SLAVE DISCIPLINE

The entire quotation following is perhaps one of the most edifying passages on what actually occurs in a slave’s mind as she is disciplined and afterwards. There are a multitude of emotions that run through a slave’s mind when she has been displeasing and is disciplined. To a slave who is disciplined the first time in her life of slavery, outrage may be the prevailing emotion, just like Winyela in Blood Brothers of Gor, until she is forced by herself or another to analyse those feelings. Perhaps she did not believe that she would ever be punished or perhaps she still harboured deep within her some thoughts of ’rights’ and standing. Of particular interest, it should be noted that pain was not the prevailing feeling that the girl finds most disconcerting, rather it is the psychological effects that seem to have the most impact.

"Inside the lodge Winyela lay on her stomach, on the robes, and, her head lying on her bound hands, wept.

‘Do you wish to be beaten again,’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said.

‘Then, doubtless, you are resolving to be a better slave,’ I said.

She looked at me, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes red.

‘Do not be so upset,’ I said. ’You are only a slave.’

‘Canka struck me,’ she said. ’He beat me.’

‘And well,’ I said.

‘Yes!’ she said.

‘Did you expect to be displeasing with impunity’’ I asked.

She regarded me, red-eyed.

‘I see you did,’ I said. ’Well, now you have learned better.’

‘I was beaten!’ she said.

‘Your sense of outrage is inappropriate,’ I said. ’I suggest you rid yourself of it, immediately, lest it become the occasion of further discipline.’

‘Discipline’’ she asked.

‘Slave discipline,’ I said.

She swallowed, hard.

‘Replace it with a suitable attitude of trepidation,’ I said. ’You are only a slave.’

I observed her naked flanks on the robes.

She shuddered.

‘You should not feel outrage,’ I told her. ’You are only a slave. That is an emotion which would be more appropriate in a free woman, one, say, stripped, and unjustifiably beaten as though she might be a mere slave. Beatings, on the other hand, are the due of slaves, particularly ones which are in the least respect displeasing, as they might be of any other owned animal.’

‘I might as well belong to anyone,’ she said, bitterly.

‘That is true,’ I said. ’But you belong to Canka.’

‘Yes, she said, bitterly. ’ I belong to Canka.’ She put her head down, weeping. ‘I’m so ashamed,’ she said. ‘I was so humiliated.’

‘I understand,’ I said. The females of the red savages with their laughter and catcalls, in particular, would not have made the lovely slave’s ordeal any easier. Too, that a given girl has been beaten, and has thus, presumably, failed to be fully pleasing in some way, makes her an object of contempt between competitive slave girls. Girls commonly like seeing other girls being beaten, whom they think are too proud, or whom they don’t like. It is almost a holiday in the slave quarters when a high slave is to be whipped, particularly if she is then to be reduced to the status of a common girl.

‘Am I permitted to feel shame, humiliation’’ she asked angrily.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Those are emotions which are permitted to slaves.’

‘How generous are the masters,’ she said.

‘Too, shame and humiliation, like chains and whips, can be useful disciplinary devices.’

‘Of course,’ she said.

‘A shamed, humiliated slave, tied and beaten, is usually swift thereafter to learn her lessons,’ I said.

‘I do not doubt it,’ she said.

‘Tell me truthfully now,’ I said. ’During the beating itself, before you were alone, writhing with the pain, what did you find most shameful, most humiliating’’

‘Must I answer’’ she asked.

‘‘Yes,’ I said.

‘That I knew, in my heart,’ she said, ’that I deserved the beating, that I richly deserved it.’

‘Oh’’ I asked.

‘vI did not listen to Wasnopohdi,’ she said. ’I was proud and vain. I was clumsy. I was stupid. I cut meat poorly. I displeased my master.’

‘I see,’ I said.

‘Then I found myself stripped and tied on my knees at the whipping stake. I was to be publicly punished. Then the quirt fell upon me.’

‘Many times, in private beatings,’ I said, ’such things as shame or humiliation will enter very little into the situation.’

She regarded me.

‘Often,’ I said, ’the girl merely fears the leather, or is wary of it, and hoping to give it a wide berth, behaves herself accordingly. For most practical purposes she knows that if she behaves in certain ways she will not feel it, and if she behaves in other ways, she will feel it. It is almost like a law of nature. It is always there, of course, in the background, and she knows that she is subject to it. Similarly, of course, even in her deepest love, she knows that, ultimately, her very life is dependent on the whim of her master. She can be thrown to sleen, at a word from him, if he wishes.’

‘We are so owned,’ she whispered.

‘Sometimes,’ I said, ‘girls, some girls, who are not sure of their slavery, and its limits, will test their masters.’

‘Oh’’ she said.

‘Like you,’ I said.

‘I’’ she asked, startled.

‘And the masters are not found wanting,’v I said. ‘The beauty is quickly reassured as to the existence of boundaries.’

‘I’’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Do you think I want to be limited and controlled’’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘That is absurd,’ she said. She rolled over on her back, on the dark robes, and threw her bound wrists over her head.

‘You were not sure that you were really Canka’s slave,’ I said. ‘You wished reassurance.’

The beauty moved angrily. She did not respond.

‘Have no fear, Winyela,’ I said. ‘The collar, as you have no doubt by now discovered, is truly knotted on your neck.’

* * *

‘I hate men,’ she said. She quickly half sat, half knelt, on the robes, her bound hands on the robes.

‘No, you don’t,’ I said. ‘You hate yourself, or something ugly in yourself, probably left over from Earth, that sick world from which you have come.’

She threw herself on her side, facing me, her legs pulled uop, her bound hands before her. ‘I am miserable,’ she said.

‘You were confused,’ I said. ’You only wanted to be put in your place.’

‘My place’’ she said.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘your place, your place in the order of nature, that of a female at the feet of her master.’

She did not respond.

‘But it is a dangerous game,’ I said. ‘I would beware of playing it with Goreans. Suppose Canka had given you to boys, as a target for their arrows, or had rubbed you with blood, your own, and had set sleen upon you.’

‘I am going to run away,’ she said, sullenly. She rose, angrily, to her feet. I noted how her small feet pressed in the robes.

‘I would not advise it,’ I said.

‘Oh’’ she asked.

‘There is nowhere to run,’ I said.

She walked angrily to the other side of the lodge, and then turned to face me, her bound wrists held then at her waist. She was beautiful. ‘It is true,’ she said, angrily. ‘There is nowhere to run.’ She looked down, at her left thigh. ‘I am even branded,’ she said, ‘like an animal.’

‘Like the animal you are,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said, bitterly, ‘like the animal I am.’

* * *

‘This is my reality, isn’t it,’ she said, ‘that of a slave, at the bidding of men.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It is.’

* * *

‘I did not think Canka would beat me,’ she said.

‘Why not’’ I asked.

‘I thought he liked me,’ she said. Her wrists looked well, bound, atop her closed thighs.

‘I suspect he does,’ I said.

‘He beat me,’ she said, poutingly.

‘You are a slave,’ I explained.

‘I thought he liked me,’ she said.

‘I would suppose that he does,’ I said. ‘Hitherto, at any rate, he has treated you with great lenience. That, in my opinion, was a mistake on his part. That lenience, if I am not mistaken, you will discover to have vanished. You will now discover, if I am not mistaken, that your life in his lodge will now be rather different.’

‘Different’’ she asked.

‘The discipline to which you will now find yourself subjected, I suspect,’ I said, ‘will leave you in little doubt as to your bondage. It will be unswerving, precise and exact. If you depart from the narrow line of slave perfection by so much as a hort you may expect a cuffing, or the lash.’

She looked at me, with horror.

‘In short,’ I said, ‘you will be subjected to exactly the sort of discipline which women such as you want and need.’

She put her head down, angrily. She moved her wrists in the unyielding bonds.

‘How do you feel about Canka’’ I asked.

She lifted her head angrily. ‘vI hate him!’ she said. ‘He beat me!’

‘Yes, he did,’ I said, ‘and well.’

‘I hate him!’ she said.

‘You wanted him to beat you,’ I said.

‘But I did not think he would!’ she said.

‘You were mistaken,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I was mistaken.’

‘An interesting, if painful experiment, on your part, Winyela,’ I observed.

‘I did not really think of it as an experiment,’ she said, ‘at least not consciously, or fully consciously.’

‘But it seems, rather clearly, to have been one,’ I said.

‘Perhaps,’ she said.

‘I do not think it will be necessary to repeat it,’ I said.

‘No,’ she said, shuddering, ‘no.’

‘What have you learned from your little experiment’’ I asked.

‘That I am truly a slave,’ she said.

‘And what else’’ I asked.

‘That my master is strong,’ she said.

‘I do not think you will be permitted, from now on, to get away with any nonsense.’ I said.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I do not think so.’

‘It must be a very frightening thing, to belong to a strong master,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘But then a true slave would not wish it any other way,’ I said.

‘No,’ she said. ‘That is true.’

‘You are satisfied, now,’ I asked, ‘that the uncompromising and categorical domination for which you yearn will be applied to you’’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘That you are truly Canka’s slave’’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But I am afraid now that he may not like me any longer, that I may have irritated or offended him.’

‘As you hate him,’ I said, ‘what does it matter’’

‘Hate him’’ she asked. ‘I love him. I love him, more than anything!’

‘But he beat you,’ I said.

‘I was an errant slave,’ she said. ‘Of course I would be punished!’

‘I see,’ I said.

‘But I am afraid that he does not like me any longer,’ she wept.

‘Why’’ I asked.

‘He was cold to me,’ she said.

‘He was probably angry,’ I said.

‘Do you think he will give me away’’ she asked.

‘I do not know,’ I said.

She put down her head, sobbing. She was only an article of property. She could change hands as easily as a pair of moccasins or a kaiila. ‘I displeased him,’ she said. ‘How absurd and stupid I was.’

(Book 18: Blood Brothers of Gor, pages 71-77)

It is very difficult for a real-life slave who is somewhat isolated by the rarity of other slaves about her in the everyday community to come to grips with the myriad of emotions that flow through her when she has been displeasing. It has taken almost two years of living in her Master’s collar for this one to find the resolve to broach this daunting subject. It is certainly not a subject broached often on the public boards or any conversations on IRC where there seems to be perfection abounding. Is it because the other real life slaves are so perfect in their slavery, in their behaviour that they never make a mistake and are always pleasing’ Regardless of the reasons for the seemingly top-secret classification evolving around slave discipline among the girls themselves, this slave believes that the subject demands exploration.

Many slaves, like Winyela, test both the limits of their slavery and their Masters. Absurd, you say? Not really all that absurd when one considers that animals continually test for strength, looking to see if perhaps the alpha male, in this case the Master, has weakened in his ability to control. Paradoxically, while girls test for this possible weakness, what they are really looking for is reassurance that the Master is strong enough to keep them in a perfect bondage. Slaves, like all submissive creatures, do not wish to associate with weakness, instead seeking the security and safety of strength to follow. For while men can be Gorean and never have owned or even been served by a slave, it is an impossibility for a slave to be slave without someone to serve, whether that serving can only be done in reality or alternatively on the perplexing substitute world of mIRC is for the reader to decide.

"Women dream not of equals," she said, "but of masters."

(Book 14: Fighting Slave of Gor, page 116)

"You will be strong with me, will you not’' she asked. 'You will make me do, and be, uncompromisingly, and as a slave, what you want, will you not’"

(Book 16: Guardsman of Gor)

"I wondered if my Master was weak. Some men are very strong with men, and yet weak with their women. He just said I was beautiful. That was surely a compliment. Surely it had shown some interest in me, or approval in me, surely in one respect. He said I was beautiful. Could I not then, though it was I in the collar, make use of these feeling to own him’ He must like me then, just a little. That seemed likely, Indeed he must care for me. I suspected even perhaps he might love me. Perhaps I could make use of that. I wondered if he was weak. It would not hurt for me to test him. I knew that some girls twisted their Masters about their little fingers. I wondered if I could do that. 'I wondered how you might behave if I gave you even a hort of room, even an Ihn of indulgence. But he then seized my wrists and, with a thong, bound them together, before my body. He then dragged me toward a low hanging branch and tied my hands, so bound, over my head to the branch. He then whipped me. He then angrily, released me from the branch, I blubbering and weeping, half in shock, and dragged me back to the blankets, There he threw me to the foot of the blankets and chained me there, hand and foot, I looked up at him in terror. Then angrily, he laid down on the blankets, drawing them around himself, to sleep. I lay there in misery until morning, He was my Master, I loved Him! I loved him more than anything! But I had failed my first test with him! I had only wanted to know, foolishly the nature of my power with him, if any, and the nature of discipline to which I might be subject. I had only wanted to know, if truly I was his slave or not. Then he made me serve him, uncompromisingly. The he had whipped me and put me chained, at his feet. Yet too, I felt grandly and warmly assured as to his strength and dominance. I knew then my Master was Master, that he would never relinquish his sovereignty, that he was a true man. I was content now, and eager, a female, to be his perfect slave. If I had failed the test he passed mine."

(Book 22: Dancer of Gor, page 475)

While the prevailing belief of many non-Goreans, and some self-professed Goreans is that the girls are simply ‘doormats’ without any thoughts of their own and without any initiative, Gorean men commonly value intelligence and spirit in a slave. Is it strange then that when men gather and speak of slaves, it is with amusement that they speak of the girls’ puny attempts’ Men with slaves seem to be amused at this testing of limits by the girls, almost as if they too expect the girl to push at times, knowing that it is part of the natural order and knowing, too, that they will simply demonstrate that there is no weakness to be exploited. Indeed, they seem to understand that the intelligent girl fights those feelings budding within her, dormant instincts that sometimes horrify her in their intensity and revealing, using that fear and resistance to the Master’s pleasure and advantage.

"What he said did not surprise me. The Gorean Master, commonly, likes a spirited girl, one who fights the whip and collar, resisting until the last, perhaps months later, she is overwhelmed and must acknowledge herself his, utterly and without reservation, then fearing only that he might tire of her and sell her to another."

(Book 4: Nomads of Gor, page 29)

Since we do not live on the planet Gor, slavery in Gorean households is, at least as legally defined, consensual; that is, the girl consents to be the property of a Gorean man, hopefully having first read the books, examining her inner self thoroughly, and discussing at great lengths what the meaning of slavery encompasses and the expectations of Gorean men, especially the one whose collar she begs. Even having done all of this, and, indeed, even in light of having perhaps been under discipline or punishment at the hands of a Gorean man previously, it is still a stark and soul-shattering realization when she moves from the netherworld of mIRC or occasional visits to off-line Gorean men and into a real, full-time life of slavery to a Gorean man. There are certainly no compromises and life is not the exotic, forbidden pastime that beckons with nebulous fingers to bored, undirected girls looking for excitement and a bit of illicit naughtiness, with the attendant unpleasantness turned off with the computer. The life of a Gorean slave is one of discipline, wherein she is kept totally because she is pleasing and punished when she is not. It has often been said that the place of a Gorean slave is not an easy lot, yet there are those who do not quite understand the exactness and truth in that statement, who have yet to face the horrible realities of emotions flooding in conflict as the actualities of slavery in all its starkness is experienced.

Most Gorean slaves in today’s world have been raised within a Western culture. This socialization can often lead to conflicting emotions within the girl. As she becomes more aware of the burgeoning, newly awakened instinctual submission within her being, she may also perversely fight against those very feelings because of her upbringing, trying to futilely deny her natural place. What a frightening thing, that first true realization that one is truly and completely owned, and yet how very exhilarating too. For some girls it seems to creep up on them until suddenly one day they realize that the entire focus has changed and that every portion of her being centres upon him. For other girls this emotional revelation comes with a thunderous astonishment. In any event, the realization when it does come often has a profound effect upon the girl, sometimes exhibiting itself in tears, denial and a strange sense of loss before being replaced with deep contentment.

"I suppose that a women, like a man, has buried instincts, of which they may not even become aware, but these instincts lie within them, dispositions to respond, dispositions locked into the very genetic codes of her being, instincts awaiting only the proper stimulus situation to be elicited and emerge, overpoweringly, irresistibly, sweeping her, perhaps to her astonishment and horror, in a biological flood to her destiny, a destiny once triggered as incontrovertible and uncontrollable as the secretion of her glands and the mad beating of her heart."

(Book 7: Captive of Gor, page 264)

During that time of denial, the girl will often test her boundaries, seeking foolishly for ways to bargain with herself and with her Master. Foolish, it should be emphasised because Gorean men do not make bargains with their slaves, the girls are kept in total slavery or not at all. Gorean men seldom deal in fractions, very rarely will they accept less than totality in any part of their lives, much less in dealing with a slave. It is during this period of "tempting the fates" that the slave will often feel the harsh reality of the whip, finding perhaps to her subconscious delight that she will be kept in totality and that her boundaries are not something over which she has control.

"The life of a female slave," he said, "is a life wholly given over to love. It is not a compromised life. It is not one of those lives which is part this, and part that. It is a total way of life, a total life. There are no bargains made with her, no arrangements."

(Book 21: Mercenaries of Gor, page 435)

"One owns slaves and commands them. One does what one likes with them. One does not bargain with them."

(Book 21: Mercenaries of Gor, page 365)

"You are a slave," I said. "You are owned. You are a female. You will be forced to be a woman. If you were free, and Gorean, you might be permitted by men to remain as you are, but you are neither Gorean nor free. The Gorean man will accept no compromise on your femininity, not from a slave. She will be what he wishes, and that is a woman, fully, and His. If necessary you will be whipped or starved. You may fight your master. He will, if he wishes, permit this, to prolong the sport of your conquest, but in the end, it is you who are the slave; it is you who will lose. On Earth you had the society at your back, the result of centuries of feminisation; he could not so much as speak harshly to you but you could rush away or summon magistrates; here, however, society is not at your back, but at his; it will abet him in his wishes, for you are only a slave, you will have no one to call, nowhere to run; you will be alone with him, and at his mercy. Further, he has not been conditioned with counter-instinctual value sets, programmed with guilt, taught self-hatred; he has been taught pride and has, in the very air he breathes, imbided the "mastery" of females. These are different men. They are not Earthlings. They are Goreans. They are strong, and they are hard, and they will conquer you. For a man of Earth, you might never be a woman. For a man of Gor, I assure you, my dear, sooner or later you will be."

(Book 10: Tribesman of Gor, page 12)

This initial period of learning her slavery is also one in which, because of the enormity of warring emotions within her, the girl is most emotionally labile. It is, therefore, a time when the slave may be kept on a very tight leash, exacting tasks set for her performance and stringent guidelines established. The Gorean master knows that even after a period of initial exacting compliance, the girl will, in all probability, still rebel at the truths she is forced to face and, therefore, structures the girl’s future from the beginning.

"New slaves are often treated with great harshness, it helps them learn quickly that they are slaves. Later, when the girl is well trained and her services become perfections, she may be treated more leniently, even lovingly, like a dog."

(Book 22: Dancer of Gor, page 90)

Is this harshness detrimental to the girl; does it make her emotions war even more? What could be more confusing to a girl than to come into a household and be given leniency because she does not know the exact expectations and protocols, only to be harshly punished at a later date when she makes the same error again. The very exactness of her expected behaviour helps her to understand that she is slave and learn more quickly. Later, when the complete transition is made and the girl no longer doubts, fears or, in some cases, sugar-coat fantasizes her slavery, more latitude may be given to her and she may find that she is treated with the same affection as any other animate possessions he may own. Most often those that decry the exacting demands placed upon a slave and the unbending discipline to which she is subject are those who have never experienced the Master/slave relationship in the real world.

One could equate the emotions that a slave goes through when she is displeasing to the emotions that a child exhibits when taken to task for a wrong-doing. Some children will react, as did Winyela, with anger at having pride torn asunder and the resultant humiliation and shame of the punishment before the anger dies and the knowledge and acceptance that the causative behaviour was inappropriate; the hostile emotions are then normally, replaced with the emotionally mature acknowledgement and desire to improve, exhibited by striving to be more pleasing. Some children, and some slaves, will calmly, at least outwardly, accept the punishment in good grace, though inwardly still experiencing anger and despair focused toward themselves.

Many times a slave entering into a new house will be given an initiatory whipping by her new Master. Such a whipping is done for psychological reasons, rather than because the girl has been displeasing, and, as such, is often not as severe as a punishment whipping. It impresses upon the girl that she will be kept in strict discipline and that he CAN punish or whip her as it pleases him. Forcibly bringing home the point that she is under the control of a Gorean man who will not compromise or allow for any hint of bargaining, this initial whipping serves as a psychological tool since the feel of the whip, merciful as she knows it was at that point, is always in the back of the girl’s mind. In many Gorean homes, the whip is often in a place where the girl sees it and reflects, even subconsciously, on its import daily.

"And then, suddenly, she screamed, caught fully, helplessly, in the blurred, whistling slash of the five-stranded Gorean slave whip. Ten strokes did I give her. Then she hung weeping, shuddering, at the ring. ’How can you whip me’’ she asked. ’You are a man of Earth.’ I went to her and, by the hair, jerked back her head, and she cried out with pain. ’Is this the touch of a man of Earth’’ I asked. ’No,’ she said, frightened. ’Too,’ I said, whispering in her ear, ’you are a new slave who has been brought recently to my house.’ ’No,’ she begged. ’No!’ Sometimes a girl is whipped when she is first brought into a new house. It is regarded, in some cities, including Victoria, as a way of making clear to her that the house in which she now finds herself is a house in which she is a slave."

(Book 15: Rogue of Gor, pages 129-130)

The question often arises in any discussion of discipline: ’with all the other methods of punishment that can be utilized (see related section on ’Chains, Restraints and Bindings’), why use a whip on a slave? Basically, after an initiatory whipping that the girl remembers, the whip is most often used as a last stage of punishment because a slave will sometimes de-compensate to the point where she will be violating hard and fast boundaries. Once that point is reached, the whip will most often be used although it seldom, if ever, pleases the Master to use it. The whip is rarely used, although the knowledge that it can be used and, having felt the whip, is often a strong incentive to examining and halting unpleasing behaviour. To understand the psychology behind this, one needs to understand disciplining of children. Sometimes a swift swat on the behind of an errant child will more quickly ’reset’ behavioural patterns than will discussions and penalties. It should be noted that we are discussing punishment and not abuse ’ two totally different subjects.

Having said that, the next question normally tossed into the arena is: ‘why have a slave that strives to be pleasing out of fear, rather than the joy of serving? In a slave who is truly slave, and not a girl with deep-seated psychological issues wherein she finds little to love about herself and seeks punishment for her own purposes, the whip or knowledge of punishment is not what causes ‘fear,’ the whip is simply symbolic of her fear of the distress of being found wanting or displeasing. The whip symbolically represents boundaries to the girl, boundaries she understands without equivocation as safety. Jails exist not for the purpose of hoping that people will break society’s boundaries and fill the jail cells, but rather as a means of deterrent, a public acclamation of the penalty to be paid for displeasing society. Neither does the whip exist for the reason of instilling fear of pain into a girl, though it is a very harsh experience, it is, instead, a reminder for the most part of what inappropriate behaviour could cost.

"I touched her here and there, with the whip, deftly, correcting a line, or the tension of a curve. She shrank back from the touch of the whip. She now knew what it could to do to her. She had felt it. After, a girl has once felt the whip the mere sight of it is usually enough to bring her immediately into line. 'What hangs upon the wall? a master might ask. 'The slave whip, Master,' she responds. 'How may I be more pleasing? "

(Book 20: Players of Gor, page 25)

" 'Yes, Master,' said Phoebe, eagerly. It seemed she had forgotten her cuffing. Yet I had little doubt that its admonitory sting lingered within her, not only as a useful memorandum of her bondage, but recalling her to the prudence of caution."

(Book 25: Magicians of Gor, page 29)

It is important to note that each master will determine the methods of punishment that he uses; there are no hard and fast rules. Some man may choose to not use an initial whipping to imprint his ability to punish at will as it pleases him; this does not mean that he is ’not’ Gorean. It simply means that he, for whatever reasons, has decided that it is not necessary. Likewise, some master may have always used an initiatory whipping but decides not to use it on a recently acquired girl. Again, the decision to not whip a particular girl is not based on whether he feels she is a Gorean slave, she belongs to a Gorean man after all; rather, that decision is based on what pleases him to do with his property and what he has determined to be most conducive to his training direction.

Two of the most frequently ‘unasked’ questions that slaves have but seems to never be discussed is ‘For what reasons may a girl be punished’’ and ‘how are girls most often punished? The pat answer is that a girl can be punished for any reason or for no reason, but that is not an exceedingly realistic answer. While a Gorean master may do with his property as he pleases, most would not discipline indiscriminately without sound reasons, albeit sometimes the reason need only be understood by him. The girl may have been found displeasing for any number of reasons, ranging from something as minute as folding the toilet tissue into an easily grasped triangle or for what could be considered a more major transgression of not being where he told her to be at a specific time. The most frequent occurring misbehaviour for which disciplining is done because a girl may forget her place and speak out of turn or in a displeasing manner. The punishment may range from a raised eyebrow (to which most girls in real life immediately get a gut-wrenching pull in their stomachs) to a cuff or a whipping.

"I put my head down, kneeling to the whip. 'forgive me, Master,' I whispered. 'Once this evening,' said he, ' you, a slave, addressed me by my name, rather than as "Master".' 'Forgive me, Master,' I said. I trembled. I recalled I had cried out, 'I love you, Clitus Vitellius!' How foolish I had been. It was a girl's mistake. It would not go unnoticed. 'Too,' he said, ' more than once this evening you have spoken without permission.' 'Yes, Master,' I said. 'Too,' said he, ' I think you dared to protest this evening my purchase of a girl.' I had indeed done so! 'Do you oppose your will to mine, or question my will in the least? he asked. "No, Master,' I said. 'Do you think me an easy Master ? he asked. 'No, Master,' I said. 'Do you beg now to be punished? he asked. 'Yes, Master,' I said. 'I beg to be punished.' I saw him grip the slave whip on the long handle with two hands. I put down my head further, I shut my eyes, I tightened my body, I clenched my fists, held crossed, as though bound, beneath my body. I determined to hold position. I heard the swift sound of the leather in flight. Never had I heard it approach so swiftly. After the fourth blow I could no longer hold position. 'Tie me at the slave ring,' I begged. 'Put me at a post, Master!' I lay on the block on my stomach, my hands over my head. There was sawdust on my lips and face. I could not, after the second blow, scream. Yet he struck me only ten times. I cried, lying on the block, punished. I felt him thrust a steel collar about my throat, and lock it. I was collared. He had not been angry with me. He had only been punishing me. I had deserved a whipping. He had given it to me. Yet, it is hard for a girl to grow used to the leather. One can be a slave for years and still fear it. The Gorean master uses it unhesitatingly if we are not pleasing. We know that he will do so. We are pleasing."

(Book 11: Slave Girl of Gor, page 438)

How a girl is punished again is dependent upon the master and what he determines to be suitable. The punishment may be immediate or deferred, dependent upon the situation. Speaking from experience only, it would appear that most Gorean men prefer discipline which incorporates psychology, believing it to be more effective and longer lasting due to the educational aspects. The whip and other corporal punishments are, for other Gorean men, the preferred method. Of less importance than the ‘how’ a girl is punished is the psychological imprinting such punishment does upon a girl.

"A woman cannot punish a man to efficiently with a whip. A man, on the other hand, with his strength, may punish a woman terribly with it, should he choose to do so. No true man I knew, of course, would choose to do so."

(Book 14: Fighting Slave of Gor, page 77)

Another frequently addressed area concerns the effectiveness of punishment on-line. Cyber-whipping, contrary to all the self-righteous outcries from every on-line slave who believes cyber whipping is effective, is simply an exercise in futility, although it can make for interesting reading. A harsh assessment’ Perhaps. Some slaves when discussing the activity cite the effectiveness of humiliation and shame from the cyber whipping. Two things to consider when that statement arises: the first being that the girl is typing her responses to the cyber whipping, therefore her focus is split, can she really be examining what she did wrong and concentrating on her desire to be pleasing (other than typing out erotic ohhhh’s and ouches)’ Secondly, it is the shame and humiliation of having to look into her Master’s face and see his displeasure that causes extreme distress in a slave.

"Also, it must be recognized that many slaves often, and perhaps all slaves sometimes, find it difficult to look into the eyes of the master. He, after all, holds total power over them and they fear to displease him. What if he should interpret her gaze as suggesting the least insubordination or insolence’ Are they truly prepared to have the soles of their feet lashed or to live on bread crusts for the next five days?"

(Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 258)

Although the purpose of the above quote was to illustrate the difficulty a slave often has in looking into a master’s eyes. That difficulty is compounded greatly when the slave has been displeasing. In the above quote it is also seen that punishment other than the whip is utilized on the Gorean slave. Not such a great jump in logic then to assume that something other than a pretend whipping might have an effect upon a slave also.

Although some girls may indeed feel distress at displeasing on-line, it is highly dependent upon the girl and whether or not that learning experience carries over into her real life with any degree of success is debatable. If a girl were given her choice between a cyber whipping and being kept from on-line for a period of time, say 72 hours, most would likely choose the cyber whipping. It is natural to choose that which would be the least distressing, therefore, which is more effective’ The whole point of discipline revolves around psychological conditioning and education, and, in some cases, physical punishment is brought into the equation. In the case of cyber whipping where the girl is focusing on typing her replies to the ‘whipping’, there is absolutely no physical punishment and the psychological ramifications are suspect.

Gorean slaves are kept in strict bondage. Does strict bondage equate to unmerciful punishment’ Not at all, rather strict bondage refers to a girl knowing that her actions are accountable and a Gorean man will control any and all aspects of her life that it pleases him to do so. Her boundaries are set for her, those things which are considered pleasing and displeasing well defined in that all simple phrase ‘be pleasing.’ There is little doubt, if any, in a slave’s mind that if she makes a Gorean man angry, she will be pay a consequence. She is impressed with the direct correlation by having been punished. Her focus changes from self-centeredness to striving to be found pleasing, wanting desperately to fulfil his desires.

This change in focus is not caused directly by the whip (or punishment) but rather indirectly as the realization that she is completely at his mercy and is subject to discipline and punishment. It is perhaps innate within a girl that she tests for complete domination, likely because complete surrender is only possible with complete domination. The slave, however, learns, or should learn, that complete domination does not mean mindless, robotic responses programmed to waiting for orders. Instead, as clearly stated below, the slave understands that she is held accountable for her actions, her wilful decision to either act or her refusal to act. Few Gorean men enjoy micromanagement of slaves, though that is not to say that there are not those that do. In being responsible for her actions, the slave is also responsible for her punishment.

"He was a Gorean master. I was at his mercy. I wondered if I could have felt so much his, so completely surrendered, if he had not possessed this complete power over my life and body. I belonged to him. But I did not want him to whip me, or put me in the slave box. I wanted only, desperately, to please him. And I knew I must, for I was his slave."

(Book 7:  Captive of Gor, page 343)

"When a slave makes a man angry she knows that there may very well be consequences to her action, that she, vulnerable and owned, subject to discipline and punishment, may very well be held to account, and, indeed, is quite likely to be held in account, and strictly, for any dissatisfaction which she may have engendered."

(Book 17: Blood Brothers of Gor, pages 221-222)

What about those slaves who are loved by their masters; are they, too, bound by the same strictness as other slaves? Gorean men are not easy upon themselves and apply the same measurements to their slaves. Any girl who believes that because she is loved she will not be punished is deluding herself. Those things that Goreans value most are held to the strictest of standards and slaves are no exception. Minor, small imperfections that would be overlooked in other slaves or mildly rebuked will often be met with quick, unrelenting harshness when the love slave lapses in the same manner. Because the love slave loves her master she also is totally and completely within his power; conversely, he must be stronger with her than with other slaves for in loving he dare not weaken. The paradox being that slaves yearn for strong dominance, not to be confused with domineering, and if he weakens the bond between master and slave is lessened.

"The slavery in which a love slave is kept is an unusually deep slavery. She must serve him with a perfection which would stun and startle other girls, if she should fail in any way, even in so small a way that the lapse would be overlooked in the case of another wench, or bring perhaps a mild word of reprimand, she is likely to be tied at the slave ring and whipped. There is a good reason for this, she is, you see, a love slave. No woman can be more in a man's power, and with no woman must he be stronger."

(Book 12: Beasts of Gor, page 236)

"It is a beautiful moment when the woman realizes that the man who owns her is her love master, and the man realizes that the girl he bought, looking up at him, tears in her eyes, is his love slave. Then the only danger is that he will weaken. One must be strong with a love slave. If one truly loves her, he will be that strong. The slavery in which a love slave is kept is an unusually deep slavery."

(Book 12: Beasts of Gor, page 236)

It should not need be pointed out without equivocation that loving a slave does not mean lessening the bonds of her slavery and treating the girl as a treasured, pampered pet too delicate to deal with other Gorean men. Indeed, as we see above, the standards to which a love slave is held are deep slavery rather than pseudo-equality. The slaves themselves, if they are honest with their inner selves, do not desire a lessening of the chains, though they may fear the nakedness that those chains make them feel, finding instead that when kept completely all the primitive feelings within are freed, allowing her to relate in a natural, fully uninhibited manner. Because these natural, primeval emotions are released, the girl often finds it stimulating, sexually and emotionally, to realize that she can be punished. Quite often striving to please and helplessly begging to be found acceptable also awakens great sexual need within the girl. It is as if faced with awareness of her helplessness and vulnerability, she needs to release all her primitive needs and emotions.

"Certainly He had not permitted me to relate to Him, in the least, in the inhibitory modalities of dignity and respect; accordingly, I had found myself relating to Him in a deep, real, primitive, sexual, natural, biological manner, in a manner certainly not that of a free woman, but rather of a slave or slut. Doubtless this was supposed to be a part of His vengeance on me, but I, nonetheless, found it quite fulfilling. Something in me found it quite rewarding to relate to a man in this fashion. Too, I found it stimulating knowing that if I did not please Him He might punish me."

(Book 19: Kajira of Gor, page 238)

The whip is also used as a tool to bring forth those primitive drives innate within the female. In these incidences, the use of the whip would be more closely associated with the practices of BDSM than with any relation to punishment or discipline. The use of the whip, crop or any other instrument which is used upon another being and gives pleasure to either or both parties have nothing to do with punishment or discipline and is, in the strictest terms, sado-masochistic.

In closing, when discussing this issue with others, a Gorean man stated very succinctly that he ". . . separated discipline from punishment, first. Discipline is a corrective measure that is strictly focused on doing things in the desired fashion. Punishment comes when discipline fails. Either varies from abuse in that they are both warranted, and commensurate with the breech [of conduct]. To exceed a measured response is abuse."

CHAINS, RESTRAINTS AND BINDINGS

Just a Kink ?

There are numerous examples of slaves being bound and restrained in the books. Many of these restraints are similar to those used in real life by men with their slaves. Is it just a bdsm kink or simply a way to keep a bit of slave flesh immobilized for a while or does it really serve another purpose. John Norman had a bit to say about the psychological aspects of binding a girl and of a female being bound. Not so amazingly, these reasons parallel the feelings that many girls state they go through in being bound. The very act of binding makes it clear to the girl that she is vulnerable and, irrespective of her desires, totally at the mercy of the man who has bound her, indeed at the mercy of any who may come across her. In her helplessness, she is often fearful, knowing that she is slave and completely within his power to do with as he pleases. He may choose to beat her, to leave her to ponder her fate, to arouse her without permitting her to come to full orgasm. Her pleas, whimpers and cries may prove to be pleasing or fall upon deaf ears. Of course, a man who has a chained or bound girl at his feet knows that he has absolute control and that it is within his power to do as he pleases; it is the ultimate in power. And, of course, the girl’s very inability to control can be very stimulating to her, intensifying her acknowledgement of his dominance. Further, since he can easily control her state of arousal, her orgasms when finally permitted may be extremely intensified.

" ‘Master,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Why would you bind a woman who is a slave? she asked, ‘She knows that there is no escape for her. She is not going to run away. She knows that you may do with her as you please.’

‘It holds her in a given position,’ I said, ‘for your leisured work upon her body.’

‘That is true,’ she said.

‘But the primary reasons,’ I said, ‘are as you might suspect, psychological, both from the point of view of the master and the slave. She, chained, or bound, is helpless. She knows that she might, at the master’s whim, be slit like a larma. This increases her terror, her vulnerability, her desire to be found pleasing. This makes her feel more slavelike and, accordingly, more ready to respond to the touch of the master. From the master’s point of view, of course, this is also stimulating. It is pleasant for a man to have absolute power over a woman, to have her bound or chained in a position of his choosing, and to know that she must submit to whatever he chooses to do to her. In this situation the equations of nature, those of dominance and submission, are intensified. This is felt by both the master and the slave. Too, to be sure, there is, for physiological reasons also, commonly, some boosting of the female’s responses, as the result of the binding, the restraint. The orgasmic spasms, somewhat restricted, or, perhaps better, channelled, regulated and controlled, confined within the parameters set by the master, must then seem more intense, more concentrated.’

‘I see,’ she said.

‘But the main thing, in my opinion,’ I said, ‘is the psychological effect on the woman, the bringing home to her, in clear, forcible and undeniable terms, the reality of her situation, that she is helpless, that she is at his mercy, that she, regardless of her will, is now his to do with as he pleases, that she is owned, that she is his slave, and that he is her master.’

(Book 17: Savages of Gor, page 206)

Just as John Norman had noted some twenty years previously, in the September/October 1999 issue of "Psychology Today," Marianne Apostolides also opined that ’The essential component [in being bound] is not the pain or bondage itself, but rather the knowledge that one person has complete control over the other, deciding what that person will hear, do, taste, touch, smell and feel.’

"They will teach her that she is a slave and owned. How could it be made more clear to her, that she is his to do with as he pleases, than when she actually wears his chain’ It is difficult to describe the subtle and exquisite emotions, so profound, and helpless and feminine, which may be felt by the chained woman. ‘You are chained, and a slave,’ the chains say to her. ‘He has chained you, and he is your master. He may now do with you as he pleases. You are now in your place. Choice is gone. Now you can be only, and wholly, a woman. Prepare now to serve your Master, beautiful chained slave.’ It is a well known fact that the mere sight of chains can make many women, even free women, sexually uneasy."

(Book 16: Guardsman of Gor, pages 242-243)

The sight of chains may make a woman feel more aware of her vulnerability to a stronger, more dominant man, creating within her a paradoxical situation wherein she yearns to be enchained and freed from the capacity of choice and inhibitions, yet still fears the helplessness and relinquishment of control that the chains represent. It is interesting to note that when women happen to see a collared woman in public, there is no outcry against her, rather there is a quick turning of the eyes, as if uncomfortable with the feelings that are invoked by the mere sight of bondage. These same women will quicken their steps, drawing further into themselves, and leave the sight that makes them so uneasy.

The chaining of a woman may be done for reasons other than restraint. Although commonly used for their symbolic impressing upon the girl her status, chains are also used for their aesthetic value. Quite simply, a woman draped in chains, vulnerable and helpless, is an extremely beautiful sight. Since it is not really necessary to restrict the movement of slaves with chains, after all one need only command the slave to remain where she is placed, symbolic effectiveness and the pleasure of seeing a girl bound helplessly at a master’s feet actually play a much larger role in the use of chains or other restraints.

"The chaining on the two slaves did not much restrict their movements, not was it intended to. Like much chaining on Gor their chaining was primarily aesthetic and symbolic. On a world such as Gor chains are used far less for holding purposes than might be expected. For example, the girls are branded and collared, their world is one in which the institution of slavery is accepted and respected; there is, in effect, no place for them to run, no place for them to go. On the other hand, chains do hold, and this is one of the major reasons for their symbolic effectiveness. The girl knows, for example, that her chains will keep her exactly where the master has chosen to place her; she is going to stay there; she has been chained there; it is his will which has determined this; she is only his slave."

(Book 16: Guardsman of Gor, page 241)

Restraints may also be used to discipline or humiliate a girl, placing her in positions and places where she may be vulnerable to the unknown sight and touch. The shame, and yet, perversely, the thrill, of being positioned so that her sexual needs are clearly visible. Once again, that vulnerability and helplessness triggers primitive sexual responses within the girl, as well as deeply impressing her state of slavery upon her.

"Just as a woman may be chained in many ways, and Goreans can be ingenious in chaining their females, so, too, there can be many reasons for chaining her. Security against, say, escape or theft, is only one reason. She may also be chained for instructional purposes, that she may be taught, or reminded, that she is a slave. She may also be chained, particularly in certain positions, to humiliate her. She may also be chained as a punishment or discipline. She may also be chained for so simple a reason as that her master merely chooses to do so. There are many reasons for which a woman might be chained. The women tonight, for example, were chained largely for purposes of beauty. Chains, as is well known, often enhance, and incredibly so, the beauty of a female."

(Book 16: Guardsman of Gor, pages 241-242)

Slaves love the feel of chains, and even the simple feeling of bracelets, anklets or plain necklaces invoke some pangs of uneasiness in most women. Ever notice the number of women who ’idly’ twist and play with bracelets upon their wrists or pick up the end of a long chain necklace and twist or rub the links’ Summoning those feelings of helplessness and utter dependence, the cold kiss of chains is capable of immediately releasing a girl’s sexuality; the feeling of warm leather molding to wrists or ankles or thighs may remind the girl of the hot caress of the whip, turning her into a mass of passionate slave flesh, eager, knowing without a doubt that she is defenceless and controlled without choice. She has no inhibitions because they have been stripped from her, freeing her to react primitively, naturally.

"She lay beside me. She fingered the chain depending from her collar. "I love being chained," she said. "Chains are useful in impressing her slavery upon a woman," I said. "They leave little doubt in her mind so as to who is master," she smiled. I did not respond. What she said, however, was doubtless true. The effect of a chain, or a rope, on a woman’s sexuality is sometimes incredible. This is particularly true of the new slave girl. With the older slave girl, one who has already learned something of the meaning of her collar, a mere snapping of the fingers or a small, imperious gesture can have a similarly devastating, triggering effect on her sexuality."

(Book 15: Rogue of Gor, page 169)

"Even with girls used to slavery, who have well learned their collars, of course, the chain never loses its meaning. Masters commonly use it, even with experienced girls. It never looses its effect."

(Book 15: Rogue of Gor, page 172)

And, yet, for all the ability to restrain, secure, control a girl that bindings may possess, John Norman summed it best when he said:

"But the greatest beauty of the chain, like that of the brand and collar, doubtless lies in the realm of the intellect and emotions, in its meaning, and how it makes the girl feel."

(Book 16: Guardsman of Gor, page 242)

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sierra`, property of Jon`