Protection on IRC Gor?

     I am sure we have all seen the words in a slavegirls's whois: Protected by Master So-n-so. Having recently tasked a few select, and somewhat bored brain cells with the job of thinking about "protection", with their help, I have come to the conclusion that the idea of protection  may not be entirely out of the question here on IRC Gor. Setting aside the girls here that seem to think that when they wear these words in their whois they are somehow transformed from slavegirls, into little princesses from Ye Olde Camelot, I will put forth my own revised opinion of what "protection" may or may not be, here on our tiny virtual world of Gor.

"There is no protection on Gor"

     Many of us have said these words, perhaps with a vision of the girl's protector being a "knight in shining armour", which in fact, is out of place in the world of Gorean men. However, are there not many instances within the works of Norman where a girl, is indeed, protected from some form of harm? Is it not Gorean, for a man to wish to protect his property? The words "Her price is steel" come to my mind here. Is this not an indication that the Gorean male will indeed defend his property? Is not a man the final judge of what befalls his slavegirl, be it a beating, or usage by another man? How many of you out there, who live with your slave, would allow another man to beat her? How many of you would actually allow another man to use her? Perhaps many of you are now saying "This is IRC, and we do things differently than we do in real life". Interesting thought that even the truth needs to be sacrificed in the hopes of being "IRC Goreans".

"Protected from what?"

     Another question commonly asked of the Gorean slavegirl who has the "misfortune" to have the word in her whois. Again let's set aside the little princesses, and look at the Gorean slave. Protected from what? Protected, perhaps, from those "Masters" who would push a girl past the point where she is ready to go, to where she is not ready to go. The Mastery of women on Earth, is unlike the Mastery of women within the books of Gor. In the books, a girl is "forced" into her slavery, regardless of whether or not she is ready. On Earth, however, a girl needs to be brought into it, perhaps slowly. One cannot assume just because a girl may appear on the outside to be a Gorean slave, that she is a complete one. This might lead a girl, who is perhaps learning her slave belly, to seek some form of protection from these men who call themselves "Master". The girl might grow to trust in a man enough to guide her, and help her, yet not wish his collar. So she begs his protection, and places it in her whois. She knows that this man, in times of trouble, will come to her aid. What can he do? He can judge whether or not the girl is ready to deal with the Horny Net Geek who is whispering in her ear, and if not, command her to use the /ignore function, and inform said HNG that she no longer listens. What else can he do? He can come to a channel long enough to command the girl to leave, if the channel's occupants are pushing her past her present limit, or have "chained" her to the channel, and will not let her go. Does a girl need a "protector" in these situations? I would say yes. Given the choice of listening to the command of the man she trusts, or the commands of those within the channel who are playing at being "Gorean Masters", she must, of course, follow her "protector" from the channel.

"The channel Ops are your best protection"

     This might be true in a few instances, but given the above example, we see this is hardly the case. It is true though, that some channels actually have good operators, with a decent sense of judgement about them, who will watch the goings on in their channel, and heed the whispers for help from a girl. Unfortunately, these channels seem to be few and far between, especially among those channels which are known to be Gorean in nature.

"Are you owned by your protector?"

     A touchy question, yet it needs to be addressed. Let's assume once more that we are asking this of a slavegirl, and not a lil' princess. Is it possible to own a girl without having your steel around her neck? Those of us who have read a variety of the books, know that there were some times where a slave was owned by a man, and yet had no collar on her neck. If a girl can admit to being owned by the man she calls "protector", then I think there is little need to question her any further.

      I will present what I feel to be a valid reason for being uncollared, and yet owned. As I have previously mentioned, there are sure to be times when a girl will grow to trust in a man, and yet not wish his collar. She seeks "her" Master, yet perhaps she needs the guidance of a man while she seeks. If there comes a time that this girl thinks she has come across the man whose collar she wishes to beg, and to wear, she must present to her owner the situation, and with this has a second set of eyes, and perhaps unclouded judgement to help her with her decision to beg a collar. This man she trusts, whom she calls "protector", can look at the whole picture, and given his view of it, will hopefully make the decision in the best interest the girl he owns. Most men do not consider collared slavegirls to be "available". So, the girl is owned, yet wears no collar. Sounds reasonable to me.

     Is there a solution to the confusion created by the idea of "Protection"? I think there is. If the girl can truly admit to the fact that a man owns her, then would it not save the girl and her owner much grief if her whois said as much? My suggestion would be for the owners of these slaves, to have their property identified as simply that: Their Property. Leave the protection bit for the little princesses of Camelot, who have knights in shining armour well wrapped around their little fingers, and leave the ownership of slaves to the Men of Gor.

I wish you well

Danath