"The question of honour is in the one taking the action,
not the one upon which the action is taken" - rajaa, some time last week
(and no, that's not a typo, honour has a U in it *grins*)
There's a lot of bad RP around Free women in SL-Gor, particularly of the "Woman, shut up or I'll put you in a collar" variety.
I've read the books, 1-27? (the first of the steel worlds, with the piggy people *shudders* yes, still getting THAT image out of my mind. Somehow, I suspect we'd operate more like chimps than herds of cattle/boar). I've read them more than once. I read them individually when I started in Gor in 2006. I read them straight through once in a 3 month period to develop a "coherent picture" of the mythos I was entering. I've since read individual books for my own research into particular aspects of the philosophy. I've thought about it, I'd sometimes debated it, though most won't allow debate from a slave unless the slave is willing to say "yes Master" (mine isn't one fortunately) and agree she was an idiot and the man is all knowing. I've listened to the worst and best interpretations of it. I've also seen the equivalent of the bad RP in the groups on Fetlife that are full of people professing to BE gorean. Trust me, if you self-identify as slave, keep yer head down. Catty lotta bitches in there, and then there's the women!
So, errr... where was I? OH! Honour....
A gorean FW is precious. You might WANT to backhand her for sniping at you. You might fantasise about doing it, dream of watching her sprawled out in a pile of skirts on the public square, but you wouldn't DO it. She has the privilege of saying what she likes - she's free. Why? Two reasons - someone wants her free (family, companion, caste allies, business associates, etc) and what she says to you, so long as she doesn't denigrate your honour, doesn't AFFECT your honour.
Where does your honour come into it? Would you tie her up, bind her helpless and beat the crap out of her? No? Why not? BECAUSE SHE CAN"T DEFEND HERSELF. Well, guess what, you don't have to bind her up to make her helpless. BTB, a city gorean FW would have little or no weapons training, she's weaker than you. How is this a fair fight physically?
And, if JN is to be believed, she's not as smart as you*. So, if you don't like her words, you can figuratively pat her on the head and chuckle. Her saying them isn't a threat to you in any way.
Now. If she says you're not honourable, there's an issue. You can go to what ever man is responsible for her and let him know she's writing cheques his ass is gonna have to cash, or you can tell her off. It's your honour and you're allowed to defend it, required to even I'd imagine (no, I haven't studied the codes, I'm a slave and a woman.)
So, If your honour is in question, remember to act with honour in your handling of the situation. Otherwise you prove her right. If your honour isn't in question, then her words cannot hurt you and why are you flipping out in the first place?
*yea, I don't agree with him - you breed with someone dumber, over time you're gonna dumb down the species, but hey, it's a fantasy right? Go ahead and breed smarter males and dumber females and if you want to go on EQ, ask me about the pygmie shrew one day
So what about the Pygmie Shrew?
ReplyDeletePhilip Rushton, a professor at the university I went to, used EQ to determine the relative intelligence of different races, causing a massive kerfluffle. As any 1st biology student will tell you, EQ (Equivalance Quotient, brain mass to body size) proves the smartest animal on the planet is the pygmie shrew.
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