rigorousintuition.ca

*(Another male-domination cult using fiction as words-to-live-by. And the BBC informs us that "There are an estimated 25,000 Goreans worldwide." Uh, sure.)*<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4996410.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4996410.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> BBC NEWS<br>Officers discover sex-slave cult<br><br>A sex slavery cult based on a series of 1960s science fiction novels has been uncovered by police in Darlington.<br><br>Durham Police discovered the bizarre sect after raiding a home in the area, after receiving complaints that a woman was being held against her will.<br><br>But a spokesman said the Canadian was a willing participant and the other people involved were consenting adults.<br><br>The group, called Kaotians, follow the Chronicles of Gor novels which depict a society where women are dominated.<br><br>The 29-year-old woman is said to have voluntarily attended the sect after finding out about it over the internet.<br><br>She later contacted a friend in United States, who then contacted the police, saying she wanted to leave but couldn't as she had burnt her passport and return ticket.<br><br>But a police spokesman said upon arriving at the premises they did not find any evidence of "criminal offences".<br><br>'Own choice'<br><br>Police also investigated claims by a father in Essex his 18-year-old son had joined the sect. However police also found the teenager was at the property voluntarily and they had no grounds to get involved.<br><br>        We don't hurt anyone, we don't damage anyone, everyone's consensual<br>Lee Thompson<br><br>Lee Thompson, 31, says he is the "master" who trains the slaves at the Darlington address.<br><br>He said the women who act as slaves "do so by their own choice".<br><br>"We're just a group of people that live a different lifestyle, I mean there's nothing wrong with that," he told BBC News.<br><br>"We don't hurt anyone, we don't damage anyone, everyone's consensual."<br><br>Members of the group based their lives on "a dominant submissive point of view", he said.<br><br>"It's one thing that everyone's missed out on so far is, even in our organisation, if that's what you want to call it, women can be free and they can be dominant, we don't stop that," he added.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"But the majority of women in our organisation are obviously slaves because women have a submissive streak in them."<br></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Mr Thompson says up to 350 followers regularly meet in pubs and clubs around the North East, in an area from Berwick to York.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Kaotians are a splinter group of the Goreans, which base their beliefs on novels written by American university professor John Norman.<br><br>The books are set on the quasi-medieval planet of Gor, which has a caste system and uses women as slaves.<br><br>There are an estimated 25,000 Goreans worldwide.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Story from BBC NEWS:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4996410.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-...996410.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Published: 2006/05/19 11:03:34 GMT <p></p><i></i>

I don't see anything sinister there -- lots of people find satisfaction in role-playing of one form or another, including dominaton/submission. As long as it's consensual, I don't see it as destructive or disempowering. <p></p><i></i>

I also question the use of "cult" for this group. If it is simply a group with an alternate lifestyle based on a science fiction series, that does not constitute a cult. <p></p><i></i>

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The books are set on the quasi-medieval planet of Gor, which has a caste system and uses women as slaves.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>For the sake of discussion:<br><br>"To present in fiction form new ideas too difficult or too vague as yet to be presented as scientific fact (e.g., Psionics). And ideas that are not scientific fact, never will be, that that are fascinating conjectures -- in other words, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>possible</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> or alternate science systems. World views that we can't "believe" in but that interest us (<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>as, for example, we find interesting the medieval worldview but simply cannot any longer accept it as "true"</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->). So SF presents to us, in addition to the worldview, which we actually adopt, a great range of "as if" views: The possession of these have the effect of making our minds flexible: We are capable of seeing alternate viewpoints as coequal with our own."<br><br>- Philip K. Dick, on the primary purpose of Science Fiction <p><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>"A crooked stick will cast a crooked shadow."</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thoughtographer>thoughtographer</A> at: 5/24/06 12:24 pm<br></i>

This is quite popular in Britain although the sci fi element is a new variation. It's usually treated with humour when exposed in the press but the police can sometimes get involved. Not a practitioner myself but in my London art student days I came across more than a few who took to it like the proverbial duck. usually becomes noteworthy when a politician or judge gets outed in a collar and chain. A huge web site called -informed consent seems to be the info point for most practitioners. My dog collar is worn only by my dog. <p></p><i></i>

And then there's the distinctly British fetish known as "pony play." <br><br>An excellent, non-judgmental collection of strange fetishes is "Deviant Desires."<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.deviantdesires.com/">www.deviantdesires.com/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>I saw Katherine Gates, the author, give a slide presentation about her research. She's a terrific speaker.<br><br>I have the book on my coffee table, and it's funny to watch guests pick up the book. They inevitably can't put it down, though they are repulsed by some of the material and laugh their asses off at other stuff.<br><br>Ultimately, human beings are very creative creatures with a wide variety of turn-ons, desires, and fantasies. I'm all for consensual experimentation, and though I'm pretty vanilla in my tastes, I enjoy studying the many quirks and obscure paths people take to express themselves. <p></p><i></i>

This appeared in Israeli press 3 days ago, and it said there's an Israeli "branch", of which a separate story will be issues soon. <p></p><i></i>