I am going to quote some from this reading and those will be added in !!’s so that specifies them as a quote.

!!it takes two types of people to make a D/s relationship work correctly, a Dominant and a submissive.!!

The key word here is “relationship”. A dominant can be a dominant without a submissive, and vica versa but for a relationship to form, it requires both. Consider this analogy.

Take a rose for example. There is two major parts to a rose, the stem and the flower. Both play a significant part within the whole. The flower itself is soft, delicate, takes in the sunlight to provide for the stem. It blossoms. It is sweet smelling and beautiful to look at which brings beauty to the stem. It is protected. It gathers water, provides for the stem and even provides for others, birds for example and insects. The stem, not entirely beautiful looking but protective with its thorns. It holds the flower up so high so it can blossom so beautifully. It provides nutrients and water from the ground to the flower.

For it to be considered a rose… it has to have both sides, the stem and the flower… and this to me is the dynamic of a D/s based relationship with both sides providing for others and providing for each other… Give and take, making something even much more whole and complete.

!!that we can’t do the same back and treat them in a manner which lifts them up and makes them feel as special as they make us feel?!!

You know this hit me when I read it. Here at Austin, I’ve seen just how much a submissive shines and becomes so bright its nearly blinding when something happens which is very small and maybe insignificant to us, but it means the WORLD to them. For example, when I got avril the teddy bear and the panda bear. I saw in her such happiness and joy from something so very simple, but it meant the world to her. Dee, when I spend time and sit down with her and just talk.  Yesterday I dragged her around, got her a horse to go horseback riding together just to spend time and even dragged her into “Gor” of course with her Master’s collar and under “my” protection so she could see what I do and that meant lot to her. The flowers to orchid, the notecards all of it, small things but I know truly this means so much to these girls… to have someone who goes out of their way to do something for them and I see that, I see how they light up and smile so greatly in response to very simple things. I’m a simple minded dominant. I don’t believe in having to do intense incredible huge feats of kindness, but small things, and sooner or later all of those small things come to become one very HUGE thing… thats love, like what we talked about yesterday. Its not beating them or fucking their brains out but I know it touches their heart, and to see them smile, to see them happy to see them come to me every morning in my ims to say hello, that makes ME smile.

!!A submissive who is treated as an equal instead of a lesser being is more apt to be more self-assured, better able to handle situations when you are not there to handle them and will take little if any shit from others when you’re not around. Now some of you may be sitting there thinking that is not how a submissive should be.!!

I think there is a part of this which is missing when I read through it. Its the part where they “MATTER” also not just being treated as an equal, but the fact that they matter.. that we “care” and we show that through how we act with them, how we talk to them, how we be with them… thats what matters…  To me that is probably the most important aspect for a dominant to talka bout… that we give a damn about them, and we show it through how we act… orchid for example.. I am limited to what I can do, but I show I care for what she’s going through by doing the small things for which I do, and her letters back to me show it…

We teach equality in the lifestyle as part of the discussion topics for Dominant level 1 over at SOS. Even if on the surface, we as dominants seem to have all of the power, all of the control, in truth we have it because our submissives CHOOSE to give it to us. They choose to submit to us.. We cannot force them, we cannot push them and hold them at gun point but they choose to submit to us… its all about choices.

That choice can be taken away if

we do not nurish it, we do not care for it, we do not cherish it, we do not love it…. and we do not respect it.

The article talked about the equality of having wants and needs as well. We as dominants have wants and needs, but also the submissives have wants and needs. They have things which they need in their lives beyond the kink and fetishes but needs such as nurturing, caring.. They need to feel safe, they need to feel protected. They need to feel like we give a damn about them that we cherish them, and yes cherish thats a word I have been using much more since our discussion on love verses cherish.

 

There was a situation in real life where a Dominant did not treat his submissive as a equal. He would forbid her from having a job, being able to collect money for herself. She was required to remain at home, shut off and sheltered from her friends and family. She was not able to have a social life, was not able to continue her college. He had brain washed her into this and when He died from a car accident, she was lost. She didn’t know what to do. She did not know how to contain herself and it took a lot of rehabilitation and re-establishment to teach her how to live on her own. She had no ability to make choices for herself because she had gotten SOOOOO used to the choices being made FOR her… This goes along with having “NEEDS”…  There is a need for a submissive/slave to maintain some independence so they CAN make choices for themselves if something happens to the dominant. If you take that away from her, then that girl will simply not be able to fend for themselves. This was an important lesson to learn.

Equality is something I struggle with in Gor not because of the fact that I disagree with it because quite frankly I don’t as you can see in this assignment, but the fact that I do agree with it. Its something I absolutely fight as a lifestyler in Gor, not a gorean lifestyler cause I don’t think that can exist, but a D/s lifestyler INSIDE gor, and sometimes its something for which can get overwhelming, because we want to give that to every girl we run across, we want to give them what they need but there is so many of them like you and I talked about yesterday and so little of us that it becomes where our own energy is drained. I have had to learn throughout my time online to step back sometimes and allow myself to recharge because if I cannot Master myself and keep myself above water and standing on my two feet, I am going to be no good to ANYONE.

We have needs to and we have wants to as Dominant and those also need to be fulfilled. it is a delicate and intricate balance between both and that right there… is where equality is at its greatest.

 

How deep will the rabbit hole go? or in this case how deep will O’s surrender by to Sir Stephen. Rene in the books seems to be just a passing relationship or more so a lure to get her into the Chateau. The Chateau was a good starter to introduce O into a life of slavery and submission which then continues within the hands of Sir Stephen which goes on a race between love, freedom and betrayal. There is a dance which is played between the characters, where Rene’s love seduces O to bring her to becoming vulnerable just almost as O’s seduction to Jacqueline to get her into a position and then perhaps continued in the hands of Rene which we do not really find out.

Who are these men? What is their purpose? Those are some strong questions which came into mind as I saw the interaction between the two. The level of submission for which O enters when she is seduced and layers of her individuality is slowly drawn away by her interactions with the various characters in the books and then ultimately paying the price at the very end of the book, when the attached notes speaks of her abandonment by Sir Stephen. Did these men really love her? Did they actually care for her or merely use her for some sort of inner twisted game within their own society for which they established.

as much as the dark fantasy of love, seduction, submission, and the cruelty of even the acts of slavery are prominent in the book, the ending was rather harsh.

Overall, my assessment of the book was that it is certainly a great erotic fantasy with many twists and turns to the story. It is interesting to continue to see O’s seduction and submission as it continues to grow deeper and deeper. Overall, I enjoyed the reading but I must be honest the ending of the book and where things turned was rather disheartening. There were some aspects which I found hard to swallow, like the introduction of the child character in the book and her interaction with the group.

I’ve attached my cliff notes which I had taken during my read of the book for my own interest if anything else. There were some passages I pointed out and where I found interest or lack of interest in them.

————————————————————————– Chapters One through six. It covered the portions where O had been taken to the Chateau and through her initial training and interactions with the Valets and other Masters of the Chateau and her initial discovery into submission. It then continued with various encounters with Rene, for which I had a sense of feeling that the “I love you” which had past between the two were not done for the beauty of the words, but more of a “I needed to hear it from you” temperament, but I could be wrong with this, that is for sure.

Reading the story of the Chateau certainly gave me the understanding for not just the foundation for the chateau itself but the training as it had been laid out for the GITs.

The story then turns to her return back to her apartment for which she was to get rid of anything for which she wore which couldn’t be opened at the front to give easy access and of course her panties.  It then turned to its first encounter with Sir Stephen, for which si where I am at right now.

Then chapter 10 with the saint cloud scene which was rather interesting to see. It was once more a turn in the relationship between Sir Stephen and O… It was obvious that Sir Stephen was trying to profess his feelings for her, that he in fact was beginning to or had loved her. It was also obvious that O was falling for Sir Stephen in a way. Things were changing from O belonging to both of them to O belonging just to Sir Stephen.

at the end of chapter 10 we see that O is set forth on her newest assignment from Sir Stephen, to get Jacqueline who’s name is just a use name, to the chateau.  From there, Jacqueline moves in with O, and intimate interactions between the two begin.

Which poses some interesting questions for me.. Did Rene actually “love” O? Did he actually have any sort of emotional investment into O, or was it possible he was there to get O into the Chateau and that was his position? Did Sir Stephen have something over Rene?

Chapter 12:

————————————————— “Listen to me,” Ren# went on, “there’s one thing anyway I want you to tell her, and tell her right away, and that is that I’m in love with her.”

“Is that true?” O said.

“I want her,” Ren# said, “and since you can’t – or won’t – do anything about it, I’ll take charge of the matter myself and do what has to be done.”

“You’ll never get her to agree to go to Roissy,” O said.

“I won’t? In that case,” Ren# retorted, “we’ll force her to.”

—————————————

This continued to make me ponder the mentality of “Rene”. In the previous passages, Sir Stephen refers to Rene as “Boy” and that he was not properly handling “O”. It shows a bit of conflict between Rene and Sir Stephen with “O” caught in the middle of said conflict. This passage I outlined really disturbed me about the whole “forcing” issue… as it goes against the cocnept of consensualism… In the previous passages, Sir Stephen or Rene speaks that Jacqueline is that she could leave the chateau if she wanted to but I am unsure if I really believe that or not, if they had that ability to do so. Was they there by their own wishes or were they being contained there against their own free will?

The book then opens up to a “Female Dominant” which was rather interesting and the interactions between this dominant and “O” for which Sir Stephen has left her in her hands for a period of time to be marked which I assume is by rings and some form of a permanent branding.

O is taken and placed through another series of beatings ath the mercy of Anne-Marie and two others. It was very unusual to see a Female Dominant in the books, which was interesting. Anne-Marine and two others tend to O in a various amounts of corporal punishments and sexual exploitations. There was also the corset training which she was placed under to mold and shape her body to much better feminine curves. It then comes down to the piercings where she’s informed that anyone who sees her or even lift sup her skirts will see the piercings on her loins and if bent over the branding on her buttocks.

It was now obvious that Sir Stephen had taken full ownership of “O” and had completely marked her as his, but what about Rene and the supposed relationship for which O has with him? It seems he has drifted off in the dark right now and my thoughts on who truly owned O seemed to be coming true as there was no markings on Rene placed on O’s body, just that of Sir Stephen.

The book breaks out into a wierd twisted love affair now in the next chapter with a bit of a competition between men and Sir Stephen offering her freedom and to be released, which to be honest with the branding of his initials into her buttocks seems rather silly to be honest. Then Sir Stephen goes into about punishing her for being used by other men which also seemed to be a bit of jealousy possibly with Sir Stephen loosing forcing of his overall emotions and control over them due to his feelings towards O?

———–

The child, slipping down and hugging O’s knees, also replied in a near-whisper:

“Oh, yes I do. I saw you the other morning on the terrace. I saw the initials, I saw the long black-and-blue marks. And Jacqueline has told me…”

“Told you what?”

“Where you’ve been, O, and what they did to you there.”

“Did she talk to you about Roissy?”

“She also told me that you had been, that you are…”

“That I was what?”

“That you wear iron rings.”

“That’s right,” O said, “and what else?”

“That Sir Stephen whips you every day.”

“That’s correct,” O repeated, “and he’ll be here any second. So run along, Natalie.”

Natalie, without shifting position, raised her head to O, and O’s eyes encountered her adoring gaze.

“Teach me, O, please teach me,” she started in again, “I want to be like you. I’ll do anything you tell me. Promise me you’ll take me with you when you go back to that place Jacqueline told me about.”

“You’re too young,” O said.

“No, I’m not too young, I’m fifteen going on sixteen,” she cried out angrily. “I’m not too young. Ask Sir Stephen,” she said, for he had just entered the room.

——————-

This part out of chapter 15 got a bit creepy with me. The reaction of the little girl and that she was exposed to what had happened in somewhat detail from what this is said really disturbed me. There was a big strong portion of the book which really bothered me when I read it and here is where this goes and what portion actually bothered me about the books. When its also mentioned that Sir Stephen wanted Nat to be brought to the Chateau “untouched” was also a bit on the disturbing side.

The ending continued to go down from there to the very end where the notations had been left about Sir Stephen abandoning her and then giving O conscent to die, which was rather horrid in my opinion.

 

 

 

The Story of O ( Histoire d’O ) was published in 1954 by the French author named Anne Desclore, age 47.  who wrote under the pen name Pauline Reage and also later under the pen name Dominique Aury. The book was published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert and was later published in english by the Olympia Press in 1965. The book was known as the best seller in france and during the 60s was the best selling contemporary novel in france.

In the book the chapters are not referred to as chapters but they are referred to as pages. Through research, it is revealed that Anne Desclore wrote the book as a series of Love Letters to her lover Jean Paulhan for which she was conducting a love affair with for a period of time. Paulhan admired the works known as the Marquis De Sade and told Desclore that a woman could not write in a similar fashion. The letters themselves is some twisted depiction within the minds of the author over the true nature of females of the time, or their place within society in a way. Is this true? It really isn’t entirely sure to be honest.

There are several speculations as to why the end came out the way it did with the very abrupt ending to the relationship between Sir Stephen and O. One of my speculations is that perhaps it had to do with something which transpired between Paulhan and Desclore and perhaps a tragic ending to that of their relationship in some form. The  understanding of the very nature of their relationship as Paulhan was a married man in a relationship and this was a love affair for which was transpiring between both of them that perhaps the characters within the story might actually be images of their relationship together in some form of fancy. However, there was no research which I could find to conclude such a thought it was an inference for which I drew myself.

Another speculation was that O had used her submission in order to actually manipulate men in a way and maybe this lead to why the book ended the way for which it did when the men who had taken her had finally found out about this said manipulation for which took place, which is another speculation as to why the book ended but unlikely in this stance, but it was an interesting way to look over the ending.

In a video interview Desclore speaks that she wrote the letter to “Please him, to occupy him, to interest him. She needed something to interest a man like him… it was a love letter destined for him. ”   They met during the wall and were apart of the french resistance (War world I). They were colleges and they were also lovers.  It is found out that there was quite a period of time for which passed before Anne Desclore stepped forward and announced that she in fact wrote the books. She states in the documentary that she waited because she wanted her parents to be dead… and give time for the scandal to settle and disappear, before she came out and revealed she was in fact the writer. For a long time there was quite a mystery to who wrote the piece, including whether it was written by a man or was it written by a female?

The documentary goes into how the book could only been written by a man. Desclore says in an interview that she is a woman who asserts her choices in the sexual domain.

————————————————————————

“The purest and wildest love always sanctioned or rather always demanded the most frightful surrender.”

“There is always someone within us who we chain, who we imprison who we silence by curious kind of reverse shock that the prison itself can open the gates of freedom”

Roses need care and love in order to grow, just like every living thing on this planet of ours. Without love, a submission or slave won’t be able to blossom or rise up high on the top of mountains to share their love and devotion to the world. This is true about submission and why I believe the very end of the book went its way. Sir Stephen took his “love” away from O. This killed her inside and destroyed that for which she was and who she was… her life was over…

This has been something for which has been discussed over time when it comes to dependency. Take away every bit of a person individualism and completely drown them in a life of slavery where every ounce of their lives is micro managed to the point where they have no life, they have no freedoms, then what is left. I have seen this happen first hand and then suddenly the Dominant passes away or the relationship ends for one thing or another… what is the submissive or slave left with? They cannot survive on their own in such ways and are able to build up and step forward on their own and lot of times end up becoming smothered in their emotions and feelings.

When we look at Sadists sometimes, some have asked why is it that, I myself as a Sadist can make another person suffer? Do I do so just for my own instant gratifications? I think this is what differs a lifestyle sadist from a sadist where a sadist does such because he is looking to fill his needs, where a lifestyle sadist does this because he loves her, because he is fulfilling in herself a need for which she needs or wants as a masochist and desires and in the exchange of energy for which He receives when He gives her what she wants and responds to him giving him back energy, then that is the mixture for which makes it a good lifestyle connection.

In the book, why is O terrified about SS falling in love with her, having feelings for her and knowing that he is and knowing that she knows it? Its simple in the writings which happens after it. She’s afraid that he’s no longer going to be able to control, going to be able to lead because he’s scared now to hurt her because he has emotions invested into her now. He feels that he would give in to her over things, that he will let things slip and slide… You see by the overcompensation which happens, and even some scenes of jealousy and insecurity for which happens. The punishing her because the boys used her sexually which happens very close to the end. The wanting to grant her release because of “Eric” which transpires, and then ultimately the entire bit about him abandoning her at the very end and then giving his conscent for her to kill herself…..

I also wanted to wonder why did SS not do the markings himself. If it was me, I would want to make such markings with my own hand for the energy for which is behind the markings. I don’t think he was capable of doing it and why it was pushed off to another and on top of that a Female Dominant really in another twisted sexual exploitation which I think was trying to revive some of the chateau’s strength and fantasy but because it was done overboard and over the top it went out of control and it was from the St. Cloud scene and forward which SS began to loose control, loose control of not just her but himself which is a dangeous thing for a dominant or Master to do. Anne-Marie was an interesting character and maybe one of the more balanced characters on a emotional or mental scale in the book but she was also what I would refer to as a “Switch” in sense, which she was both submissive and dominant.

“Love” is a complex thing but for all relationships love is an important thing and even so far as comes before obedience.. Respect… Trust… Honesty… Love… Obedience the foundation or building blocks for a healthy relationship… Now there is a very firm difference between being and loving and being IN love with someone. Here at Austin, I will grow to love these girls, grow to protect them, grow to share with them many fond emotional moments together… I will grow to care and cherish the gifts for which they give me in their submission but I am not in love with them.. That type of love is shared for my two girls who I am involved with rt and no one can replace that type of love, but I will love the girls here at Austin…

I control because I want to love and within that love is for which I control. These people out there are people who want to be controlled, they want to be dominated, they want to feel the hand of a Master upon them, leading them and guiding them, making their lives complete in a way for which cannot be completed in other ways. This is the very core of what a Dominant is. Its not just to lead in a scene, its not just to lead occasionally, leading and controlling is a totality, its something for which happens every moment… There submissives who need stronger leading then others, and there are certainly differences between simple power exchanges and those of “total” power exchanges for which happen… The man in a dance with a woman leads and guides her with his hands, his movements, his steps and sometimes his words… thats what we as Dominants do and have to have the strength to control, to lead the way, to pull the strings of the puppets under us, but not do it because we have some kink or something we want to fulfill inside ourselves without any care for the submissive… but because………….

we love them………..