What is the Gorean Lifestyle, Anyway?

Based on a series of books by John Norman, the Gorean lifestyle is a type of relationship often incorporated into BDSM.
21 October 2016
What is The Gorean Lifestyle, Anyway?

Today, I decided that I’d write about the Gorean Lifestyle — a dynamic often incorporated into BDSM relationships, typically in a Master/slave dynamic. I’ve talked about s-types in a previous article, so you should take a look at it as well.

What is the Gorean Lifestyle?

The Gorean lifestyle is based on ‘The Chronicles of Counter-Earth’, a set of fiction books written by author John Norman, first published in 1966. The relationships in a Gorean dynamic are typically Master/slave, and the participants often adhere to the culture, rituals and protocols depicted in the books. The most notable of these rituals and protocols are those that the slave, known as kajira, must assume — such as slave positions, specific commands that are taught and followed, as well as how they’re to dress.

The Gorean lifestyle and its teachings are way too in-depth for me to try and explain in one post, so I will be sticking to the ‘typical’ relationship built upon it. I may write more about it at some point in the future, so if it’s something you’d like to know more about, leave a comment and let me know.

In Gor, slaves are usually required to address all free men and women as Master/Mistress, and whilst a slave may be owned by one person, s/he is at the will of his/her Master, and can be loaned or ‘sold’ to another or released if the Master so decides.

Gorean Slave

While the relationships in the books are often built upon an owner/property, Master/slave dynamic, and would be discontinued without them, the relationships are (more often than not) non-inclusive of love, care, affection etc., which should never be true for those in real-life Gorean lifestyle relationships.

What is Expected of a Kajira?

The biggest thing expected of a kajira is obedience. While obedience is something that’s expected of any submissive, this is taken to a slightly higher level with a kajira. For example, a kajira is expected to obey anyone whom their Master chooses, and the only other option for obedience is to beg for reprieve or release.

Now, I’ve personally only met a few kajira who truly adhere to this level of obedience. And I’ve rarely met any Masters in Gorean communities that truly expect obedience of all free men or women. However, this practice is followed by people in some Gor communities, which makes no sense as these people aren’t their slaves. But, whatever.

Kajira are Still Human Beings

Even though it’s said that a kajira is to obey without question, we all (should) know that if we don’t maintain something properly, its reliability lessens. It’s a bit like servicing your car. If you don’t, eventually things don’t work as well, and this is true for a kajira.

One thing that people seem to constantly lose sight of is that underneath their slavery and service, a kajira is still a human being. They have personal goals, feelings and needs. It may be at their Master’s discretion when, if at all they get these things — affection, attention, etc. But to refuse would likely leave them with a slave who has little desire or incentive to be a good one.

Essentially, it is the goal of a kajira to please at all times. They’re often not allowed to refer to themselves as ‘I, me, mine’ but instead refer to themselves in ways such as ‘this girl’ or ‘this slave’.

Remember, It’s Still about Having a Loving Relationship.

Gorean-based relationships are on the extreme end of service and obedience, but it’s important that while many Gor lifestyles preach the need to be limitless slaves and entirely dominant Masters, they’re all still people, and many of these Masters don’t go to such an extent that they disregard their property’s welfare. Even in Gorean relationships, there’s still a lot of emotion, and many are based on love, care, and honour for one another.

Are you part of the Gorean lifestyle? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Leave a comment.

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2 Comments

  1. Not bad. You gave a better description of what Gorean slavery is about than most I have seen in the last two decades. You are correct about the base style and form as a Owner/property, CnC, service based slavery. I like to say we start where most would fear to tread if they even acknowledged that such a place exists. The key point is that theory is one thing. Practice is another and the full spectrum of possibilities in such a relationship are within parts of the Gorean culture which we borrow from the books. Just because we could do something does not mean that we will do it. Being a good citizen of your society/country is a part of being Gorean. Not being stupid is another part.

    The start of the article about Goreans being incorporated into BDSM is not quite right. It’s more like BDSM took things from Goreans and then forgot where they stole it from. Remember that the first book was published in 1965 which is about three decades before the term BDSM was created. That was the time of the older Leather traditions and it was just called S&M and Leather Sex. It has been mostly a one way street with Goreans influencing how BDSM does things, not the other way around. I note that BDSM and Leather, while also very related are not the same in this case.

    I wonder if one of your sources for this article was Raven Kaldera’s “Paradigms of Power”? It has a chapter on Gorean slavery and what being a Gorean means. I’m the author of that chapter. As I said, whatever your sources, you did better than most in getting it right.
    Malkinius

    • Malkinius, I am just starting to learn about the Gorean lifestyle. How long have you been a part of it? I am wanting to continue to grow and learn more about myself. I feel that this is a great way to grow as a person and as a submissive/possible slave.

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