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A Slave Raising Children In the books, children were the bailiwick of the free. A slave might be a nanny, charged with looking after a child, but responsibility for the child’s upbringing was in the hands of those who did not have a brand or steel necktie. Here, there is neither slave wine nor a societal imperative stating that moms cannot be slaves. So it ends up that many of us give our lives over to not only the pleasure of the free, but to raising and caring for the next generation as well. It is a tricky situation to be sure: Property molding the attitudes and behavior of the "free-to-be". On Gor, it would be both impossible and unnecessary; here, it is just the way it is because slavery is something we have chosen (and begged for as well). We take rugrats to the doctor, go to parent-teacher meetings, and put the kids in the corner when they are naughty. If we are allowed by our owners, we have say in what behavior is acceptable and what should be expected from the children. Simply by being their caregivers or moms, we have say in what they learn, what they see as "normal" interaction and adult behavior. One recalls five years ago when she gave birth to Master’s daughter: Everything shifted. Overnight, kessia went from being a die-hard liberal to being...conservative. All of a sudden, who was president became important, environmentalism became a hot issue, and the death penalty no longer seemed as unfair as letting some murderer walk the streets or even live after killing some mother’s child. It became important that kessia figure out what was "wrong" with herself, figure out what all of her weird feelings and desires meant so that she would not confuse the little girl. Once she figured out that she was happiest in a position of servitude, things settled down and life marched on. A girl did not really have all that much of a problem balancing her nature against being mother to a daughter. After all, kessia is independent minded, educated, skilled and able to show that she had freely chosen to live under the Master’s hand. Even being a pregnant slave did not pose anywhere near the difficulties in terms of hormones or physical limits that kessia thought it would. Then, kessia gave birth to Master’s son. Everything shifted...again. One notes that we (as a society) tend to be *very* careful about the messages we send to girls. It is very important; it seems, to be politically correct and non-sexist so that girls do not ever have to realize that they are different from boys. Boys now seem to be forced into the role of apologist for all of the wrongs ever done to females throughout history. Boys are given little quarter or concession for their differences. In short, it appears that this society wants little boys to be little girls. New trends in feminism make it "cool" to stay at home, or at least more cool than it was a few years ago. There are voices around to point out that girls do not really have to look like Barbie, and yes she can be just about anything she wants when she grows up. But what is there for the boy? Men are not portrayed in current media as heads of their households, Masters of all they survey. They are shown as oversensitive, bumbling creatures who need a female to run them. Strong men are picked on and made to appear as buffoons. To kess, this idea that it is not ok to be a MAN is one of the sucky legacies of the ultra-feminist movement. Thankfully, Master’s son will have Master to teach him how to be a man and hopefully kessia will be a decent model of a woman. Still, one can see that we will have even more work overcoming what neighbors, teachers, media, and even his own grandmothers will try to force feed him. One can see she is going to have to develop some more control over her temper, since she is the one most likely to attend PTA meetings, and will get to hear boys being criticized for being boys. One watched last week as a mother read her son out for acting rough and tumble, because he made a girl cry when he sprayed her with his water gun. Nobody suggested to the girl that if she could not take it, then perhaps she ought to go home. Nope. The boy was made to feel badly for, well, being a boy. Shame on him for being driven to win the water war at all costs. Hmph. Ok, maybe kessia is on this tangent because she has been stuck in front of television for 22 days with nothing to do other than heal. Maybe she has seen one too many talk shows or one too many commercials involving a hen pecked husband who is (apparently) too dense to wash clothes. It is still horrifying and disgusting, and disheartening when kessia stops to think about the messages that will have to be overcome. This is one of those times that kessia does find herself wishing for a more "Gorean" society: One could sit back and watch the children grow, confident that society would support them as they developed into men and women. Instead, kessia sees that, property or not, she is going to be compelled to be an active participant in molding Master’s rugrats, and maybe even showing a few people that gender based differences in behavior really aren’t the evil that some would have us believe. She hopes her words are not offensive. |
