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obey1 -> RE: what makes Gor special? (2/14/2007 12:06:14 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mixielicous
so my question is, how did Gor become so much more philosophical than M/s/D/s? While 26 books obviously will lead to the depth of what they practice, why is it a general-ish consensus that people of the BDSM in M/s realm have lower standards when it comes to protocol/roles/commitment, even etiquette ...
Do you agree that some mainstream BDSM practices overlap the Gorean lifestyle?
i would hope for answers from people who might know a bit about their philosophy to answer ..
I'm throwing my hat in and cracking another beer....
Let's start with the basics. First, much of this split happened 30-40 years ago. As the 50's household disintegrated to the flowerchild 60's there was a vacuum for many people to fill as the world was rapidly changing. Some of the landmark followings that happened during that time were:
1950 L.Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics.
1953 "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando
1954 The Story of O in French
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1965 The Story of O published in English
1966 Star Trek
1967 Tarnsman of Gor
1972 Leatherman's Handbook
1974 Kiss releases first album
1974 Dungeons & Dragons
1974 Imaginative Sex
1974 Metal Hurlant Magazine (French)
1975 Story of O Illustrated by Guido Crepax
1977 Heavy Metal Magazine
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1983 Playboy has first BDSM survey
1983 Kiss abandons their makeup
1983 Kajira of Gor
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1988 Magicians of Gor
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1990 Kinsey reports the 1983 Playboy findings
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2001 Witness of Gor (the 26th book, one for each letter of the English alphabet)
To answer your first question, in simplistic terms I offer you the 26 Chronicles of Gor (Christianity is based on 27 books.)
Leathermen and Old Guard are based on a few books (Emily Post - Etiquette, Leathermen's handbook, etc.)
Star Trek and Dungeons & Dragons books are now in the hundreds to perhaps thousands when combined.
Dianetics is based on one book, and then a plethora of other subsequent books and pamphlets.
BDSM has yet to have ANY recognized 'handbook' that has been well read within the community, unless one would give weight to the Story of O, which has had sequels, and illustrated by famous Guido Crepax who also heavily contributed to the Heavy Metal magazine.
Your second question (poll) should obviously be 100% "for" the overlapping of practices. Anything else is pure speculative opinion, hearsay, or other horseshit that we have been reading here.
Those are the obvious facts, now for my at length opinion. (That is why I cracked the beer)....
I was born in October 1969, 4 months after the first moon landing and 7 months after Star Trek aired the last episode. It was in syndication for the fall of my birth. I was named Kirk and my brother born in 1966 had already been named Scott. My father was a Scientologist and Bi-Polar. He was very dominant towards my mother but that caused their seperation in 1971 and divorce in 1972. She could have dealt with his Domminess but could not deal with the manic episodes. He walked out in front of the police with a loaded pistol in his briefcase. Not good. I was knocked unconscious that night in a tug of war between them. My mother thought I was dead.
By 1974 I was an avid reader, and began through my own experiences cross-dressing and fantasizing about D/s power dynamics as well as bondage. I also drew pictures of naked women. I found "Kiss" music to be my heartbeat and started playing Dungeons & Dragons by 1977. I also avidly read Heavy Metal and loved the RanXerox character. My mother was an avid collector of sexually fantastic books and I am sure that I read at some point one of the Gor novels, but it did not strike me as much as become part of my psychosexual dynamic. I cannot remember a specific title. I also know I had Guido Crepax's illustrated Story of O in my hands by 1979 or even earlier. I wrote my own fiction as my father used to pay me a dime per page to read Issac Asimov and then write a simple one page book report summary about it. The bigger the story the more pages read.
That is the background, here is my opinion:
As a Christian believing in the 27 books of the New Testament, I do not even remotely fail to understand how the Gorean saga of 26 books can be so closely integrated into one's life. I am a child of Star Trek and other worlds. I am a Christian so I believe in another world to come. We all prepare for the things we believe are right, and are to follow in some way. If any of you have watched more than a few episodes of Stargate SG-1 you may understand how fantasy belief in some alternate world or reality can be healthily incorporated into one's belief system. Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stargate all have overwhelming 'priorities' or moralities that are superimposed as teachings. So do the books of Gor. It is a certain code of conduct that for the most part is alien to Earth. Many of these fantastic situations cannot be replicated here anymore than me producing a phaser weapon on stun.
But if you read the books, you can come to understand the morality with which the author wrote. That is a noble quest and I belive the heart and soul of all the misunderstood arguments here. The author wrote 26 books on the subject. The hard part if you are a fan is to locate a copy of each and read it all the way through. Many of the books are already out of print and of the very few Goreans I have had the pleasure to meet, none has actually read all 26 books. It is a fantastic journey in itself. My experience allows me to reveal that most Goreans who have already made a 'choice' for the lifestyle had made that choice based on the first book they read. Then they may have read a few more. But to read all 26, or to actually OWN all 26 books is akin to discovering the dead sea scrolls. They would be a legend in their community, especially if they have really read them and could intelligently comment on them, lend them out, and educate the community about the Epic Chronicles.
In simplistic terms it is cops and robbers. What is said of Gorean life cannot be accomodated here, because it is not Gor. We live on Earth. One small mistake and your life could radically change for the worse. Well, that is just against our laws. So many take the 'pick and choose' route as to what dynamics they accept and what they believe are past limits, extremely similar to what we speak about here. But they all have a common vocabulary when here at this forum we cannot even agree on our vocabulary when it is convenient to prove our point.
Literacy is to virginity as PHD is to GED. In the Gorean community there is an accepted knowledge that is not too hard argued if at all. If someone is a noob, we can tell them to read a certain book, or glean a certain example from the writings of the author. We do not have to interject our opinions until the person has read the text. If they do not posess it we may seek to provide it for them. We look for the common ground as do many people in the BDSM world. But there are a large percentage of people in BDSM that seek to push limits, to go beyond, to re-educate, to change the dynamic, to roll snake eyes and simply say "Oh, it is WIITWD", when the only proof for that is in your little pathetic mind as you scramble to invent a new defense mechanism.
Goreans go by an established code. If it is right it is right. If it is not it is not. There is very little if any interpretation or defense for someone who is moving in the community outside of the established norm and appearing to be an uneducated Gorean. SirDominic spoke to my heart on another thread and I congratuated for such. Our boundaries are only the 'consensual' when in fact if you agree to it then where is the fun? Ok, in this session I am going to cut you and stick a needle in you, do you agree? In Gorean philosophy the dynamic is established along with the humorous outlet of bar wenches and the like. A 'slut' in our society would be a 'bar wench' in Gorean society. In america we tend to call them 'bar flies' so there is just a tad more structure than 'slut' because 'slut' is so broad you don't know where to begin or where to meet them in the first place if that is what you seek in the moment, a little entertainment.
The sub/slave issue is another treatment. Gorean life only has Freeman and bondsman. You are either free to do as you will (dominate, submit, fuck, etc.) or you are a bondsman to someone (slave). Goreans distinguish between the free will of someone and the 'non' free will of someone. Here in the BDSM community you can designate yourself as a sub, but we argue day and night what is the difference between a sub and a slave??? In Gorean life it is well understood and carries a different set of weights (gravitational forces, you know) to choose or become a slave. You literally give up your freedom (in a consensual way.) In that sense BDSM and Gorean life shares a common trait, and that is only ONE aspect of where we should be forming alliances instead of alter-egos. We for the most part can agree on slavedom. We through the law of the United States do not agree to non-consensual slavery. But we like slaves.
Finally to close I will bring up the general philosophy and why this is all important. When I was a child with my friends, we would get together every Saturday and play Dungeons & Dragons. Each week we would have a new Dungeon Master. Since we were not playing "R/T" we could be killed in the first role of the dice if that is what He desired. The D&D book was opened and set-up as a screen bewteen the players and the DM. The DM had their own package of notes, graph paper for maps, and any other talisman's they felt would serve them well. As we trembled and rolled the dice, we would either get to see a new portion of the map, or be attacked by a vile thing. Sometimes we would find treasure.
What the BDSM community lacks, why Gorean life is not 'superior' but 'structured', is because they have 26 books to look back on, if they can find them. Then they can see what is suggested by the original DM (like Jesus Christ) and make their moves and actions accordingly. They will nominally recieve standard input from their peers and will be made more like the Gorean Earth that is now forming in your midst. In BDSM, we just have WIIITWD and it is a no-holds barred fight to the top, unless you can top from the bottom. You can quote me on this one:
"It's just a liiiiitle different."
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