The Free Woman's Handbook
by
Dangrus

Chapter 3
Walking the high bridges

This journey is a never-ending path of learning and growing. I have done a great deal of thinking lately about my own path here in Gor. I spend so much time helping others on theirs, that sometimes my own lessons get set aside for the moment. This month (Aug,1999), in the Gorean Voice, there was an excellent essay by Rakella that has stayed with me long after I read it.

There has been much talk of "slaves" who choose who and when to serve. This is not considered Gorean behavior. The same can be said of free women who choose when to defer to men. We sometimes think that it is only to Gorean men (or those we consider Gorean men) that we need to defer. That is patently untrue. It was not until I read Rakella's essay for the fourth or fifth time that this light bulb went on over my head. Even though the man you are interacting with is not Gorean and has no clue about the natural order of things, you do. So we should behave no differently with non-Gorean men than we do with Goreans. Men are men. And we are a rung below them on that ladder of life.

Strangely enough, I found that it is sometimes easier for me to defer when I am not in online Gor. Having been aware that I am a submissive woman for so much of my life, deference to the presence of a strong male is a natural behavior pattern. All it takes is a look or small hand gesture and I tend to respond  like one of Pavlov's dogs to that bell. ;-) Online, however those subtle nuances are not present.

It is not an easy path, that of a free woman of Gor. To be strong, yet not strident (I'm still working on that one). To be firm with slaves, always keeping them (and myself) aware of that invisible line between free and slave. To be courageous and behave honorably, following the dictates of our hearts, and yet never forgetting that we are above all else, female. And females are to be pleasing, whether free or slave.

I think we free women of Gor walk the high bridges.... without a net... But that is is the challenge.. and the joy of being Gorean.