Corporal Punishment

 

I ran across this a while back, when going through some of my old FetLife posts, and felt it would be good to include here. It was saved to Notepad++, and I don't remember where the original thread was, or I'd have a link to it.

OP is original post/poster (ie: the person who started the thread)

Anything (except this line) formatted like this is quoting someone else.

Everything else is my words.

---

OP:

Do Goreans still use corporal punishment as a deterrent for misbehavior or disobedience by a slave?

Some do, some don't. It is really all a matter of individual preference and what works best for each dynamic.

OP:

(It is mentioned on numerous occasions throughout the Gor Book series).

Hamstringing a runaway slave is also mentioned multiple times in the books, as well as throwing displeasing slaves to ravenous beasts, or just killing them outright.
Just because something in done, mentioned, or even promoted in the books doesn't necessarily mean it is a good idea to practise in reality. Doesn't mean it isn't either.. but we must use our brains and apply self mastery.

OP:

What method would you employ?

I would, and have used various different methods for disciplining errant slaves, including the whip/paddle, a gag made of a nylon stocking and a chunk of soap (for lying), essays, holding a penny to the wall with one's nose for a specified amount of time (the penny drops and the timer restarts), and many other creative things.
What I choose is carefully considered and based on both the infraction and the slave in question. What will work marvellously well on one slave will backfire horribly with another.

OP:

Is it legal?

That really all depends.
The harsh reality is that ANY punishment, even essay writing (especially if it includes reminders of the slave's station) or the penny on the wall thing, can be classified as abuse if the slave decides to cry foul.
It can be considered emotional abuse, and you can end up with a restraining order and a DV conviction on your record pretty easily if things go badly.

That's one of the reasons it is SO very important to really know who you are getting involved with BEFORE the collar goes on! There are a lot of warnings out there for the would be slaves (as there should be!), but too many free forget that we are vulnerable too.

OP:

How can we in today's society act in a manner that still allows a Master to discipline yet not cross the line of domestic violence or physical abuse?

That depends on whether we are talking about the strict legal definition of "abuse" or DV, or the spirit of the thing.

A person cannot legally consent to abuse or give up their human rights. Slavery is illegal, and treating someone as a slave legally constitutes abuse, at least in most of the countries in which we (of the Gorean community) reside.

The technicalities aside though, in order to avoid falling into patterns of abuse of any sort requires a high level of self mastery. One cannot.. CAN-NOT .. master another person without having mastered oneself. Oh.. you can pretend to, and many will even believe that it is mastery, but it will, ultimately, fail, and probably spectacularly.

A few pointers:

• Never punish/discipline when angry, with the exception of sending the slave to some form of time out/the cage/its room/etc while you cool down and decide on an appropriate punishment.
• Always make sure that the slave understands that it is being punished, and why.
• Never attempt to punish the slave once they have withdrawn consent. Even if you think you know better or they previously agreed that you had the right to not allow them to withdraw consent.. Once they have done so, you no longer have a say, ethically or legally. Like it or not, what we do is consensual, and once it ceases to be consensual, then it is abuse.

Another conversation participant:

if you need to beat somebody into compliance, then there is an issue which goes deeper than the original transgression.

That is true, however, the thing you may not be taking into account here, is that many slaves really do NEED the lash occasionally, in order to feel secure in their place.

It is like a purging.. expungement. It often makes it so that the slave can feel like the slate is clean. I know.. you're meant to take your owner's word for it, and if he says it is done, then it is, but emotions cannot be ordered. You feel what you feel, and need what you need. An owner may as well cut the slave and order her not to bleed as try to order her to feel a certain way, or not feel a certain way.

So yeah.. anyone who has to beat compliance into a slave is not a master, but sometimes it is the slave who needs it, and a good master will understand that.

A different, other conversation participant:

This law of nature is the root of abuse and cyclical problems that promote beatings. When a swat on the fanny does not get the desired results, then a paddle is used...when that doesn't work, then its the cane, whip, belt, fists, kicking down stairs...etc. Where does it end? It ends in a very unhappy place that is ugly to behold and painful consequences of misery.

That is true if you allow it to do so, but one who has mastered themselves will not ever allow things to deteriorate to that level. If reasonable forms of punishment.. and by, "reasonable", I mean that which not do actual harm to the slave, physically, emotionally, or mentally; and/or talking it out and trying to get to the root of the problem, do not work, then it should end there. As in, perhaps the person is not cut out to be a slave, or at least not your slave, and it's time to cut them loose.

My 8.3 cents worth