Slave auctions on SL - a brief comment

Slave auctions. In the Gorean sense of the word, it is where you buy a kajira with the intention of bringing her into your home to serve you and your guests. Being a mere animal under Gorean law and custom she can and will be used sexually. If her Master wishes to beat her for some offense, real or imagined, he will. She will sleep on the floor, on rugs and old furs…often chained. Being kajira, she will most likely be one for the rest of her life and she has come to accept this hard fact.

At times her life will be hard, although it should be noted that although a Gorean Master is often harsh, he is seldom cruel. A good Master will care for his property in a variety of ways, making sure that she does not grow bored, that her needs are met, that she is entertained. Gor is a simple world with simple pleasures but in the end the girl is a kajira, property, owned.

Gor is also not real, and attempts to incorporate it into real life will meet with varying degrees of success. In Second Life, Gor is of course distilled. It is a mix between what is possible, the books and BDSM. I personally believe that this is a good thing, it gives those that for whatever reason are unable to explore either their Dom or submissive sides in real life an outlet they would otherwise not have. It also allows those of us that do practice BDSM/Gor in our real lives to explore some darker things, to test out new ideas and generally teach those that need to learn. I know several people that are wonderful Dom's in real life that play submissive in SL, simply for a change of pace. After all, we all have those qualities in us.

Then why do I have an issue with slave auctions?

The idea of buying and selling a human being does, honestly appeal to me. There is something primal and ancient in the idea of owning another human being. In the Gorean culture, it is simply a fact of life. Woman are bought and sold daily, and often these sales were part of Gorean holidays. In Second Life, at least in the Gorean based Sims that I have been to, nearly all of these sales are private.

Generally once settled into a town, you start to role-play with a particular kajira often talking OOC or in IM’s with her to get to learn her personality. If she is a city girl you often deal with the city slaver and/or it’s administrator to buy her.
If she is owned by another Master, and he is willing to part with her willingly then normally a private sale is played out. In either case, very rarely is coin exchanged - although the role play of coins being exchanged is common - and the girl willingly accepts the collar. If for whatever reason the sale does not work out, then she is often freed. Sold again or given away, for the most part with a pat on the back and the best of wishes.

Slave auctions in SL work differently. The girl is displayed often naked and caged with a minimum bid posted above her head. She will not be sold unless that minimum bid is met. Or she can be sold on the auction block, again naked, to the highest bidder in a public auction. There are several auction houses on SL, and the rules for each house differ. A reserve bid may or may not be in place.

Generally speaking, each house has a minimum slave contract that can range from ten hours to two weeks. The slave will receive anywhere from 60 to 80% of her sale price after that minimum of time is met in service to the man that bought her. These houses are not strictly Gorean, although many do claim to train in Gorean ways or sell Gorean girls. The training these girls receive will differ, if they receive any training at all. Many women decide to become slaves for a short period of time just for the payout they will receive. Not thinking about the needs of others, to many houses do not question why a girl wishes to become a slave, only thinking about how their sale will line their own pockets. One slave house in particular even uses their profit margin as a selling point, which they advertise more on their website than they do the fact they offer classes.

Well the idea of buying a slave off the block may be “Gorean” there is little chance to see if it will “be a good fit” since you have little opportunity to meet with the girl beforehand. To have a good and exciting Master/slave relationship in either Real Life or Second Life, there has to be some chemistry between the parties.
I would also argue that chemistry comes over time. Having a time period involved, certainly one as short as 10 hours only encourages kinky sex…and the idea that BDSM/Gor is nothing but that.

I have spoken about the reality of slavery before, and slave auction houses do not stress this reality. Well I do of course highly recommend that all parties practice SSC and RACK behaviors and never or rarely share RL info, I also feel it's a disfavor to those that practice of BDSM/Gorean slavery to enter into it without proper training, introduction and simply do so for money.

Well I do encourage others to explore Gor and BDSM I do not recommend slave auction houses. Although there are certainly some good ones out there, SAG being one of the better ones for example…I believe that there are those that wish to abuse the system. Which is a shame, when done with respect and honor the slave auction experience can be a wonderful thing. Sadly some groups and individuals do not respect the desires of their buyers, understand the Gorean/BDSM mindset or care to learn.