Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon Books

Reviews
"Red Mafiya: How the Russian Mob Has Invaded America" by Robert I. Friedman
A superb introduction to the new face of organized crime is rife with tales of amputation, castration and blood-sprayed trophy blonds.
By Mark Schone
[05/18/00]

The gay Nabokov
The novelist never could face the secret that cost his brother his life.
By Lev Grossman
[05/17/00]

Reviews
"Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan" by Elizabeth Kim
An immigrant's brutal and disturbing memoir of abuse at the hands of fundamentalist parents and a sadistic husband.
By Brigitte Frase
[05/17/00]

Dear Mr. Blue
Can you make yourself like someone?
I love and care for my adopted child, but I don't always like him. Is this normal?
By Garrison Keillor
[05/16/00]

Reviews
"Stern Men" by Elizabeth Gilbert
In a terrific first novel, a restless 18-year-old feminist idles away a summer on an island of irascible Maine lobstermen.
By Jonathan Miles
[05/16/00]

Complete archives for Books

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The majority of online interactions in role-playing Gorean chat rooms and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels have some sort of sexual or flirtatious subtext, although surprisingly little explicit cybersex occurs publicly in Gorean venues, unlike in many other straightforwardly prurient Internet hot spots. Most of the cyber "furring" occurs in private channels and via Instant Message. The Gorean virtual slaves usually portray themselves as childlike: young, giggly and gorgeous. And they spend great amounts of time detailing -- in the flowery language of 19th century potboilers -- their ritual "serves" of food and beverages, complete with lowered heads, trembling lips, wide and worshipful eyes and so on. I found that a dozen variations on "pert nipples tightening in the chill of the tavern coolery" were more than enough for me to get the idea. I started to tune them out and spent more time enjoying the less repetitious activity and interaction with the Free Persons.

One of the things that causes most of the doctrinal screaming and carrying on in the role-playing community is the laxness of narrative discipline. A great deal of OOC, or "out of character," commentary -- like references to real-life phone calls, the other screen names of a character or a dinner from Taco Bell -- occurs in what is supposed to be, say, a Gorean desert oasis. Traditionalists object to things like slaves making disrespectful comments in their "thoughts."

Then there are the more serious outrages against honor, like warriors pledging allegiance to more than one "Home Stone" (the Gor symbol of an independent community or tribe), slave girls begging collars from multiple Masters under different slave names and slaves who turn out to be men and Masters who turn out to be women.

To say that none of this matters because it is only a game in cyberspace is to misunderstand the nature and meaning of these interactions and relationships. While some people are blithe or cynical, most role players see the Gorean game as legitimate social interaction that can have real consequences for real people. It is at least as serious a matter to most of them as the arts and professional sports are for people who follow them. For many online Goreans, their "play" is a deeply meaningful enhancement to their real life, in which they try out different roles, experiment with their sexuality and test-drive a philosophy. It is also no accident that the vast majority of lifestyle Goreans started out as role players.

But IRC slavery and lifestyle slavery are definitely two different things, says "sura," one of the real-life Gorean slaves whose Master, "Bill," commanded her to speak to me via e-mail. "Obedience isn't really all that hard," she told me, but "surrender of one's self is."

No naive schoolgirl, sura had been in the military and was a police officer for 16 years. "Sometimes," she says, speaking in the approved third-person form, "this girl felt that she took such work in hopes of driving out of her that which she sought, but could never find ... peace and contentment at a man's feet." Married for more than 18 years, she raised four children and was the decision maker and major breadwinner in the partnership. That life, she says, left her "unfulfilled as a female, and dissatisfied as a human being."

Virtually collared by her Master last year after being abandoned by another, she moved in with him and his other slave girls, "feli" and "ciosa," about three weeks ago. The transition has been difficult for all of them: "Sura has been beaten more times than she cares to count, mostly for displeasing acts; her mouth, actions that belong to only free women, the fear of giving up everything." She says she has also endured punishment because of conflicts and angers brought on by her reaction to the behavior of one of her "chain sisters."

There is, sura says, little furniture in the Master's house. His chair dominates the living area and the "girls" kneel on the floor. They sleep in a "kennel" with a slave mat, pillow, blanket and footlocker for the few possessions their Master lets them keep. The Master keeps them on a diet, which is the only food that sura is allowed to eat other than what he gives her out of his hand, a "gentle reminder," sura says, "that our substance comes at his discretion."

She says she fought her Master's will at first, "kicking, hitting and screaming," and she still fights, "but she grows weaker. The teachings of her youth, an emasculated world, cause her to fight and give her what little strength she still has to continue to fight, but in the end he will win, and she will be conquered, turned into nothing more than a helpless, whimpering pet."

The experience of helplessness is apparently a crucial part of what sura is seeking from her Master. "When he took both of this one's wrists in his one hand, this one knew she had been captured, held captive by a man; she was his, now and forever." And the sexual conquest was a major turning point: "It took this one about 11 days in Master's house before she would submit her body to him, beg for his touch and his use. The day this one begged for her rape is one of the happiest of this girl's life." Summing up how she feels about her new life, she says: "The answer is simple: when he breathes, I breathe; as his heart beats, my heart beats; my sole purpose is to please him; and when he dies, so too shall I."

Next page | Scientists disagree that women are natural slaves