October 23 1997

October 23 1997

Winter approaches and with it things turn inward to the warmth and comfort of home and hearth. I had vowed not to leave the flowers I was smelling nor the lake where I was fishing until I had caught something. I have done so.

I caught a cold.

It is time for me to return to these pages. Lets see what has happened since I was away.

Letters, letters, bills <toss>, boy, do we get mail here. This is representative of some of what I find in my mailbox:

Dear Master Bear,

this girl begs to speak to you, My master and another one are having an argument and I hope you, with your great experience in living the lifestyle, can help settle it. The other night, in my Masters channel, Master <name deleted> was speaking of the texture of the larma fruit in season, mentioning it was a bit sticky if not ripe. My Master correctly pointed out the larma fruit in or out of season has not a sticky texture, but a rough and chewy one. Master <deleted> disagreed, saying that he has eaten sticky ones. My Master told him he was incorrect, as a simple perusal of the books would tell him. Master <name deleted> then produced a larma fruit and bit into it, saying it was not quite ripe and very sticky. My Master then told him that he held not a larma fruit, but an urt. Master <name deleted> said that my Master did not know what he spoke of. My Master then told Master <name deleted> that he knew more about Gor than almost anyone, as he had just finished reading all the book and owns 15 slaves online. Master <name deleted> then told my Master that he obviously had no honor, and that his penis was the size of a pencil. My Master then told Master <name deleted> that he was not Gorean, had obviously not read the books, and could only attract one slave girl. I said that my Masters penis was not the size of a pencil but that Master <name deleted>’s brain was the size of a pea. <name deleted>{<collar deleted>} then said I was nothing but a subbie and that I knew nothing of what it meant to be a slave, and that she and Master <name deleted> were in love so he didn’t need any more slaves. My Master then kicked and banned Master <name deleted> and <name deleted>{<collar deleted>} from the channel forever, saying that they were not of Gor and obviously players. Now, Master <name deleted> has spoken out against my Master to all of the TRUE Goreans on IRC and <name deleted>{collar deleted>} has hired several assassins to kill both my Master and I. We are stalked from channel to channel as we go around Gor. Now, we sit in our channel, fearing for our lives. Please, Master Bear-, you must do something! Is the larma fruit sticky when not quite ripe, or is it rough and chewy? Please, won’t you help us bring this matter to a close before all of Gor is dragged into it and slain by the assassins?

<name withheld>

BEAR REPLIES:

No.

<Deleted> <Deleted> Bear-, You are a fascist <deleted>. Your <deleted> is <deleted>, too! You don’t know <deleted> about anything. That paper you write for is a piece of <deleted> I don’t know why they publish your <deleted> Why don’t you wise up and go <deleted> yourself?

-Name Withheld-

BEAR REPLIES:

Thanks, Mom. Give my love to Dad.

Onto other things.

     Here’s an interesting story about a vanilla Dom who took exception to being tossed from the #silk&Steel on DALnet a few months back for being a jerk. He then produced a rather amusing web page where he declares war on Gor and urges people of urth (read; his vanilla bdsm friends) to sign up to attack it using urth weapons and such. It was genuinely funny with a decent use of parody (although on a more recent reading it was far less amusing and much more whiney in tone, I do not know if he changed it or if it simply does not hold up to repeated readings). I enjoyed it and congratulated him on it in signing his guestbook, saying that if such fun can be had simply by tossing jerks out of the channel, we would strive to do more of it in the future. ;0)

     He then produced a more "scholarly" screed, on a linked page, in which he describes the Gorean lifestyle as "... not consensual. It is based on rape, murder and kidnapping (sic). Followers of Gor will say they don't follow that path, that they do not adopt that part of it. But the fact remains, the Gor books are based 100% on non consensual bdsm." Of Goreans on IRC, he says: "These people will often indulge their fantasies of being warriors and slaves with no reference back to real life. That is to say that they do not actually live any kind of a D/s lifestyle. Power exchange beyond the fictional world of Gor has no meaning for them." Finally, he says: "Responsible bdsm citizens should distance themselves as far as possible from non consensual bdsm. Gor is the epitome of nonconsensual (sic) bdsm."

     Fair enough. This man obviously is misinformed and takes what he sees on IRC as to be all of Gor, but that is his right. He is, by his own admission on his page, a Dom (there is a picture of his wife taken at a weekly spanking party, wrapped in cellophane and tied to a cross, looking like a mix between Jesus Christ and an Oscar Meyer wiener) and, we assume, a "responsible bdsm citizen" (on his trip to NYC’s "Hellfire Club, he states: "If you go be sure to wear fetish or at least black so that you fit in well." (Now that is what we call responsible.)) It seems that what we do does not make sense in the light of what he does, and that is fine by us. I doubt any of us will produce webpage after webpage dedicated to making fun of him. Too much trouble. Too easy. ;0)

But here’s the kicker.

     A new "Gorean" named "Thorgeir" (yes, Ivar Forkbeard’s alias from the novels) appeared with his slave "vika^" on austnet recently. He started a channel called #pleasure barge where he appointed himself "Jarl". He even developed a web site, where he speaks of: "...the Barge's "pet" Kur, Rogii who was captured by Ivar Forkbeard and given to The Barge in payment of his debt after a month long feast." And of: "...the first girl vika roams about the barge making sure that Jarls are being well taken care of." The rest of the web site is taken up with the generic rules, copied from almost any other Gorean web site you can name. There is also a list of "slave rules" which come from the same source, with the word "bondsmaid" inserted for "slave". Under the section for "ops" he lists only his own slavegirl (maybe it is too cold up north to get good help?)

*Yawn* Another Gorean play-channel right? So what?

     Guess who owns it? ;0) Guess who "Thorgeir" is when he dons his vanilla b/d s/m "Dom" costume and black leather vest complete with whip and a stern look? And guess who plays at being Gorean from one side of his mouth, while speaking out against the lifestylers with the other. Silly man, isn’t he?

"Responsible bdsm citizen"? Perhaps, but at least we now know what he is doing with his hands. ;0)

And finally...

     A disturbing and ultimately sorrowful thing happened today while I was dropping this column off in the editor’s channel. A girl entered who had submitted a story to the paper about how she was taken greatly advantage of emotionally and financially by one of the more well-known aust.net "gorean" denizens. This person has now fled, and no longer uses the nick he had registered. The story the girl wrote pulled no punches and named all the names involved, including as I read it, the last name of the one who victimized her. I was given a copy of the story by the editor of this paper, to solicit my opinion as to whether it should be published. The concern was, of course, that anyone can write a story about anyone. It should be noted that I was told that this girl had offered proof in the form of canceled checks and the like. In reading her story, I found no reason to doubt her at all. The fact that she named names and that the publication of such could bring one into a litigative mess that one is not ready to deal with is something that anyone who publishes in the public eye struggles with. As I saw it, Danath had 4 choices:

1.) Publish as is and take what came.

2.) Publish with a disclaimer.

3.) Publish with the names removed.

4.) Reject the story for publication.

Danath chose #3. While I might not totally agree with the decision, I fully support it. Were I sitting in his chair, I might make the same one.

     The girl was told this by lassie{Aldr} while I sat in the channel. The girl began to question, and lassie turned to me, knowing that Danath and I had spoken of this. I explained to her that it was his decision, that his reasons were his own, but that I thought it was important that the story be available and that if he published it without names and the entire story was later published on a web site (as I was told it would be) that I did not think Danath would object to mentioning the URL address after the story. Those who wished to know the names could simply go there and read them. The most important issue, it seemed to us all, was that this story got out so that others could learn and not fall victim to the same kind of foolishness as this girl had.

     Despite this, the girl replied that she would not give the GDT permission to print her story without naming the name of the man who victimized her. To this we said we understood and we wished her well. She then went on to be insulting of the decision and the man who made it (which is rather silly if you think of it, since lassie and I had not changed Danath’s mind and her speaking poorly of him would not endear her to us enough to try again). I was sad to see that it seemed to her to be more important to strike back at the man who victimized her, using the pages and reputation of this paper, rather than think of the benefit that her story could bring to our 300-500 readers weekly. I was sad to see this, but I certainly understood it and I sympathized. At its end, however, I had to remove her from the channel of the paper as she was now widely insulting and I had no desire to have her say something in a fit of disappointment and pique that might cause her to regret her words later.

     So there it is. Out there is a very, very sad story of a girl who opened her heart and her pocketbook to a man who claimed to be "gorean" who then took advantage of her. That story will not be published here, but can be read at http://members.tripod.com/~Tahari_Oasis/atale.html

Till next time...

Bear-

Remember, you can write Bear- at [email protected]. All letters will be read and few answered, but he might comment from time to time.

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