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The Freedom of Speech of the Free Women of the City Cultures on Gor
(SEE ALSO Forms of Address I realized that she had spoken to me as a free woman, using my name. Tarnsman Free women, in being free, command attention when they speak. It is their due. Explorers “It is a common property of human beings,” I said, “that they, for better or for worse, do not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of others. Thus, it would not be surprising if most men did not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of women. If it is any consolation, they do not pay much attention to the thoughts and feelings of other men either. Similar remarks, of course, hold for women. Many women, for example, are excellent in not listening to others. No one sex has a monopoly on dogmatism.” I looked at her. “If you are interested in this sort of thing from the Gorean viewpoint,” I said, “free men and women are usually attentive to the thoughts and feelings of one another. Not only are they free, but they may even share a Home Stone. Free women, in being free, command attention when they speak. It is their due. The case with slaves, such as you, my dear, is of course much different. The difference, however, is that respect and attention is not due to you, that it need not be accorded to you. You are slave. In actual practice, of course, masters tend to pay a great deal of attention to the thoughts and feelings of their lovely slaves. It is rewarding and delicious to do so. How wonderful it is to know another human being so intimately, especially one one owns. There are no secrets between masters and slaves. Her deepest thoughts and desires, as well as her most trivial fancies and observations, are open to him and, because he owns her, of great interest to him. A man is much more likely to be in-tensely fond of a girl he owns than of a free individual toward whom he stands in a mere contractual relationship. The latter he does not own; the former he does. The owned girl is a valuable; she is precious; this makes her much different from a business partner. For what it is worth, the most intimate and deepest loves I have know have been between masters and their slaves, that between the love master and his love slave.” Explorers Gorean society being steeped in tradition as it is, the free woman of the city cultures did have social restraints on the topics of her speech. There are civic, social and political issues that Gorean society deems as not the province of women. Elizabeth, besides speaking boldly out on a large number of delicate civic, social and political issues, usually not regarded as the Province of the fairer sex, categorically refused to wear the cumbersome Robes of Concealment traditionally expected of the free woman. She still wore the brief, exciting leather of a Tuchuk wagon girl and, when striding the high bridges, her hair in the wind, she attracted much attention, not only, obviously, from the men, but from women, both slave and free. Assassin She looked up at me in wonder, blood at her mouth. She had been cuffed. "Did you strike me because I challenged your manhood?" she asked. "I did not really mean it. It is only that I was terribly angry. I did not think." "You were not struck for such an absurd reason," I said. "You are, after all, a free woman, and free women are entitled to insult, and to attempt to demean and destroy men. It is one of their freedoms, unless men, of course, should decide to take it from them. You were struck, rather, because you were attempting to manipulate me." Mercenaries Goreans, in their simplistic fashion, often contend, categorically, that man is naturally free and woman is naturally slave. But even for them the issues are far more complex than these simple formulations would suggest. For example, there is no higher person, nor one more respected, than the Gorean free woman. Goreans do believe, however, that every woman has a natural master or set of masters, with respect to whom she could not help but be a complete and passionate slave girl. Hunters I rejoiced that in at least one city on Gor the free women were not expected to wear the Robes of Concealment, confine their activities largely to their own quarters, and speak only to their blood relatives and, eventually, the Free Companion. Outlaw The laughter of the men made me angry, but then I cried. Anger in a slave girl was only meaningless pretense. It was not as though she were a free woman whose anger might have significance, might even issue in actions or words, free from the reprisals of discipline. Men are the masters of slave girls, the masters. Anger in a slave girl is futile, meaningless, though sometimes masters encourage it in their girls, to see them flush and assume an interesting demeanor, but it is in the end always insignificant for, in the end, as both the girl and master know, it is the master and not the girl who holds the whip. Thus it is not that slave girls do not become angry. They do. It is only that their anger, as both girl and master know, is meaningless. I cried. The physical effect of the switch on a girl is not negligible, but, I think, its psychological effect, should the blows be placed on a certain portion of her body, thus cruelly humiliating her, may be even more bitter. Slave Girl Whereas a free woman may often make a man angry with impunity, she being lofty and free, this latitude is seldom extended to the slave. Blood Brothers Whereas a free woman may often make a man angry with impunity, she being lofty and free, this latitude is seldom extended to the slave. 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 to account, and strictly, for any dissatisfaction which she may have engendered. Blood Brothers "I am a free woman," she said. "How can you, a free man, deny me anything I want?" "Easily," I said. She looked at me, angrily. "Many free women believe they can have anything they want, merely by asking for it, or demanding it," I said, "but now you see that that is not true, at least not in a world where there are true men." Players “I am going now,” I said. “Don’t go!” she cried. “On the other hand, I recommend that you remain where you are, waiting for Flaminius.” She shook the chains, in helpless frustration. “He will be along shortly,” I assured her. “Leave the packet!” she begged. “Do you beg it, naked, on your knees, chained, as might a slave?” I asked. “Yes!” she cried. “I beg it on my knees, naked, in chains, as might a slave!” “Interesting,” I said. “Leave it,” she begged. “No,” I said. She looked at me, aghast. “But you did beg prettily,” I said, “and had the matter been otherwise, for example, had you been begging to serve my pleasure, I would truly have been tempted to give you a more favorable response.” “I am a free woman,” she said. “How can you, a free man, deny me anything I want?” “Easily,” I said. She looked at me, angrily. “Many free women believe they can have anything they want, merely by asking for it, or demanding it,” I said, “but now you see that that is not true, at least not in a world where there are true men.” She shook the chains in frustration. “You make me as helpless and dependent on you as a slave!” she cried. Players "Beware your words," I cautioned her. "I am a free woman," she said. "I can speak as I please." I could not gainsay her in this. She was free. She could, accordingly, say what she wished, and without requiring permission. Mercenaries “Please!” wept the woman. I admitted to myself that she was beautiful. “You have an admirer,” Targo told her, “a Captain of Tyros, who glimpsed you in Lydius last fall. He has contracted to buy you privately in Ar, to be taken to his pleasure gardens on Tyros. He will pay one hundred pieces of gold.” Several of the girls gasped. “Who?” asked the captive, plaintively. “You will learn when you are sold to him,” said Targo. “Curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira,” said Targo. “You might be beaten for it.” I remembered that the large man, on the planet Earth, had said to me this thing. I gathered that it was a Gorean saying. The woman, distraught, shook her head. “Think!” urged Targo. “Were you cruel to someone? Did you slight someone? Did you not grant someone the courtesy that was his due?” The woman looked terrified. “Strip her,” said Targo. “No, no!” she wept. Captive of Gor Book 7 Page 76 “What are you talking about?” she demanded. “Give me my clothing,” she demanded angrily. Again the points of the two spears pressed against her abdomen. Again they penetrated the loosely woven cloth. Again she stepped back, for the moment disconcerted. I gathered that she had been accustomed to having her demands met by men. When a woman speaks in that tone of voice to a man of Earth he generally hastens to do her bidding. He has been conditioned so. Here, however, her proven Earth techniques seemed ineffectual, and this puzzled her, and angered her, and, I think, to an extent frightened her. What if men did not do her bidding? She was smaller and weaker, and beautiful and desirable. What if she discovered that it were she, and not they, who must do now what was bidden, and with perfection? A woman who spoke in that tone to a Gorean man, if she were not a free woman, would find herself instantly whipped to his feet. Beasts of Gor Book 12 Page 25 “How did the keeper seem when he ordered you shackled and put in the paga room?” I asked. “Amused,” she said, angrily. “Perhaps you had spoken up to him,” I speculated, “though you were only a debtor slut.” “Such is my right!” she said. “I am a free woman!” “You dared to protest the treatment you received?” I asked. “Of course!” she cried. “How is it that I, a free woman, should be stripped, and searched, and put in a cage, and such!” “Perhaps you made demands, threatened him, insulted him, that sort of thing?” I asked. “Perhaps,” she said. “I can see then,” I said, “why it might have amused him to put you here, to serve as a waitress.” “Perhaps,” she said, angrily. “How much do you own him?” I asked. “A silver tarsk, five,” she said. “That might be another reason,” I said. “That is more than is owned by any of the other women.” The amount stated was a silver tarsk, five copper tarsks. Renegades gorean_librarian@yahoo.com 
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