~~ FW Free Women ~~

Free women are viewed by most Goreans as priceless. Men do not breed with slaves, only a free woman bears a man his children. If a slave gets pregnant, he would either enslave the child, or give it away. Or free the slave long enough to have the child, and in some cases longer, especially if he has turned into mush, as some men seem to be when a woman presents him with child. Free women's rights vary by city and wealth A wealthy woman can get away with a lot. Women are often seen managing shops in the city, since it is dangerous for women to travel, so the men do all the leg work and women do the store fronts. A fee woman is never totally safe. It is not uncommon for young tarnsmen to go roping women off the high bridges of the city just for fun. Sort of like a panty raid, only taking the whole girl.

- Freewomen are required to be cerebral, calm, and mature, even when angered.
These are traits respectable in any Man.
Free women own property, manage households, keep the books of their Companion's estates, and oversee the economics of their holdings - both alone and joint - with the same obligations to society as free men do. Free women own and manage shops, inns and gathering places of various sorts. They interact professionally with men in their business deals and enjoy friendships based on common interests. It is presumable that free men were not born slaves, and that a free man would not wish to see either his mother or his sister in fetters unasked for, so though the freewomen are protected, this does not imply that they are powerless. Indeed it is likely they control more of civilized society than is at first noticeable simply because the men are more concerned with other matters. Gorean free women are vital contributors to Gorean society.
A freewoman behaves like a lady in formal situations, and yet is capable of being as humorous and quick-witted as her male counterparts. Many free women are known for their sharp-tongued replies, but are just as likely to sooth tempers with matronly wisdom. As with all Goreans, a free woman's honor is on the line each time she speaks. It is, however, much more likely that she will be called on the carpet to answer for her behavior than a free man might. A free woman is not a "slave in waiting," but neither is she a "castrated male." A free woman is a vital asset to her community and a cherished mate to her Companion.
By definition, a Gorean free woman is submissive. All women of Gor are submissive. A woman, who is not submissive, is not (by definition) Gorean. A free woman exercises self-will. She operates on her own account and is fully accountable and responsible for herself. She does, by association lend her attributes to both her Companion and to a lesser degree her community. Both her Companion, and to a lesser degree her community can hold her accountable for her actions. In contrast, a kajira - who is also submissive - does not exercise self-will. A kajira operates on her Master's will. He is accountable and responsible for her. She is accountable solely to him. This layer of protection around a kajira is necessary for her to be able to surrender herself fully to her Master. A woman who has to stand alone, is not able to surrender fully.
This is not to say that a free woman is incapable of surrender, for there are times when Companions reduce the world to just each other, and he surrounds his mate with a shield of protection completely impenetrable. In these private moments a free woman can surrender herself to her mate. Whereas a kajira is expected to be open and expressive of her surrender even in public, a free woman is expected to hold back this open expression of self from public display. This is most often where online FW get tripped up. If one behaves as a slut, one will be called a slut, and one will be treated as a slut. A FW who displays the attributes of a kajira will become a kajira in the eyes of the free. And so she will be treated. What a lady does in her own parlor, in the company of her servants is, of course, her own business.

This is the core of the contempt free women hold against those females who switch back and forth between slave-status and free-status. It is understandable that a woman finds her need to express her open sexuality in public, and so surrenders, but it is much more difficult for other women to accept that a girl has gathered up her dignity and donned the robes of discretion. As often happens, this untruth becomes readily apparent as the switch makes the change back to slave-status at the first opportunity.

While we are on the topic of switching, let me say here that girls who wear Velcro collars are shunned by Gorean society. If you submit your will to a man, make sure you plan on doing your best. There is no loss of community trust in a relationship ending, but there is a loss of community trust in a girl who changes collars on a whim, or wears more than one collar, or lies to people about her collars. Treat a collar, girls, like man does his home stone. Because it does, in fact, define where you are from.

~~ A Free Companion instead of a Master ~~

"There is no marriage, as we know it, on Gor, but there is the institution of the Free Companionship, which is its nearest correspondent. Surprisingly enough, a woman who is bought from her parents, for tarns of gold, is regarded as a Free companion, even though she may not have been consulted in the transaction. More commendably, a free woman may herself, of her own free will, agree to be such a companion. and it is not unusual for a master to free one of his slave girls in order that she may share the full privileges of a Free Companionship. One may have, at a given time, an indefinite number of slaves, but only one Free Companion. Such relationships are not entered into lightly, and they are normally sundered only by death." (page 54, Book 2, Outlaw of Gor)

"According to the Gorean way of looking at things a taste of the slave ring is thought to be occasionally beneficial to all women, even the exalted Free Companions. Thus when she has been irritable or otherwise troublesome even a Free Companion may find herself at the foot of the couch looking forward to a pleasant night on the stones, stripped, with neither mat nor blanket, chained to a slavering, precisely as though she were a lowly slave girl. It is the Gorean way of reminding her, should she need to be reminded, that she, too, is a women, and thus to be dominated, to be subject to men. Should she be tempted to forget this basic act of Gorean life the slave ring set in the bottom of each Gorean couch is there to refresh her memory. Gor is a man's world. (page 67, Book 3, Priest Kings of Gor)

"I am advised, Jason," she said, "by certain of my friends to accept a companion." "I did not know that," I said. "Many men, young and rich, have desired to become my companion. Such matches, in many cases, would profitably increase our common holdings. Yet I have until now, at least, turned them all away. I have remained independent." ""Yes, Mistress, I said. "I have seen many companionships," she said. "Yet more often than not I have seen the male companion keep sluts of slave girls on the side, and I think, it is only those sluts he cares for." Her voice was bitter. "Why," she asked, "should a man forsake a noble companion, serene and beautiful, independent and regal, for a slut in a steel collar who will crawl to his feet and beg to lick them with her tongue?" (page 202, Book 14, Fighting Slave of Gor)

~~ Freedom instead of Slavery ~~

"Nor I," she said, bitterly. She looked out over the gardens. "They are slave, and are happy," she said. "I am free, and am unhappy. I do not understand it." (page 202, Book 14, Fighting Slave of Gor)

"Passion, it is thought, deprives the free woman to some extend of her freedom and important self-control; it is frowned upon because it makes her behave, to some extent, like a degraded female slave; free women, thus, to protect their honor and dignity, their freedom and personhood, their individuality, must fight passion; the slave girl, of course, is not entitled to this privilege; it is denied to her, both by her society and her master; while the free woman must remain cool and in control of herself, even in the arms of her companion, to avoid being truly "had", the slave girl is permitted no such luxury. . ." (page 17, Book 10, Tribesmen of Gor)

~~ A Couch (or bed) ~~

"At this I swept her from her feet and carried her to the broad stone couch in the room, where I placed her on the piles of furs that bedecked it. "I have heard," she said, smiling up at me, "that it is only a Free Companion who is accorded the dignities of the couch" "True," I cried, bundling her in the furs and throwing the entire roll to the floor at the end of the couch, beneath the slave ring." (page 56&57, Book 5, Assassin of Gor)

~~ Tower Slave Position ~~

A variation of the nadu position, in which the slave kneels the same way, but with her palms down and her knees modestly together. this variation is typically reserved for underage or white-silk slave girls, or slave girls who serve their Master in a non-sexual way, such as a tower slave or female work slave.

'The position of the Tower Slave, in which Vika knelt, differs from that of a free woman only in the position of the wrists which are held before her and, when not occupied, crossed as though for binding...The position of the Pleasure Slave, incidentally, differs from the position of both the free woman and the Tower Slave. The hands of a Pleasure Slave normally rest on her thighs but, in some cities, for example, Thentis, I believe, they are crossed behind her. More significantly, for the free woman's hands may also rest on her thighs, there is a difference in the placement of the knees. In all these kneeling positions, incidentally, even that of the Pleasure Slave, the Gorean woman carries herself well; her back is straight and her chin is high. She tends to be vital and beautiful to look upon.'
Priest Kings of Gor p 46-47

I realized that she had spoken to me as a free woman, using my name.
Tarnsmen of Gor 1 Page 72

Many of the free women of Gor and almost always those of High Caste wear the Robes of Concealment, though, of course, their garments are seldom as complex or splendidly wrought as those of a Ubar's daughter. The Robes of Concealment, in function, resemble the garments of Muslim women on my own planet, though they are undoubtedly more intricate and cumbersome. Normally, of men, only a father and a husband may look upon the woman unveiled.
Tarnsman of Gor 1 Page 87

Free women on Gor do not travel attended by only a single warrior, not of their own free will.
Tarnsman of Gor 1 Page 112

I rejoiced that in at least one city on Gor the free women were not expected to wear the Robes of Concealment, confine their activities largely to their own quarters, and speak only to their blood relatives and, eventually, the Free Companion.

I thought that much of the barbarity of Gor might perhaps be traced to this foolish suppression of the fair sex, whose gentleness and intelligence might have made such a contribution in softening her harsh ways. To be sure, in certain cities, as had been the case in Ko-ro-ba, women were permitted status within the caste system and had a relatively unrestricted existence.
Indeed, in Ko-ro-ba, a woman might even leave her quarters without first obtaining the permission of a male relative or the Free Companion, a freedom which was unusual on Gor. The women of Ko-ro-ba might even be found sitting unattended in the theater or at the reading of epics.
Outlaw of Gor 2 Page 49 - 50

Why was the girl alone?
Had her protectors been killed? Was she perhaps an escaped slave, fleeing from a hated master? Could she be, like myself, an exile from Ko-ro-ba? Its peoples have been scattered, I said to myself, and no two stones and no two men of Ko-ro-ba may stand again side by side. I gritted my teeth. The thought ran through my head, no stone may stand upon another stone.
If she were of Ko-ro-ba, I knew that I could not, for her own welfare, stay with her or help her. It would be to invite the Flame Death of the Priest-Kings for one or the other, perhaps both of us. I had seen a man die the Flame Death, the High Initiate of Ar on the summit of Ar's Cylinder of Justice, consumed in the sudden burst of blue fire that bespoke the displeasure of the Priest-Kings. Slim though her chances might be to escape wild beasts or slavers, they would be greater than the chance of escaping the wrath of the Priest-Kings.
If she were a free woman and not unfortunate, to be alone in this place was unwise and foolish.
Outlaw of Gor 2 Page 51

I missed in the crowd the presence of slave girls, common in other cities, usually lovely girls clad only in the brief, diagonally striped slave livery of Gor, a sleeveless, briefly skirted garment terminating some inches above the knee, a garment that contrasts violently with the heavy, cumbersome Robes of Concealment worn by free women. Indeed, it was known that some free women actually envied their lightly clad sisters in bondage, free, though wearing a collar, to come and go much as they pleased, to feel the wind on the high bridges, the arms of a master who celebrated their beauty and claimed them as his own.
Outlaw of Gor 2 Page 66

Lara stood beside me, clad as a free woman but not in the Robes of Concealment. She had shortened and trimmed one of the gracious Gorean garments, cutting it to the length of her knees and cutting away the sleeves so that they fell only to her elbows. It was a bright yellow and she had belted it with a scarlet sash. Her feet wore plain sandals of red leather. About her shoulders, at my suggestion, she had wrapped a cloak of heavy wool.
Outlaw of Gor 2 Page 211

"The position of the Tower Slave, in which Vika knelt, differs from that of a free woman only in the position of the wrists which are held before her and, when not occupied, crossed as though for binding. A free woman's wrists are never so placed."
Priest-Kings of Gor: --pg.46

Aphris of Turia, pleased with herself, assumed her place between the merchant and Kamchak, kneeling back on her heels in the position of the Gorean Free Woman. Her back was very straight and her head high, in the Gorean fashion.
Nomads of Gor.. pg 94