Have
you read anything from John Norman?
Would
it surprise you to find out that there is a subculture of erotic followers from
his novels?
Me
too! That is, until I started doing a little research into the Gorean
lifestyle.
John Norman is a science fiction
writer who created the Gor lifestyle through his books perhaps inadvertently.
There is little proof that he participates in these acts or even condones the
acts themselves. His novels include erotic sex, dominance, slavery, bondage,
beatings, etc. (All the things an erotica novelist like myself wants in a
"pushing the boundaries" kind of book.)
Gor's tend to be jumbled in with the
BDSM crowd, which is understandable, but incorrect
nonetheless. Gor's and BDSMers may have perceptions that are the same; Gorean
seems to be a quasi-religious lifestyle while BDSM is more of a sexual lifestyle. BDSM
concepts of servitude and slavery are important in the Gorean style. Most Gor's
do not own their consensual slaves and slavery is not required in order to
practice Gorean. Gor's do not label themselves or consider themselves part of
BDSM. They reject most ideas of isolated sex 'scenes' and instead they follow
their guidelines throughout their daily lives, at all times, at home, work, or
socially. Gor's follow stricter dominance and submission standards with total
power exchange relationships.
Males tend to be the dominants, more
so than females in the Gorean style. Females are not forbidden to do so. It is
their belief that males have a predisposition to be more dominant and females
submissive. Male dominance is part of the "natural order" belief
system.
This is so interesting to me as a writer that I have decided to include the Gorean Morality into one of my "pushing the boundaries" erotica books.
