Friday, October 5, 2012

Captive of Gor chapter nine

I don't want to do this today. Why do I not want to do this today? This is why:

yes. It's free and I'm not getting money for that, but STILL. THIS IS AWESOME.
I want to bask in this. I want to put it on a T-shirt, but it's not that impressive. If it were on the other side of that list, ya know, the paid side? THAT would be awesome. That would be "Hey boss, you know this job of mine? You can go stuff it" level awesome. Which isn't going to happen any time soon, but still. A lot of people are reading this book now, and sales for the book right before It? Are up. Much more up then they ought to be. I'm now pretty confident that I'm gonna make my goal for this month.

In short? I want to be happy. Am I going to be happy reading this? Yeah, probably not. Mostly because it begins with the image of a woman being lead around on a choke leash.

I get that people are turned on by that image. I'm not really one of them, but I get that some people are. HOWEVER, what makes that a turn on is consent. If you're turned on by the idea of a woman being lead around on a choke leash without her consent, you are somebody I don't ever want to know. Sorry. You're probably a nice person, but you scare me.

So after kidnapping a slave that has no earthly use for them--they're not setting Strawchick free, folks--the panther girls go hurtling through the woods, dragging her after them like a two-year old's pet rock on a string. Also:

If I should stop in pain, struck, or stumble, the merciless choke leash, closing on my throat, impelled me forward again.

That sentence is completely incomprehensible. You can discern a probable meaning but it's like your eye picking meaning out of disjointed objects. It's not actually there.

 So the panther girls spend the next few pages demeaning Strawchick, because slave. I guess this world never heard of Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad. (OH MY GOD. Harriet Tubman and Katness Everdeen OF GOR. Put them together. The men would never survive.) and Verna declares that Strawchick is a true slave on the inside. Because us silly women don't even get ourselves. Strawchick begs to join them and Verna decides that if Strawchick fights one of her underlings to the death, she gets a place in the band. It is the only way for someone who is tainted as a slave to join the ranks of the free, and...

...you know? You know? You know? This whole scene is a metaphor for virginity. Once the pop-top is popped, you can never go back without pledging great sacrifice...and even if you do, you are forever branded as a slut. I say this as someone who was raised in that fundie universe, and despite what I said about pickles, I do still value virginity. Because I am religious, I have the right to see all the ugly hypocritical spots on my beleif system and still love being a Christian anyway. But there is a fine line between valuing purity and devaluing those who've had sexual activity, and Christianity tends to obliterate it every time. I said it last time, I'm saying it today: There is no room in this BDSM psychotic universe for a virgin/whore complex. It makes the whole thing kind of silly.

Anyway, the whole reason Strawchick has been kidnapped is, someone has bought her. From Verna. Who did not own her. Because it's easier than asking Torgo for her. And in keeping with the virginity theme:

It seemed they were of a sex, or breed, other than, and superior to my own. Among such women I could be but the object of their scorn, what they despised most, only Kajira. 

And among them I felt myself to be only Kajira, one fit to be tethered and led, scorned as an insult to the beauty and magnificence of their sex. 

I was other than, and less than, they.

I shouldn't be having youth group flashbacks in your BDSM porn, John. I really shouldn't.

The panther girls, meanwhile, have an orgy. I said it was a metaphore for virginity. I didn't say it was a good one.

And while watching them Strawchick realizes that they too, are slaves deep down inside and that she is so much better than they are. They lead her to a house, and after yet another demeaning sequence where Strawchick has to either acknowledge that she is a slave or die--which doesn't mean shit, you know, 'cause threats--they leave her to her new master.

She goes into the hut, screams, and the chapter ends.

...oh, I get it. The panther girls are the plot monkeys, and we're about to get some Plot back into this story.

(No. No we're not. It's going to try, but there's no air in Gor. Plots can't breathe here.)



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