A Gorean Feminist's Guide to Second Life Gor

Gor-crafters, Lifestylers, Roleplayers

by Jessica Holyoke

Goreans are a controversial part of the Second Life community.   Based on a 27 book series collectively called the Chronicles of Gor written by John Norman, residents of Second Life take part in activities that they call Gorean.  Due to the usage of alts, it is hard to pin point how many people actually take part.  According to the website for the Gorean Meter, one of the combat meters for SL Gor, there are 14,223 regions taking part in Gor with 6,338 listed male avatars and 10,124 listed female avatars. 

Goreans are controversial due to two aspects of the novels and the Gorean culture as a whole, chattel slavery and the role of men and women.  The Chronicles of Gor started with the publication of Tarnsman of Gor in 1967.  An English professor from New England named Tarl Cabot is transported to a planet on the other side of the sun from Earth where the technology is mostly medieval, the world is run by alien Priest Kings who are in a struggle against the Kurii, mammalian hunter type creatures and the society is a firm patriarchy featuring stories about mostly women as mostly sexual slaves.  As such, in the books, men, all men, are dominant and women, all women, are submissive.  This is described as the natural order and shown as a preference to the way Earth is with feminists trying to emasculate men. 

Gor also has chattel slavery with mostly women being taken from Earth and being made slaves along with women who were slaves from birth or enslaved during various battles or situations on Gor and men who are enslaved for other reasons, such as forced labor. 

The general Gorean philosophy has been persuasive to members of both genders, some seeing the household setup as desirable and others appreciating and embracing the bondage aspect.  When a platform was formed where you could be anything you wanted to be, Goreans came from other parts of the internet to inhabit Second Life and build a Gorean world.  But the outside Goreans were joined by other residents of SL who saw not the philosophy but the care and effort placed into forming a realistic, immersive community and formed new communities and groups. 

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Combat: World of Gor-craft

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SL Gor is split into three aspects, combat, lifestyle, and role play.  These aspects can also overlap depending on where you live in the community.   Combat is the least controversial to outsiders but sometimes the most controversial to Goreans, depending on what combatants do.   Some residents simply go around and fight other residents.  Called Gor-crafters, after the World of Warcraft, they look at Gor as a First Person Shooter, going around and shooting at anyone, then retreating from the region.  Other groups, such as pirates, panthers, outlaws or mercenaries, generally revolve around raiding for role play items or slaves or honor due to previous combat or role play.  

Wearing a combat meter, such as the Gorean Meter, allows you to use a specially scripted weapon to attack others.  The type of weapon depends on your role on Gor.  Free Men might have bows, axes or swords.  Free women might have smaller bows, whips or daggers.  Slave boys might have sling shots.  Slave girls might have fruit or a broom.

To other Goreans, combat is not the purpose of Gor and simply perverts the ability to live according to the books.  Panthers, the women who left proper society to live on their own, did not raid cities, like some do.   Outlaw groups sometimes have female members, which would never happen in the books, and have been lead by women, which just upsets the lifestylers. 

But combat is still part of most of the other locations across Gor.  Every city is looking for warriors to defend the keep.  There are combat exhibitions in the various arenas.  Its that combat is not the focus of those regions. 

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Lifestylers

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Lifestyle Goreans are split into two groups; those that live the philosophy and those that are not interested in general role play or the combat.   There are cities and villages that revolve around people who want to apply the teachings of the books as best they can to their real lives and to try to find people who want to join them in their real lives as masters or slaves.  Others live as lifestylers but have no interest in taking it to their real life.  They follow the etiquette and the ceremonies but they do not take part in advanced story lines.   Typically the lifestylers are close in philosophy with by the book role players.

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BTB and Disney Gor roleplay

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Role players are split into two groups, by the book and not by the book.  BTB role players establish a story line for themselves but only using elements that are precisely in the Chronicles of Gor.  Other sims take great liberties with what is found in the books to establish their story lines.  There are female dominated sims.  There are gay male sims with no women at all.   

Within this mix, lies what Goreans call Disney Gor.  Essentially a Gorean is referred to as Disney if they place too many limits on what can be done to them in role play.  If someone is captured in combat, typically the person who loses is at the mercy of the captor.  Other times, in the course of role play certain events happen that might lead to where limits might matter.  Typically, people will object to rape, permanent enslavement or collaring or other similar acts.  Sometimes, people will place a time limit for when they are captured but nothing happens, twenty to thirty minutes are common.   

If you find yourself on Gor, you could find a civilized city with caste members that cover a variety of professions; an area that contains outlaws from society, including the famous panthers of Gor; or you might find one of the culturally different areas of Gor such as those based on Nordic traditions or first nations. 

The people behind the keyboard can be anyone from a devout follower of the Gorean philosophy to someone who enjoys the highly structured period role play. This is why I'm able to identify with both.  I enjoy the role play but not the gender politics.  For a very long time, I was associated with an outlaw group run by a woman, which to other Goreans is blasphemous.  For many, Gor is simply the bondage aspects tied to gender politics.  For others, it is a richly realized role play with many adherents acting according to the story line.

Comments

[Alyx Stoklitsky]

Didn't you right this article two years ago?

[Alyx Stoklitsky]

Write, even.

Christ, I'm going back to bed.

[Odette]

ummm.....how exactly is this a feminist guide to anything? It seems to me just a breakdown of Gor, but doesn't exactly give a feminist POV on anything. I was really expecting to see a breakdown of the misogyny language and a more critical view of how this patriarchy parallels the own we live in IRL. Perhaps you could have even broken the seemingly taboo subject of how there are ACTUAL parts of the world where women really are treated not all that different than they're treated in Gor. (From what I can tell, it's taboo because people don't seem to have fun when they realize they're mimicking and playing at the exact subjugation another is unwillingly suffering through. Only instead of course instead of the men 'pretending' they're better than women, they really think they are.)

You say you enjoy the structured role play, but not the gendered politics. I can certainly appreciate the love of a good game. But aren't there other, highly structured and gender equal role playing sims? You know, ones that don't deal in slavery, misogyny and an oppressive male dominated hierarchy? I don't roleplay, so I honestly don't know.

Calling yourself a feminist, is a good first step to actually being a feminist. I like to be dominated by my bf as much as the next girl, but at the end of the day he knows (and more importantly believes) that my opinions matter as much as his, my thoughts count the same as his, my voice is equal to his. At the end of the day, we both call ourselves feminist. I wonder if any Gorean women can say the same of their mates (in RL or SL) and I wonder if there are any Gorean men that have the balls to label themselves 'feminist'.

[Obvious Schism]

"According to the website for the Gorean Meter, one of the combat meters for SL Gor, there are 14,223 regions taking part in Gor with 6,338 listed male avatars and 10,124 listed female avatars."

Region: "A named 256m x 256m (65,536 m²) area hosted by a single simulator process (sim)." (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Region#Region)

6,338 male avatars + 10,124 female avatars = 16,462

So not even taking into account alts and concurrency, there is on average approximately one Gorean avatar per Gorean region? Who do they find to have combat with in such a vast expanse of emptiness?

Or, given that the "Total number of Main Grid regions is now 28902, 23358 private estates... & 5544 Linden owned..." i.e. a total number of 57,804 regions (http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/virtual-business/8523-new-second-life-sims-past-18.html) then that would mean Gorean regions account for around 25% of all regions. Is Gor really that pervasive?

Some discrepancies here, surely?

[Jessica Holyoke]

Odette,

I used the title "Gorean Feminist" because it identifies myself as opposed to the nature of the guide. And I feel that this guide is unique in that most depictions of "what Gor *is*" focus on the activities instead of the participants. People will write about the bondage aspects without asking what the people behind the screen view what is happening.

And maybe its my own point of view, but the Gorean novels are very much anti-feminist. I am not a book expert so don't ask me for quotes and page numbers, but in I believe Kajira of Gor, the protagonist woman is blamed for being a feminist and wanting to 'kill men' by emasculating them.

And one of the interesting things about Gor on SL is that there appears to be more women characters than men. (Accounting for men who play as women, women who play as men and alt account combinations.) It appears that the women who seek out Gor are similar to women who seek out traditional Christian marriage or who want to be the stay at home mothers. Its like Phyllis Schaffly with more sex.

Obvious,

Here's a few more complications. People can use the Gorean meter server in order to supplement their roleplay lives so they can be on a region with no one else but it should count in the Gorean meter totals. Every alt account, so long as they use the gorean meter, should register as one person. The Gorean meter is not the only battle meter out there. Metalife, the Honor meter and the GLM are all alternative meters. Plus I'm not sure how the database is populated on the gorean meter site whether its a grand cumulative total which is way too low or a total of people using the meter during a specific time frame for a determined amount of time. If I was traveling from sim to sim, its possible to change meters a few times so the database might only search during specific times or during specific activities.

As far as Gor being sparse, that all depends. There are a few well populated cities, there is the always crowded Gor Hub, but some sims are sometimes empty of people.

[Chav]

What's feminist about this? Isn't "Gorean feminist" an oxymoron? Aside from that what's the point of this article? Either we know or we don't care, you've brought nothing new in terms of insight.

[Mary Elizabeth]

"Slave wine" and the control of reproduction based on place in society is eugenics.

[Sacha Kessel]

-----

ummm.....how exactly is this a feminist guide to anything? It seems to me just a breakdown of Gor, but doesn't exactly give a feminist POV on anything. I was really expecting to see a breakdown of the misogyny language and a more critical view of how this patriarchy parallels the own we live in IRL. Perhaps you could have even broken the seemingly taboo subject of how there are ACTUAL parts of the world where women really are treated not all that different than they're treated in Gor. (From what I can tell, it's taboo because people don't seem to have fun when they realize they're mimicking and playing at the exact subjugation another is unwillingly suffering through. Only instead of course instead of the men 'pretending' they're better than women, they really think they are.)

You say you enjoy the structured role play, but not the gendered politics. I can certainly appreciate the love of a good game. But aren't there other, highly structured and gender equal role playing sims? You know, ones that don't deal in slavery, misogyny and an oppressive male dominated hierarchy? I don't roleplay, so I honestly don't know.

Calling yourself a feminist, is a good first step to actually being a feminist. I like to be dominated by my bf as much as the next girl, but at the end of the day he knows (and more importantly believes) that my opinions matter as much as his, my thoughts count the same as his, my voice is equal to his. At the end of the day, we both call ourselves feminist. I wonder if any Gorean women can say the same of their mates (in RL or SL) and I wonder if there are any Gorean men that have the balls to label themselves 'feminist'.

------

While certainly not defined as a lifestyler, or even really as a Dom, I am certainly considered an A-type personality. I also RP in Gor, have read all of those horrid books, and to destroy the eventual flames, I'm a successful business man with two degrees, a happy family, and low body fat ratio. I, like you, enjoy the D/s game in my life, and like you, at the end of the day call myself a feminist. So yes, I have the balls to say it, as do many of my contemporaries.

[Avabee]

I'm curious: have any statistics on national origins of those who participate in SL Gor been gathered?

If not, does anyone have a guess as to the popularity of that RP theme among Residents of different nationalities?

[Chris P. Bacon]

I do wonder, what is the Gorean philosophy in regard to chickens? I've never read the books but I'm curious as to whether they include reference to Kajira Chickens? Or perhaps Panther Chickens? Does Gorean culture discriminate against chickens or are chickens given equal value in Gorean culture?

Speaking as a chickenist, I can't respect any culture that sees chickens as mere chattel slaves. Rise ye chickens! Throw off your shackles of oppression. Lay ye not the egg for the oppressor so that their breakfasts will go uncompleted!

[Archie Lukas]

.

I see.

10,124 females is a lot of alt's for the three real women who actually reside in Gor.

.

[missedthepointtotally]

"What's feminist about this? Isn't "Gorean feminist" an oxymoron? Aside from that what's the point of this article? Either we know or we don't care, you've brought nothing new in terms of insight."

"ummm.....how exactly is this a feminist guide to anything?"

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

Looooks like a few people missed the point on this one, totally.

Go back and do a REDO, as in, re-read.

Then decide if you consider this more of the same old rehash on this blogsite.

[Ari Blackthorne]

Well written.

Except a "Panther" is a four-legged carnivorous feline that will attempt to eat you whole - just like the ones one might find on Earth. So, if you are referring to "Forest Girls, sometimes called Panther Girls" (per quoted description in the book) - then you might know that calling them simple "Panthers" is BLASPHEMOUS DISNEY GORCRAFT NONSENSE!!!

LOL

-winks-

But seriously - well-written. Except for that one snafu, of course. ;)

[Sacha Kessel]

I do wonder, what is the Gorean philosophy in regard to chickens? I've never read the books but I'm curious as to whether they include reference to Kajira Chickens? Or perhaps Panther Chickens? Does Gorean culture discriminate against chickens or are chickens given equal value in Gorean culture?

Speaking as a chickenist, I can't respect any culture that sees chickens as mere chattel slaves. Rise ye chickens! Throw off your shackles of oppression. Lay ye not the egg for the oppressor so that their breakfasts will go uncompleted!

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

Ok, replace chicken, with Vulo, and you've got it....

BTW? Complete Win.

[Jacko]

Avabee

Just to answer your question, besides people from the US and Canada, I have met goreans from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Czech Republic, Hungary, a Russian, Australia, New Zealand and Latin American (I am latin american myself). So I guess that the community and the books are quite popular world wide.

[Bubblesort]

The closest thing to chickens in Gor are vulo, but they are smaller than Urth chickens (Urth == Earth).

John Lange wrote gor back in the 60s as a response to extremist second wave feminism. I think both sides of the debate went too far back in the 60s. I do sympathize with him, but he's not a good writer. If not for the BDSM culture adopting it Gor would have probably faded into history remembered by only a few as a trashy sex novel. Such is the power of small niche communities in the digital age.

It's as hard to say that "goreans do X" or "goreans do Y" as it is to say "americans do X" or "americans do Y", and the books don't really clear anything up. Everybody is "by the book" according to them, and they argue it all the time like different denominations of Christians argue over the Bible. It gets downright silly sometimes.

Great article, though. I'm glad to see somebody describe the complexities of Gor for once rather than making blanket statements about it.

[Ari Blackthorne]

"Urth" is not a Gorean word. Neither is "Servery" or "Scribery" and many others for that matter. LOL

Not blaming the ones using it - onlinisms are onlinisms because the users of onlinisms don't know they are using onlinisms, primarily because what they do know of the "Gor world" is from hearsay as they haven't actually read the books.

This is why the "population" on SL Gor dwindles rapidly. Many who try to be "BTB" (Which many sims that call themselves this, aren't) - are moving-on and leaving the Gorcraft and Disney crowds to have the whole playground.

Oh and as for all those Gor sims: many have been sunk (abandoned to LL) - but they remain in the listings and such. Same for the group rolls - only maybe 10 to 20% of the names in those groups are active at all.

/me snickers.

[Emperor Norton Hears a Who?]

Bubblesort,

You ducked the question about chicken oppression. Just giving a chicken a cheesy made up pseudo-Latin name doesn't cut mustard here.

Quit being an apologist and man up to it; are chickens held in slavery or not Bubblesort?

I think the Gorians are hiding a terrible crime here.

[Ari Blackthorne]

@Emporor:

I do hope you are sitting down...

The vulo (chickens) of Gor are in fact hyeld in bondage. However it is important you understand there is NO DISCRIMINATION as the bosk (cows) and other domesticated animals are all held and cooked likewise equally.

In fact, they help support the mission and goals of PETA and do so with great honor and gusto.

Oh, that's "Peaople Eating Tasty Animals".

So yes. No one really cares about the human sluts in chains - that's to be expected. And the slaughtering of bosk cattle a tradition as all those steak-loving individuals with pointy eye-teeth can attest. But the utter and absolute SHAME!!! ...of the roasted vulo in bondage is an terrible disgrace on all Goreans and the very planet of Gor itself!

/me hangs his head low in shame and walks shakily off into the distance... toward the smell of roasting chickens, actually.

[Emperor Norton Hears a Who?]

Ari Blackthorne@:
"The vulo (chickens) of Gor are in fact hyeld in bondage. However it is important you understand there is NO DISCRIMINATION as the bosk (cows) and other domesticated animals are all held and cooked likewise equally."

That still doesn't excuse the mass chicken abuse in those sims. As your Gorians point out all the time Gor is REAL™, not some made up fantasy crap like ancient Rome or medieval England, just look at the books. Just using a bunch stupid names tossed off by some 3rd rate Robert E Howard wannabe doesn't hide a bad thing is being done. Food is the bases of any society. If you have no respect for you food, you have no respect for other people.

Free Gor chickens now.

[Kitten Jigsaw]

The Gor books were an exercise in social engineering and propaganda, part of an obvious backlash against the emergence of human rights movements and feminism in the 1960s. Seems to be working. Scary and sad.

[Bunny Brickworks]

I have a new heroine, her name is Kitten Jigsaw. A woman with brains is hard to find among the commenters, hold her tight, don't let her go!

Thanks for restoring my faith in (wo)mankind, Kitten.

[brinda allen]

There's an ass for every saddle... I guess some of those asses prefer to "live" in more of a fantasy world than others. After all women have gone thru over millenia...That some would chose to even RP in a situation of subservience just amazes me. Thanks but no thanks...not even if some chose to pay my substancial Linden tier.

[sativa marabana]

can anyone tell me this.... sinc3e when has offering a free woman Larma Juice been wrong ???
is a woman drinking larma juice suggestful and courting a collar..
this slave had her head scraggted for the mere offer of a serve ..