will be less than a kajira, which means that she will exercise her sexuality as often as the hunger overtakes her and that unless he is there to "fill the void" that that is also going to be a non-exclusive relationship. And both must prepared to change their emotional basis and social assumptions for the relationship to exist.
Being a Gorean on Gor is not easy. Being a Gorean on Earth is infinitely harder. Knowing this we might ask why intelligent and educated people would dare enter these dangerous and risky waters. One possible answer is that they do so because they realize that the Gorean Model is a more honest model, a fairer model than the Earth Model, and that in spite of the many difficulties it is a model that liberates BOTH sexes from traditional and socially accepted biological tyranny and hypocrisy.
The Gorean Model is a challenge for both the master and the slave to overcome the artificial limitations placed on women by cultures and religions that were and remain afraid of the full power of the daughters of Eve. Only on Gor can such women thrive. Only on Gor can men face and repair the damage done by their fearfulness and desire for a "safe" relationship. And it is only through re-defining what is "safe" and "expected" in a relationship that both the Gorean Master and the Gorean slave find the fulfillment that both were seeking.
Gorean Slavery Quotes
"A Gorean slave girl in the presence of a free man or woman always kneels, unless excused from doing so."
Page 73 - Captive of Gor

"Forgive me, Master," she said. "I was not respectful. It was appropriate that I be cuffed."
Page 193 - Magicians of Gor

"The Gorean dancer is expected, usually, to sayisfy the passions she arouses."
Page 26 - Players of Gor

"Insubordination, slaves are quickly taught, is not acceptable, in any way, to the Gorean master."
Page 123 - Kajira of Gor

"Slave girls on Gor address all free men as Master, though, of course only one such would be her true Master."
Page 60 - Nomads of Gor

"Similarly, slaves on the whole, do not address free men by their names."
Page 12 - Assassin of Gor

"We must thus see to it that we are marvels to them, that we serve them with eagerness and perfection. This is not a matter, incidentally, of serving regardless of our will and possible desires, or in spite of them, but of actually adjusting our will and desires, in such a way that they now find expression and fulfillment even in such service."
Page 312 - Dancer of Gor

On Collars, Leashes & Restraints...
"The Turian collar lies loosely on the girl, a round ring; it fits so loosely that, when grasped in a mans fist, the girl can turn within it; the common Gorean collar, on the other hand, is flat, snugly fitting steel band. Both collars lock in the back, behind the girl's neck. The Turian collar is more difficult to engrave, but it, like the flat collar, will bear some legend assuring that the girl, if found, will be promptly returned to her Master." Page 19 - Nomads of Gor

"The small, heavy lock on a girls slave collar, incidentally, may be of several varieties, but almost all are cylinder locks, either of the pin or disk variety. In a girls collar lock there would be six pins or six disks, one each, it is said, for each letter of in the Gorean word for female slave, kajira; the male slave , or kajirus, seldom has a locked collar; normally a band of iron is simply hammered about his neck; often he works in chains, usually with other male slaves."
Page 51 - Assassin of Gor

"She wore on her throat a high , gold collar, with, in front, a large golden loop, some two inches in width. Threaded through this loop, was a golden chain. This chain terminated, at each end, with high, golden slave bracelets. When the girl stands her hands may fall naturally to her sides, each in its bracelet, each bracelet attached to the same chain, which passes through the collar loop. It is a very beautiful way of chaining a girl."
Page 79 - Beasts of Gor

"I had broken her swiftly to my collar. She had been excellent in a man's arms. Months later I had freed her. What a fool I had been. It was not a mistake I would make again with a woman. Keep them slaves. They belong in collars."
Page 140 - Beasts of Gor

"Indeed, the leash, not uncommonly, can cause a woman to sexually blossom. This is presumably a function of such things as its actual restraint, which is quite real; its message to her that she is an animal, a slave; and its making clear to her, by a device, such as a bracelet, a brand or collar, what is the order of nature, who it is who controls her and who it is whom she must obey, who is the slave and who is the master. A leash, even apart from questions of training, of course, can have powerful emotional impact on a girl. It is a very useful way of convincing a girl that she is slave; similarly it can always serve as an effective reminder. Some girls do not seem to believe they are slaves until they have been leashed. But after that, and after having been put through "leash paces," there is seldom any doubt in their mind. Some girls beg to be leashed, sometimes crawling to their masters, their leash held between their small, fine teeth. Most masters use the leash at one time or another. A Gorean saying has it that a leashed slave is a hot slave."
Page 366 - Fighting Slave of Gor

"The collar is put on from without, but what it encircles comes from within. Slavery, true slavery, comes from within."
Page 210 - Savages of Gor

"What do you think he is doing to her?" she asked. "Mastering her," I said. "Do you think she is tied?" she asked. "Probably." I said She looked down, shuddering, blushing. The intensification of sexual pleasure, both physically and psychologically, by the application of selected restraints is well known."
Page 158 - Renegades of Gor

is still a slave even if her brand could be made to magically disappear or, if she has been made a slave in some other way, if she has not yet been branded."
Page 273 - Renegades of Gor

Kajirae • Slave "Fashions" • Norman’s Gor vs. Earth
There are four books in the Gor series which are told from the viewpoint of the kajira: Captive, Slave Girl, Dancer, and Kajira. Dancer of Gor goes into great detail about the training a girl might receive to become a perfect slave. (It also has a sympathetic heroine; the other three have rather whiny, obnoxious girls telling their stories.) For a better look at the lot of the slave girl, please read those books.
Kajirae
There are many types of kajirae in the Gor novels, from the handmaidens of freewomen to the lowest beggar-girls, and everything in between. (What a slave wears is the whim of the girl’s owner. Some colors are "traditional," however.)
• Muls are the slaves (male and female) kept by the Priest Kings to maintain the Nest. Typically, they wear purple tunics. Purple is the color of an Ubar: they wear it because it is a great honor to be the slave of Priest-Kings. (Note: there have been some changes since the Nest War.)
• Tower slaves are slaves of high positions in a household. An historical analogy to the tower slave would be a chatelaine. (Of course, being slaves, they are still available for any use the master sees fit.)
• Handmaidens are the slaves of freewomen. They are usually dressed very conservatively, as many freewomen hold the passions of pleasure slaves in great contempt.
• Exotics are bred slaves whose characteristics have been carefully chosen by their breeders. The animal husbandry of Earth is how we would see this, or possibly: "eugenics." Passion slaves are exotics who are bred for passionate response.
• Pleasure slaves are usually dressed in red silk to indicate their availability for use. They are trained in the arts of love, and are typically very passionate and needy slaves.
• Luck girls are slaves kept as mascots onboard ships, usually reserved for the captain’s use, though she may be shared. Free women, as on Earth, are thought to be bad luck on ships.
• Paga slaves are girls who work in paga taverns, whose use is bought with a bowl of paga. They usually wear yellow silks.
• Kettle-and-Mat girls are menial slaves who are also pressed into sexual service when it is demanded of them. They commonly wear rags of rep cloth. (When referred to as "pot girl," it is rather an insult.)
• Coin girls wear a coin box and bell around their neck, and wander the streets inviting their use of the men on the street. An Earth analogy is that of "streetwalker." If the girl’s use is not paid for, then the girl is punished for not collecting and returning the coin to her master.
• Beggar slaves are the most pitiful of all. They are typically slaves who tried to run away and were hamstrung as punishment. Since they cannot walk (only drag themselves by their hands), they sit and beg for coins on the street, returning what they "earn" to their masters.
In Torvaldsland, slaves are called bond-maids; a "girl whose belly lies under the sword." Men of Torvaldsland often disparagingly refer to southern slaves as "silk girls." Because of the harsh environment of Torvaldsland, those girls are often tougher and more confident than their southern sisters. A pierced-ear girl is a slave whose ears have been pierced, marking her flesh by barbarically thrusting metal through them. Earrings are regarded as incredibly sensual to Gorean men. Girls who have had their ears pierced often despair at this: it means that they will never be freed. Interestingly, women, free and slave, of the Wagon People commonly have their noses pierced. This is regarded as a cosmetic enhancement, rather than a mark of slavery. Barbarians are people from Earth, however, it is often used as an insult regarding the slave girls from Earth. (The original meaning of "Barbarian" is literally someone who cannot speak the person’s language, usually Gorean.) Barbarian girls are gathered on Voyages of Acquisition (supervised by the Priest Kings) and also by the Kur, who keep humans as slaves as well as "cattle" for food. Occasionally, a barbarian may be referred to as a "natural slave." This is a slave who may need training to refine her nature, but in whose heart is already a slave.
Slave "Fashions"
As mentioned before, what a slave wears is completely up to her master. However, as with the colors of the silks they may be permitted, there are traditional ways to clothe a girl, according to the area in which she is owned. Because there are so many cultures on Gor (many directly analogous to Earth cultures), there are also many "traditional" slave garments.
• A camisk is basically a poncho, about 18" wide, with a hole for the head, and belted at the waist with binding fiber (hemp or leather cord, long enough to encircle the girl’s waist 2 or 3 times). It is commonly constructed of rep-cloth, which is similar to cotton.
• The Turian camisk is a bit more complicated. It’s basically an inverted "T", fastening behind the girl’s neck, passing through her legs, and the cross of the "T" wrapping around the hips, and held in place with a single cord.
• The chatka and curla are two pieces worn together by the slaves of the Wagon Peoples. The chatka is a piece of leather about 6 inches wide and about 5 feet long. It is worn as a breech clout, held in place by the curla, a red waist cord.
• A kalmak is a black leather vest worn by the kajirae of the Wagon Peoples.
• The koora is another item worn by the Wagon Peoples’ slave girls. It is a red head band. A person wearing all four (the chatka and curla, the kalmak, and the koora) is said to be "clad kajir."
• Pleasure silks are sheer and clinging. A "disrobing loop" on the left shoulder aids in their removal.
• A slave veil is a deliberate mockery of the veils worn by freewomen of Gor. It is a small, triangular bit of silk that covers the lower half of the face. Because of its transparency, however, it conceals nothing.
• Ta-Teera, or "slave rag," is a short, sleeveless, one-piece garment. Usually given to low slaves, or very "hot" slaves, because of its revealing nature.
Slaves might also be given accessories at the whim of her master. These accessories are worn and kept only so long as he is inclined to let her. Bina is the Gorean term for cheap, colorful slave necklaces, literally meaning "slave beads." They are usually made of brightly colored wooden beads, but may also have glass beads or natural materials found in the region where the girl is owned. "Bina" is sometimes used to name a slave. Kajirae may also be furnished with cosmetics and perfumes. These perfumes are never worn by freewomen; they are heavy and sensual in their nature, and very suggestive. Slave bells may be threaded on chains or leather thongs, locked or tied around ankles or wrists, or tied to a collar. A girl wearing them is easy to locate, and sounds very sexy when she moves. For all its harshness, Gor is a very sensual place, and Gorean men are somewhat hedonistic.

Norman’s Gor vs. Earth
"Surely her intimate, desperate needs for attention, for affection and love were better concealed even from herself, if possible, and certainly, at least, from others! And if they must beg, the helpless sluts, did they not know how a woman begs, by looks, by glances, by small, hopeful services. Surely a woman should not be expected to speak honestly in such matters. What brute would force her to such extremities? Too, how vulnerable a woman would make herself, placing herself so at the mercy of men, subject to being spurned, subject to his scorn and rejection. Yet how simple, how straightforward and liberating might be such a confession. How beautiful it might be to so express one’s vulnerability, and femininity, so tenderly, so piteously, so openly. To be sure, one would expect such a confession only from a woman whose needs were both desperate and deep, a woman who has needs such as might characterize slaves."
Kajira of Gor, Pg. 140
In the above passage, the former Tiffany Collins or Earth contemplates what is female and feminine in the slaves she’s observed. As she watches the training of kajirae, her thoughts evolve from disgust to something nearing envy. Indeed, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if women today, now, here, could be soft and feminine without being disparaged and reviled? This is an idea Norman presents over and over. Women are soft, and need men to be hard. Women cannot be true women if men will not be true men.
It’s also stated numerous times in the books, that there are two types of women: slaves, and slaves. Even freewomen, deep within their bellies, are slaves. Whether this is actually Norman’s belief, or merely a construct of the world he has created, I do not know. After having read his nonfiction title, Imaginative Sex, I am inclined to argue that he really believes that women are by their very natures, submissive. (It is a question I would love to ask the man himself. That, and a number of other things!) This idea of innate submissiveness is not one to which I subscribe. I believe that there are some (perhaps many) women who are truly submissive. I must believe that, for I am one, myself. I have also met women who are not submissive. Norman might argue that those women merely wait for the right master. It is a difficult position to argue, that all women are not submissive, in the face of that rebuttal. "She has not yet met her master."
"I understood then what true womanhood was. It was not the
denial and frustration of femininity, but the full surrender to it, being
true to, and honest to, my deepest nature and needs. Femininity
was not incompatible to womanhood. It was its expression."
Kajira of Gor, Pg. 175

Gor and Traditional BDSM
This section of the materials takes the form of a question posed by a slave named finch, and my response to it. In summary, my position is that while the Gorean master/slave relationship is a D/s relationship, by definition, that Gor and BDSM have little to do with each other as concepts and that BDSM is not, by and large, inherently unGorean, although S & M is.
finch has noticed a clear difference in the use of pain as something to AVOID in the Gorean collar, versus pain-as-play in the BDSM relationship, which of course ascribes a new sensual meaning to pain. finch calls this an 'inversion' of the pain/pleasure principle, something that she feels is a hallmark of masochism and common to BDSM master-slave relationships.
finch believes it is useful to finch to learn pain as an aversive force, for she *believed* that this re-inversion, is more 'natural' and ultimately, more psychologically beneficial than masochistic activities. However, Master enjoys sometimes, seeing His girl squirm.. something that many Goreans may be able to admit to.
First, there's a question of a rather uncomfortable reductio ad absurdum, ie.:
The Gorean Master may do as He pleases with His slave.
However, if He chooses to 'play' with His slave with conventional BDSM activities, He is not Gorean.
However, the Gorean Master may do as He pleases with His slave.
So where does this Gorean aversion come from, that discourages more mundane pleasures such as these? for "Goreans do not play". What does that really *mean*? Does it mean, 'play at relationships and roles'? For certainly that is true.
Secondly, she begs to ask a more important psychological question to my sisters, who may be experiencing the same thing: are you comfortable of your understanding of the meaning of pain in new contexts? Is there a new meaning to pain to you that is uniquely 'Gorean', and so, how? What if you 'play' with pain - what does it mean to withstand it - does it please Him? What lessons does He think it teaches you? Need pain be didactic in order to be meaningful? This one has not yet met a Gorean masochist, who is proud of withstanding certain amounts of pain - for what is the meaning of that?
Pain and pleasure... are both illusions. Made-up things. There is no such thing as either. There is only sensory input. (Or, as the great Spider Robinson puts it, "Pain is only data, and death is not a thing to fear.") The brain receives input from the nervous system and interprets it. This interpretation is extraordinarily subjective. I've seen a woman whipped to orgasm. I've felt pleasure so great it hurt. All that matters is which way the filter is set.
To me, therefore, a "masochist" is someone in whom that data produces a contradictory response. The data is coming through as pain loud and clear, but they still want it. I find this logically understandable: suffering is an interesting way to clear the mind. I have a chronic condition which produces excruciating pain much of the time. I learned meditation in order to deal with it. When one floats in the void, one's mind can do amazing things. Likewise, feelings of guilt, confusion, and so forth can be burned away when one has something overwhelming, like being hit in the head with a shoe, to concentrate on. One might even feel the need for punishment, physical punishment, as atonement for some misdeed or failing.
When I inflict actual pain on a slave, that is why. Punishment. I make sure that it IS coming through loud and clear as pain, either by not allowing them the time to redirect the data (as one would build up a scene for an erotic stimulation) or by making it SO powerful that they can't redirect it properly. This last only works on people who have not trained themselves/been conditioned adequately to deal with pain. I don't enjoy it, nor do I fear it. I just do it. Then it's over. Likewise, slaves do not want to be punished. (A slave girl in Book 25: "It is not so much the actual whipping, of course, which hurts. It is the idea that one is subject to the whip.") But slaves need to know that they CAN be punished, and that they WILL be punished, if they are displeasing. Otherwise the mastery is a sham - a "game." (See below.)
Now I, unlike most "book Goreans," I suspect, will also use heavy stimulation on a slave in a more traditional BDSM manner. Building up with a whip, or a cane, or what have you, and allowing the filter to kick in, so that the whipping turns into that lovely heat that slaves beg for. I don't consider this sadism, because it's not pain IN THAT CONTEXT, even if the same swing of the whip would bring tears of pain to the eyes of another, or even that girl if in a non-erotic situation.
My "book" justification for this? Aha, I do have one. Erotic stimulation of slave girls is a primary tool of igniting and deepening slavery. Even old Sour-Puss Cabot himself does it time and again. Of the slave in the paga tent at the Fairs of En'kara (Book 12, Beasts) "I had put her through pleasures that would have made an Ubara beg the collar." That doesn't sound like the old in-out, wham, bam, thank you slut school of using a slave girl. That is a carefully thought out, extensive manipulation of the sensorium of a slave girl to make her respond helplessly and deeply. Is it "for" her, in that he is giving her pleasure in some form of equitable exchange or because she "deserves" it? No! It is for *him*, because the more deeply a woman feels her slavery, the more helpless she is and responsive she gets, the more a man can enjoy her, physically and mentally. He is the compliment to her. The more a slave she becomes, the more a master he can be, and the system becomes an un-vicious cycle.
Extreme sensation is just another form of erotic stimulation. Another arrow in the quiver. Maybe they don't do it on Gor literally, but, hey, they don't have the Internet on Gor, either. Or flush toilets. They don't know EVERYTHING. The spirit is what is important in discussing lifestyle Gorean issues, as opposed to roleplay forums, where talking larls and whatnot give me the screaming heebies. Anything that can make a slave pant and beg and her belly burn is Gorean in spirit. (Many of the fantasies in "Imaginative Sex" have nothing to do with Gor or a Gorean kind of framework. They have to do with using the slave's mind against her to increase her slavery. That's what this is all about.)
The distinction between Goreans and BDSM "players" that many Goreans draw is based on the assumption that because BDSM practitioners ONLY do it for erotic stimulation, that they are only playing a game. They are not accepting that this is the natural inclination of many people - one should serve, and one should master. They are using a titanium chisel to scratch their initials in trees. My response to this is, I don't tell other people what makes them happy, and they don't tell me what makes me happy, and we're all happy the way we want to be.
Also, "true" sadism and masochism - in which a person enjoys inflicting or receiving pain for the sake of doing it, where the other person(s) involved are simply a target for misery or a life support system for the whip, is not Gorean in spirit. It is not, and for two reasons. First, as Norman puts it, the kind of social disease which conditions people into wanting to hurt or be hurt, to be cruel or to suffer, is largely absent on Gor because of the sort of society it is. Men are not surrounded by pictures of half-naked women at all times and expected to perform to some ridiculously high standard to gain access to one, and women are not denied the right to live as they wish - including the right to simply serve men, if that is what they wish.
But there is a deeper reason why this is. Sadism and masochism, in their extreme forms, are largely solitary activities. Almost masturbation-with-help. When one wants to inflict suffering, the target matters not. There is no dialogue, no interaction. It is all one way. This is what some in our culture rather shrilly call "objectification." Using a person this way, as a sex toy and not a human being, is NOT Gorean. Goreans don't objectify human beings, not even slaves. They are too complex, too intricate, too marvelous for such a shallow view. When a Gorean owns a woman, he owns her thoughts and her ideas and every particle of her down to her little toenail, and he expects every bit of her to give him pleasure. The idea of not heterodyning with her, pulling pleasure out of her to make her more pleasing, would not compute. They wouldn't even be revolted, I think, so much as mystified. Why limit yourself? Why only take that little thing from her, when you could take so much more, and reap so much larger a harvest?
I don't think that sadism and masochism are "sick," any more than any other sexual preference. (However, involuntary coercion is a big no-no in this society and it's very Gorean to follow the laws of one's city.) But they're not Gorean, because a Gorean wants to get more than thrills. He wants to own, utterly. Erotic stimulation, of whatever degree, is a tool to this end. Pain and suffering are not.
All cultures of Gor practice chattel slavery. That is, human beings can, when enslaved, become the personal property of another human being, with no rights and privileges whatsoever. It is fundamental to Gorean law that a slave is the absolute property of her owner, who may torture her, kill her, starve her, or feed her to sleen, as he wishes, free of any sort of interference. However, in practice, this does not happen. In all the Chronicles we come across exactly one instance of physical torture of a slave (who is being interrogated for legal purposes,) and none at all of a slave being killed purposefully by a man. This is not just the author saying one thing and doing another: there are two fundamental reasons why slaves are in little danger of such occurrences on Gor.
The Rarity of Sexual Psychosis and Sadism on Gor
The enslavement of women is not fundamental to Gorean philosophy, but rather is a logical consequence of it. See "Further Reading: The Morality of Slavery" at the end of this section. Goreans believe in the order of Nature, and that in the case of human beings, that the natural order is that men are dominant and women are submissive. Therefore, women should be submissive and men should be dominant, as anything else is counter to the basic tenet of Gorean Philosophy, self-honesty.
Note that this does not mean that Goreans think that men are superior to women. Dominance does not imply superiority. Women can and do wield great power on Gor, and may join any Caste save that of the Warriors or Initiates. (Women may be born into the Warrior caste, or companioned to Warriors but do not practice at arms.) Free women are expected and encouraged to think for themselves and defend themselves against aggression, including would-be slavers. If a free woman managed to stab or poison a man who had abducted or attacked her, she would be praised for her courage. (Although it is considered dishonorable for men to use poison as a weapon, and Warriors and Assassins are forbidden to do so by their Caste Codes, since women are weaker, it is not taboo for them.)
Any man who wishes may have access to slaves on Gor, including full sexual use. There is no lack of sexual availability, no Puritanical or religious convictions against enjoying it, and men are not constantly surrounded by images of sexuality and then required to perform a great deal of work to have a chance to have access to a woman. Therefore, the conflicts that create sexual obsession, addiction and psychosis are absent on Gor. Sadism is extraordinarily rare. The concept of enjoying someone else’s suffering, save perhaps that of a criminal or enemy, simply does not apply to Goreans. Therefore, they have no reason to be cruel to slave girls. They can be and are very strict, but inflicting suffering for suffering’s sake simply does not happen.
The Irrationality of Damaging or Destroying Slaves
Slaves are valuable property. Even an untrained barbarian can be sold to a mill as a weaving girl, or to a farmer as field labor. If a man has a slave he does not want, he simply gives her away, or sells her for what he can get. There is no reason to kill her. Goreans tend to be very practical, and as discussed above they do not inflict pain just because they can. (Which is different from inflicting pain to show that they can, which is a valuable lesson for a slave girl to learn.) And while a man might impose a rigorous and detailed training program on a slave, especially if he is a slaver who wishes to make a profit on her, if he cannot get her to conform, he will rarely torture her. Instead, he will just get rid of her and try another girl.
It should be noted that while there are male slaves on Gor, that submissive men of the type common in the BDSM Scene are almost unheard of. Gor is a harsh and cruel world: men without dominant natures rarely get a chance to produce offspring. This has selected for dominant men. Beyond this, however, lies the Gorean belief that men, over millions of years of evolution, have been selected for dominance, and women for submission. Anything else, even if it is a societal norm (as in Western cultures on Earth) is a perversion of Nature and a lie. Since Goreans abhor dishonesty, they react very harshly to men who do not seek to exercise their dominance, or at least avoid outright submission. It cannot be overemphasized that a man who voluntarily consented to being enslaved of his own free will would be utterly repugnant to Goreans, free and slave, male and female alike, and while a woman might own him, she would mock and revile him, being disgusted by his nature.
The Nature of Gorean Slavery
The Gorean word for slave girl is "kajira," plural "kajirae." This does not indicate any specific sort of slave girl, simply a slave girl in general. Some people make a distinction between BDSM "slaves" and Gorean "kajirae," but this is incorrect. The word for an enslaved man is "kajirus," plural "kajiri." This term appears to come from a word in the language of the Wagon People, who speak of a slave as being "clad kajir" when they wear the traditional clothing of a slave in that culture. Another word for slave girl is "sa’fora," which means "daughter of the chain."