The Name Game

Drawing by Rodriguez Lozano,
Image courtesy ClipArt.com

The Name Game

"In the eyes of Gorean law you are an animal. You have no name in your own right. You may be collared and leashed. You may be bought and sold, whipped, treated as the master pleases, disposed of as he sees fit. You have no rights whatsoever. Legally you have no more status than a tarsk or vulo. Legally, literally, you are an animal."
John Norman, Explorers of Gor, p. 316

"A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service."
Henry David Thoreau, in "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849)"

As arani has been reading the Gor books, she has noticed something that typically happens when a woman is first enslaved. This involves the naming of the slave. Here's how it usually goes:

Woman: "You can't do this to me! I am Betty Boop of Vonda/Ar/New York! I am no man's slave!"
Master: "Nevertheless, that is exactly what I am going to do to you. Incidentally, here is your collar. Now, hold still while I put it on you."
Woman: "Oh, no!
Master: "Oh, yes! Now, submit to me." (This is usually followed by either a good stout beating, or a session on the furs, or both.)
Woman: "Oh, Master!" (Typically said while she is hanging from the slave pole or lying on the furs beside Him.)
Master: "What are you?"
Woman: "A slave, Master. Your slave."
Master: "And what is your name?"
Woman: "I have no name, Master. You have not yet named me." (This is usually said after some sort of lengthy exposition by Norman about how slaves do not have names other than what their Masters give them.)
Master: "Very well. I name you Betty."
Woman: "Oh, thank you, Master!"

Now, the above was written with a somewhat sarcastic tone, but basically the same thing occurs over and over again in the books. A big deal is made of the woman's prior freedom, with her name being thrown around more than once. Then, after she is forced to submit, there is some sort of exposition emphasizing how her name has been stripped from her because she is a slave. Then, either right away or after some passage of time, the Master finally gives the slave a name.....the very same name she had before. However, this time there is much fuss made about how she now wears it as a slave name.

When one goes into on-line Gor, there is often much fuss made about a slave's name. Some Masters will take great care and great deliberation to come up with just the right name for their new property. arani's Master carefully chose both of the names that He gave her...When she was first collared, He named her simply "slave_girl." Some people wondered at this, but it was a very good way of constantly reminding the slave of who and what she was, a slave girl. It was only after she had spent a month typing in "slave_girl" whenever she referred to herself that He gave her another name, the one she wears now. There are times when arani has observed a Master to change His slave's name as a punishment. One night, in fact, arani's first Master changed her name to "bubbles" for an evening, to punish her. arani has seen girls wearing far worse names, given after some misdeed on their part.

Some Masters do allow their slaves to keep the names they wore before they were collared. And it is not for arani to judge why a Master does or does not name His slave anything. she would not do so, even if she were not a slave. There are some who are very adamant that we should do everything just exactly the way they did in the books.....serving, dressing slaves, etc. arani is sure that they would have plenty to say on this topic, but she will not. If that is how they choose to interpret the Gorean lifestyle that is perfectly fine. Nothing at all wrong with that.

arani should probably make some profound statement on all of this, but right now she cannot. she can only ponder such mysteries.

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