Ok, so just reading through the Bravenet TOS, and they state that you can’t use any of their services on websites with porn, racism, etc, etc, but they also state they don’t want to be associated with “Gorean”.
A quick google reveals it’s something to do with a book(s?) written by John Norman, and seems to be about the “natural order”, slaves and “free women” and appears to be some sort of white male supremacy cult?
Considering most of these sites have various adverts for porn and freedom of speech banners, I’m not really inclinded to click on the “You have been warned - Enter here” buttons.
You already have the gist of it. The Strange Worlds site discusses Norman’s novels and mentions the odd little near-cult that has arisen around them. (From one perspective, those who are expanding upon the “traditions” of Gor are no different than folks who devote themselves to and enlarge upon the activities of Sherlock Holmes or who attend verious -Cons as Star Trek characters. However, the nature of Gor’s subtext (or, in the later novels, the primary text) make this group’s fascination more than a little suspect to many people. (I have no idea how genuinely serious Gorean adherents actually are–it is a fantasy after all. However, the topic is sufficiently troubling to many people that even a fantasy can be threatening.)
A certain segment of the population is into BDSM (don’t google that term at work) patterned after the elements of John Norman’s Gor novels. I admit I haven’t read any of the novels but they are supposed to have swords, sorcery and slavegirls and who doesn’t like that? Anyone I’ve met who identified themselves as “Gorean” is probably into this fantasy on a scary level. It has a lot of its own language and the slave name Kajira is a common one.
If Bravenet is already indicating that it wants no association with racism or pornography, it is probably just making sure that the definition of porn includes the sort of misogeny exemplified in the Gor universe (where someone might wish to claim “It’s not porn 'cause there’s no sex” and Bravenet would respond, “It’s close enough.”)
As others have pointed out, Gor relates to a series of pulp fantasy/BDSM books. Lots of people develop attatchments to fictional works (as you should know, “nightingale-watcher”), but this specific group’s practice is (whether they admit it or not) sexually oriented and “kinky” to boot. Since a lot of people into this fantasy but not want to admit it to anyone in the real world, they turn to the internet. Likely Bravenet has had to deal with Goreans in the past and figured it would be easier just to bar them outright in their own line item.
Frankly, I think it adds an extra bit of shame for them to be singled out like this, as well it should.
It’s the name used in the books to refer to female slaves
I happen to have some interest in BDSM, and I occasionnally in the past been in contact with Goreans on the net or visited Gorean chatrooms (never met one in real life, though. Besides, I think it’s mostly a north-american phenomenon). The general impression I got was that it was somewhat extreme, not on the physical level, but on a mental level, since Gorean concepts rest on an absolute domination of the female partner, and on her total objectification. It’s also extremelly ritualized and of course based on the novel’s content (at least for the ritual part, I suppose that the fantasy part must be quite difficult to implement in real life. But on the net, they do pretend they’re living in said fantasy world). They tend too to have a somewhat ruthless behavior (still based on the supra-male concepts found in the novels) in their interactions. Some Goreans at least do practise in real life.
My general opinion is that it’s quite unhealthy.
I wouldn’t know
Nope. They are boringly repetitive in their content, which revolve entirely around the enslavement of females by supra males, with long comments explaining (with an absolute lack of basic psychology IMO) how much the formers enjoy it and discover their real female/submissive nature.
How scary/extreme are these ideas in the books?
I’ve been and read a few reviews now and, along with the general opinion in this thread, it seems they’re pretty unpopular and most people find them offensive.
What are the Goreans like that you’ve met? Do they integrate this into their lives/relationships, or are they more like RPers?
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Well, since Tinúviel (may as well use the right accents) is in the Etymologies (HoME volume 5: The Lost Road, pp. 339-400) as Noldorin (later Sindarin), we should stay in Sindarin mode.
Now the ancient root TIR- glosses as “to watch” or “to guard”, so it could go either way. Sindarin likes to fuse words in genitive phrases, IIRC, and tir is a conjugation of Sindarin tirio (to watch) that could easily make the whole phrase translate literally as “(he/she) watches (the) nightingale”.
Either way, it’s a nice little point to be hashed out that doesn’t require any messy misogyny.
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I don’t think the books are scary/extreme at all. They’re basically a combination of sword and sandal adventures and softcore bondage romances. In fact, the first six books, which were tightly edited, cut so far back on the softcore bondage romance elements that they were considered just another sword and sandals fantasy adventure series. It wasn’t until book 7 of the series, when Norman moved to another publisher who pretty much let him write what he wanted to, that things got strong in the bondage romance category.
The thing that has made them unpopular is that Norman is a staunch antifeminist and his novels contained what can only be described as antifeminist rants, mixed in with statements to the effect that sex slavery for women is part of the natural order of things for sexual relations between men and women.
Although there is a lot of bondage and some sexual bondage in the Gor novels, there’s very little SM – a whipping scene or a scene where the slavegirl gets slapped is about it. Compared to some other SF writers and most horror writers, Norman’s Gor novels are mild stuff. Still, the novels are peppered with references to the slavegirls in a sexy, bondage-y way throughout – Norman is very good about working sexual bondage bits into the story without really letting it interfere with the plotline.
I have not met any Goreans IRL so I cannot speak authoritatively on how they live their lives from personal knowledge. I have corresponded with some RL Goreans. In my experience, most use Gorean mythology to spice up their sex lives. They’re definitely engaging in sexual bondage and sexual dominance and submission. Some do this only online, others IRL as well. Most of the RL stuff outside of sexual bondage tends to involve wearing jewelry, dressing sexy and behaving like a slavegirl in the privacy of the home. I think Gorean women who give up their rights IRL to become real-life slaves of their lovers are a rare phenom, much as straight BDSM types who do the same are relatively rare. But sexual bondage – hell, yeah, a lot of IRL stuff going on there.
I don’t know any heavy-duty RPers personally either, so I can’t speak with authority on that point.