# The Gor novels by John Norman **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360 "2009-10-19T17:36:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/21 "2009-10-20T22:12:20Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Woven through the enslaving meme there are a few decent adventure stories being told, but I don’t think it’s going to be any woman’s cup of tea unless she enjoys submission fantasies as women are largely chattel in the Gorean universe. I, for one, was surprised to discover that there is a non-negligible number of these, even among those who would have called themselves feminists. 😃 Also: It is repeatedly stated that there are about forty free women for every slave on Gor. This, though, is on a par with saying that Nottingham had a thousand faceless peasants for every Merry Man in Robin Hood’s entourage: they’re not the ones that make for entertaining stories. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/22 "2009-10-21T02:22:24Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > It’s funny that no one else saw these as quite as sexualized as I did, which makes me think that I was reading a hell of a lot more into it than intended. Plus, I know I was surprised since my husband tended to grumble when books had much in the way of sex in them. It’s there. The driving need for the men of Gor to dominate everything around them has some sexual aspects I think. Talbot’s physical dominance of the female lead is mirrored in his physical dominance of his male friend. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/23 "2009-10-21T02:28:37Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > I, for one, was surprised to discover that there is a non-negligible number of these, even among those who would have called themselves feminists. 😃 > > Also: It is repeatedly stated that there are about forty free women for every slave on Gor. This, though, is on a par with saying that Nottingham had a thousand faceless peasants for every Merry Man in Robin Hood’s entourage: they’re not the ones that make for entertaining stories. Interestingly there are some that take the [Gorean lifestyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorean)very, very seriously. [The Gorean Lifestyle](http://www.goreanliving.com/lifestyle.php) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/24 "2009-10-21T02:29:16Z")
Though I never read any of the Gor books, I did want to share this little anecdote: I started playing D&D in high school, in the early 1980s. Back then, Dragon Magazine (published by TSR, which also published D&D) contained a book-review section. In one of the very first issues of Dragon which I ever purchased, the reviewer covered one of the latter books in the Gor series. I mostly remember the review for the headline: “Norman Gors Us Again” (the review largely echoed what’s already been said here about the series). I’d not heard of the Gor books before reading that review, and decided that I really didn’t want to or need to read them, either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/25 "2009-10-21T02:42:08Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Though I never read any of the Gor books, I did want to share this little anecdote: > > I started playing D&D in high school, in the early 1980s. Back then, Dragon Magazine (published by TSR, which also published D&D) contained a book-review section. > > In one of the very first issues of Dragon which I ever purchased, the reviewer covered one of the latter books in the Gor series. I mostly remember the review for the headline: “Norman Gors Us Again” (the review largely echoed what’s already been said here about the series). I’d not heard of the Gor books before reading that review, and decided that I really didn’t want to or need to read them, either. 🙂 Until Norman ran off the rails on the BDSM themes the books were actually pretty decent fantasy adventure. ---
**Author:** ![\_xiao\_wenti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b782af/32.png) [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/26 "2009-10-21T02:45:38Z")
The earlier volumes were rather enjoyable. Kind of an Edgar Rice Burroughs feel. I don’t own the original editions, but I have the first 5 volumes translated into Spanish (Argentinian translation - Vosotros. Yuk.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/27 "2009-10-21T02:46:24Z")
Did that member who was into bondage porn get banned? Why else would he not be riding his white stallion, wearing a latex body suit and with a rubber ball in its bit, into this thread to support Norman? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/28 "2009-10-21T04:22:52Z")
Well, the thread linked to in this one was started by him and it says “guest” under his name, not “banned”. I’ve noticed he hasn’t posted lately and wondered the same thing until I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/29 "2009-10-21T06:18:19Z")
His last post was on September 6. And he appears to indulge his predilections elsewhere these days. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/30 "2009-10-21T12:10:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Though I never read any of the Gor books, I did want to share this little anecdote: > > I started playing D&D in high school, in the early 1980s. Back then, Dragon Magazine (published by TSR, which also published D&D) contained a book-review section. > > In one of the very first issues of Dragon which I ever purchased, the reviewer covered one of the latter books in the Gor series. I mostly remember the review for the headline: “Norman Gors Us Again” (the review largely echoed what’s already been said here about the series). I’d not heard of the Gor books before reading that review, and decided that I really didn’t want to or need to read them, either. 🙂 I remember when Dragon ran stats on various fictional characters (to help integrate them into the game). Tarl Cabot was given an alignment of Lawful Evil, and the letter columns for the next few months were blistering with fanboy scorn that he was characterized as evil. They wanted him to be more Lawful Neutral, but the argument that he promotes slavery (which is Not A Good Thing) seems to have won. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/31 "2009-10-21T16:58:43Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Interestingly there are some that take the [Gorean lifestyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorean)very, very seriously. > > [The Gorean Lifestyle](http://www.goreanliving.com/lifestyle.php) You’re not telling me anything I don’t know. I’m not a lifestyler myself, but I’ve long been on first-name terms with one or two. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360/32 "2009-10-21T22:40:31Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > His last post was on September 6. > > And he appears to indulge his predilections elsewhere these days. IIRC he seemed like pretty good guy. Aside from the BDSM stuff he was pretty solid SDMB member that participated and helped fighting ignorance-wise where he could. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gor-novels-by-john-norman/514360.md?page=1)