As Second Life continues to grow its population, it affords increasing opportunities for sub-cultures that find obstacles to realization in First Life. Some of those subcultures include communities with Elven themes, "furry" themes and Gorean themes. This is an introductory note on the study of Gorean culture in Second Life, and a request for comment and expansion (or correction) by those more familiar with it.
Gorean culture is controversial in part because it includes legally institutionalized subordination of females and human slavery, both (currently) anathema in Western culture. Both were legally recognized even in the United States as recently as 150 years ago. Despite controversy, a significant number of females and males participate in SL's Gorean culture. Several of the Gorean "player towns" have traffic figures competitive with the most popular camp chair and money ball venues.
In Second Life, participation in such virtual cultures is voluntary, and no resident can be held in a state of subjugation or "slavery" except by his or her own consent. In this regard, there is an intriguing opportunity to study what motivates women (or men who choose to portray themselves as women) to enter a virtual status of subjugation from which they can remove themselves at a keystroke.
The Gorean culture has long been simulated in text-based multi-player worlds. In other virtual worlds, game managers have understandably not focused on the game tools that would facilitate human slavery or the "not appropriate for minors" clothing and behavior customs of Gorean culture. Second Life, with its encouragement of resident-created content and activity and resident-owned virtual land, makes possible a simulation of Gorean culture.
Some background
Gorean culture derives from a series of novels written by John Norman, depicting the adventures of a man from Earth who is transported to a "counter-Earth" called Gor that is undetectable to Earth science. On Gor, a warrior culture exists with strange and dangerous wild beasts partially turned to human purposes by residents of Gor. Warring city-states operate independently, yet merchants travel between the various cities with various trade goods.
Among the trade good are slaves, almost exclusively females, which the novels invariably describe as young, attractive, scantily clad, eager to serve men and hungry for sex. Although they are bought and sold like cattle, their owners seem to quickly fall in love with them and value them; until for whatever reason they sell them and buy another.
The novels introduce other classes of females that were the majority of females in the culture, despite the books' focus on the "slave girls". "Free Women" may own slaves and other property and occupy governmental and administrative positions. Their status as "Free" is anomalous, because their "freedom" can be sacrificed by a number of behaviors that in modern western culture would be regarded as part of the natural rights of women. They must remain modestly clothed and observe cultural norms that would be familiar to middle eastern traditional cultures. Behavior regarded as sufficiently beyond the cultural limits may result in a "Free Woman" being involuntarily enslaved and sold as chattel in the public market.
Reflections
In many respects, "slave girls" have more freedom in Gorean culture than do "Free Women," a subject of several short but unpublished essays I've read in my ongoing exploration of Gorean culture. While their misbehavior may earn them punishment, short of a capital offense, they are already at the "bottom" of the social ladder. They are often able to move and behave more freely than "Free Women."
Some have observed that the only truly free women in Gorean culture are the outlaw and "wild" women, the Taluna and the Panther girls. These are females who dress in animal skins, are heavily armed hunter/warriors who live in forest camps and may conduct raids to capture males or females and either keep them as slaves for their own purposes or sell or ransom them back to their own kind. There do not seem to be any Panther boys in the Gorean fantasy, except the Panthers' male slaves.
One interesting aspect of Gorean culture in Second Life is the high ratio of females to males among its participants. I have yet to do an objective measure, but casual observation suggests that the Gorean realms in Second Life have a roughly equal number presenting as females, and many of those presenting as "slave girls." This phenomenon in itself could be the subject of study in the area of sociology, psychology or gender studies. What motivates a female to enter, even temporarily, a status of "slave girl," "Free Woman," Taluna or Panther girl?
As a study in comparative law and community dynamics, Gorean city-states offer interesting opportunities. Not only is there a divergence in interpretation of the original novels, but also a natural competition between city-states to adapt the novel's virtual world view to the Second Life experience. I will try to add responses to this "seed" message with reflections on various Gorean cities as I come to know them better, and ask that other Observers do likewise.
Gorean Venues in SL
At my last count, over a dozen separately owned and managed Gorean venues existed. Some are multi-sim complexes like Glorious Ar and its surrounds; some are single sim properties such as the Isle of Tyros. Still others are parcels within sims that present as "outposts" of Gor. Visitors frequently travel between Gorean sims, which differ in their architecture, governance and social opportunities. Most have active markets dealing in arms, furniture, clothing and implements appropriate to the Gorean experience. Several have stadiums set up for combat competitions using "scripted" weapons that simulate combat impacts and damage. I have yet to find one with camping chairs, dance halls, casinos or promotional give-aways, yet several show traffic data in the top percentile of SL venues.
Most Gorean cities in Second Life have a separate Scribery building, which can be visited freely by Free Men and Free Women and slaves alike. Several have extensive collections of written works about Gorean culture, local laws, even records of trials and virtual executions for offenses. These are proving a useful resource about the theory of Gorean culture in Second Life. Objective reports of actual experiences within the worlds would be valuable to better understand why and how this "politically incorrect" culture has come to be one of the most popular in Second Life among both men and women.
Follow Up
I will be following up with replies containing observations about the various player towns and outposts that follow Gorean culture in SL, including their ownership structure and relative traffic data. Observers and friends of the Law Society are asked to add their own objective observations and considered thoughts on the Gorean culture in Second Life.
http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/246/99/85031/1.html
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