Slave IntelligenceThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books where I discuss Slave Intelligence. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Goreans prefer intelligent slaves. It is not possible to infer from reading the entire series that Goreans prefer stupid slaves. Back in the day of text chat, girls had to attract attention because otherwise (in their mind) all there was to do was kneel and wait for some free person to notice them. Even with the move to visual arenas like Second Life, just because the slave can be seen does not promise they will receive attention. And now that people can't seem to move from room to room without their mobile devices, text communication has resumed. There is an old adage that basically says, "Bad attention is better than no attention at all." The slave reasons that if she requires attention above and beyond a normal command, she will occupy the free person's thoughts for a greater length of time. The end result is that she finds a private Master. So, if she acts stupid, making a much bigger deal of the thing she has been instructed to do, she remains in the forefront of the free's focus for an extended time. Even if she then receives discipline for her bad actions, she thinks all this extra time spent with her is to her advantage. I admonish you, do not do this. Again, Goreans prefer intelligent slaves. Impress the free with your intelligence, not your lack thereof. Each of them I suspected would be intelligent, for Goreans, as the men of Earth commonly do not, celebrate quickness of mind and alertness in a girl. Incidentally, brilliant and imaginative women, particularly if beautiful and high-born, are avidly sought in Gorean slave markets. High intelligence and imagination, perhaps interestingly from the point of view of a man of Earth, are highly prized in women by Gorean men. Indeed, a woman who is known to be intelligent and imaginative will bring a much higher price than some duller but more beautiful, sister in bondage. Goreans, unlike many men of Earth, have very little interest in stupid women. The ideal candidate for the Gorean slaver's snare is a highly intelligent, beautiful, imaginative woman, one who is strong willed, proud and free. It is such women that Goreans enjoy making slaves. It is not unlikely that men, over the generations, have selected out for breeding, for marriage, women of certain sorts. Doubtless women are much more beautiful now than a hundred generations ago. Similarly a woman who was particularly ugly, threatening, vicious, stupid, cruel, etc., would not be a desirable mate. No man can be blamed for not wishing to make his life miserable. Accordingly, statistically, he tends to select out women who are intelligent, loving and beautiful. Accordingly, men have, in effect, bred a certain kind of woman. Similarly, of course, in so far as choice has been theirs, women have tended to select out men who are, among other things intelligent, energetic and strong. Few women, in their hearts, despite propaganda, really desire weak, feminine men. Such men, at any rate, are not those who figure in their sexual fantasies. "She is, of course," I pointed out, "only slave." "It is true that she is only a slave," he said, "but she, though slave, is an extremely intelligent young woman." "That is true," I admitted. The slave raiders of the Kurii, the Others, selected, among other things, for high intelligence in their victims. Their two major criteria, as nearly as I could determine, were femininity and intelligence. These two traits, hormonal and intellectual, almost always produce a vulnerable, fragile, alert, sensitive beauty, one almost ready for the collar. Extremely intelligent, feminine girls, as most Goreans know, make excellent slaves. Goreans show little interest either in stupid women, though some are sexually attractive, or in mules. Stupid women are too stupid to be good slaves; mules are not even women. But the true female, the awakened, helpless prisoner of her instincts and blood, with a fine mind, a deep, lovely, sensitive mind, imaginative and inventive, is the one the Goreans want, head down, at their feet. What man would want his collar on anything less precious? "I like high intelligence in a slave girl," said my master. "Thank you, Master," I said. Then I cried out, and held to him, my lips parted, for he had touched me. "You leap like a she-tarsk," he said. I bit my lip. "That is because you are intelligent," he said. "I suppose you did not know that," he said, "for you are of Earth." I gasped, and could not speak, for the sensation which he was inducing in me. "Intelligent bodies," he said, "are far more responsive. Your very intelligence makes you the more helplessly a slave." I clutched him. "It pleases me to own intelligent girls, such as you," he said. "Intelligent girls make excellent slaves," he observed. "Please. Master," I said. "I cannot resist you!" "Be silent." he said. "Yes, Master," I wept. "It is more pleasurable to control and dominate them than stupid girls." he said. "They are more stimulating to own. They are greater prizes. "Yes, Master," I said. "Yes, Master!" "Too," said he, "one profits more from their ownership than from that of a duller girl. They are brighter, more skillful, more imaginative, more inventive. An intelligent girl can do many more things and do them better than a duller girl. She follows commands easily; she learns swiftly. Her performances, in their variety, intricacy and depth, can approach brilliance. She learns well, and continues to learn, in her intelligence and sexuality, how to please a man. Too, in her depths of emotion, feeling and sensation, these associated with her intelligence, she is easier to manipulate and exploit." "Please, Master," I begged, "take me!" "Remain immobile," he said. "Do not move so much as a muscle." I gritted my teeth. "Yes, Master," I whispered. Every bit of me wanted to cry out and explode. I held myself absolutely rigid. I wanted to explode. I was not permitted to move. "Too," said he, "an intelligent girl, a highly intelligent one, such as yourself, is capable of truly understanding her slavery. A dull girl has no true insight into the bondage relation. She knows she is a slave. She recognizes the institution, and is cognizant of its legalities. She is familiar with chains, and has worn them; she sees the whip, and has felt it. But does she truly understand her slavery?" "Can you read this?" asked the man, pointing to the printing. "No, Master," I said. I could not read Gorean. I was illiterate in the language. This was not uncommon. Many masters think it desirable to keep a girl illiterate in their language, thinking it makes them easier to control and puts them more at their mercy. Other masters differ in this, relishing the ownership and absolute domination of literate girls, preferably those who are well educated, highly intelligent and gifted. Such girls must be regarded as quite valuable; on the block they commonly bring the highest prices. It is also said they make the best slaves. Had I been sold on Earth I would have counted as such a girl; on Gor, however, I was only another piece of illiterate collar meat. Then she said, "Slave girls are so stupid." "Yes," he said, "that is true." I was amused. I wondered if she would change her opinion as to the intelligence of slave girls when she herself wore the collar. As a matter of fact intelligence is one of the major criteria used by Gorean slavers when scouting an Earth girl for capture and abduction to the chains of Gor. The other two major criteria appear to be beauty and femininity. Intelligent, beautiful, feminine women make the best slaves. Who would want a stupid slave? Too, intelligent women can feel their slavery much more keenly than their simpler sisters. This makes it much more amusing to keep them in bondage. Too, because of their intelligence they more swiftly realize the biological rightness of their predicament, though they may fight it longer. The intelligent woman is more apt to trust her own intelligence, and intuitions and feelings than the duller woman, who is more apt to be a naive function of the stereotypes and images with which she has been conditioned. The more intelligent woman is quicker to realize, though more tardy to admit, that it is right for her beauty to be enslaved. Her yielding, too, to her secret realities, when she yields honestly and fully to them, is a glorious thing. At last she whispers, on her knees, to him, "I am a slave, Master." "Go to the furs," he says, gently. "Yes, Master," she says, and obeys. But many highly intelligent women have fought these battles out in their heart long before they see a chain or the steel of a collar. "One of the pleasant things about owning a slave," I said, "is the opportunity to converse with her, to listen to her, to hear her express herself, her feelings and ideas. One can learn much from a slave. Many slaves, like yourself, are highly intelligent. They can express themselves articulately, clearly, trenchantly and lyrically. It is a great pleasure to talk with them." The highly intelligent woman, incidentally, as would be expected, learns her slave lessons, and that she is a slave, much more quickly than the stupid woman. It takes some stupid women as much as two days before they learn that they are truly in a collar. If a slave continues to prove recalcitrant, of course, she gains nothing by this. She will merely be disposed of. Many Goreans enjoy owning highly intelligent, well-educated women. It is pleasant to have them at your feet, yours, begging, eager to please you, knowing, too, that if they do not, they will be punished. To be sure, thousands of sorts of women make excellent slaves, each in their different ways. "She is extremely intelligent," said the pit master, "considering what she is, a slave." He had doubtless been expecting me here, and had doubtless been apprised of the contents of my papers. I was glad to learn that I might be thought to be intelligent, if only for a slave. Such things, I had learned, considerable improve a girl's price. The men on this world relish intelligent women. We make, it is said, the best slaves. How they make us serve and obey! More is expected, you see, of an intelligent slave. Demands are placed on her intelligence. It is challenged, and exploited. She is in the beginning perhaps its lamenting victim, for she is treated with such impatient severity and so much is expected of her, but is soon, as she grows, blossoms and thrives in her bondage, and as her master is more pleased with her, the joyful recipient of its attendant benefactions. Intelligent, she derives more from the uncompromising completeness of her state and the deliciousness of her domination. She is expected, you see, to serve with sensitivities, delicacies, diligences and subtleties beyond the ken of simpler women. Our intelligence, interestingly, makes us more the properties of our masters, just as one will demand, and have, more from an intelligent animal than from one less intelligent, we are more easily controlled in a thousand ways by as little as a glance or gesture, because we grasp what is required; our bodies, too, tend to be more sensitive, and this puts us the more at the mercy of our masters, and any disciplines he may choose to impose upon us; if we attempt to conceal our intelligence, in order to have less expected of us, we are whipped; our service is to be perfect, and well beyond that of a less intelligent woman; too, our faults or shortcomings are dealt with more severely, for we should know better. Too, for what it is worth, intelligent women are commonly better looking than less intelligent women, a feature which is not without its appeal to masters, and one which makes them more likely candidates for the slavers' ropes and irons; too, they also tend to be more helplessly responsive in the arms of a master. They tend, as well, to be more in touch with their inner selves and secret needs, and less the victims of negativistic conditioning programs. The intelligent women often knows what she is missing and what she wants, whereas the less intelligent woman is often little more than the troubled, unwitting victim of the prescriptions and pathologies of a negativistic culture within which she is, unbeknownst to herself, imprisoned. Gorean men, she had learned, prize high intelligence in a woman, and seek it in their slaves. The intelligent woman, taken in hand, overwhelmed, subdued and mastered, taught her womanhood, wholly submitted, understanding now what she is, fully, makes an excellent slave. Certainly they sell for more. It is little wonder then that intelligent women are sought for the collar, and bring good prices in the market. Too, they on their tethers and such, one can talk with them. I think that it is seldom that stupid women are brought to Gor. The Gorean master, you see, looks for high intelligence in a female slave. It is one of his pleasures to take a highly intelligent woman, even a brilliant woman, provided, of course, that she is attractive, would be of interest in chains, is likely to squirm well in the furs and such, and teach her her womanhood, a lesson which is too often neglected in the education of a free female, either on Gor or Earth. He delights then to take such an interesting, lovely, remarkable creature in hand and, step by step, with great patience, reduce her to an unquestioning, passionate, obedient chattel. The more intelligent she is, of course, the better slave she is likely to make; I assume that that is obvious; she is likely to be more aware of the subtlest and almost unspoken desires of her master; she is less likely to make errors which might displease him; and she is likely to be not only hot, devoted and dutiful, as the saying is, but inventive and zealous, conscientious and creative, intelligently desperate to please, in her unrelieved, categorical servitude. Also, I suppose that there is just more pleasure in owning an intelligent woman than in owning one who is less intelligent. She is a greater prize to have at one's feet. Too, the average Gorean master wants a woman he can talk to, seriously talk to, one with whom, in a sense, he can share his life. It is not unusual for a master to speak of numerous matters with his female slave, politics, culture, music, history, philosophy, and such, almost as though she might be his equal, though she is likely to be kneeling before him, naked, and back-braceleted. In this way she is not likely to forget that she is a female. Afterwards he can put her in pleasure chains, and, as it pleases him, turn her once again into a begging, submitted, conquered, spasmodic, writhing slave. A dull woman, you see, is not of great interest, whether in a collar or not. An interesting woman, on the other hand, is not the less interesting in a collar; indeed, she is more interesting in a collar. "She is highly intelligent," said Peisistratus. "Good," said Cabot. Goreans do not wish for the lips of a stupid woman to be pressed to their feet. Aside from her beauty and passion, the Gorean female slave is commonly quite intelligent. I wonder if that is surprising. One hopes not. Few men, if any, are satisfied with a mere body. They wish a body it is a delight to own and master, a richly minded body, and it is probably for this reason that, for the most part, only highly intelligent women are brought into the collar. The average slave, accordingly, is likely to be intellectually superior to the average free woman. In any event, highly intelligent women make the best slaves. They are much more aware of their sex, and its needs, and desires, than shallower women, more ready to listen to the whispers of their heart than simpler women, and have prepared themselves for years, it seems, in their dreams and fantasies, to kneel and kiss the feet of masters. To be sure, high intelligence, sometimes quite high intelligence, was often found in barbarian kajirae, as masters preferred it in their slaves. Few men wanted a stupid slave. The intelligent slave is more likely to survive her training, and, once trained, is likely to sell for better prices. She is also likely to be considerably more sensitive to her condition, and is likely to be far more prompt in understanding what is expected of her, the devoted and zealous service of the interests, inclinations, and pleasures of her master, than a less intelligent woman. "Most barbarian slaves are quite intelligent," I said. "They are selected, in part, for their intelligence. Who would want a stupid slave?" "I think none of you are stupid," he said. "You are all quite intelligent. Indeed, one of the criteria in terms of which you were selected is high intelligence. Obviously highly intelligent, needful women make the best slaves. Goreans do not care for stupid slaves. They want something worthwhile in their collars. "You do not think we bring them to Gor simply for their beauty, "I suppose not," he said. "Stupid slaves do not sell well," said Kurik. "Who would want to own them?" "True," said he with the lantern. "The intelligent woman," said Kurik, "makes the best slave. She is more in touch with her feelings and needs. She is least a stranger to herself. She most quickly understands what it is to be in a collar, one she cannot remove, which is locked on her neck. She has longed to submit herself to a master. She is the first to come to her knees, where she knows she belongs." I was surprised to learn that the acquirers value intelligence in a woman highly, more so, I fear, than the men of Earth. Indeed, they would often sacrifice beauty for intelligence. An intelligent woman of course, makes a better slave. "In any event," he said, "I assure you that you are the sort of catch that Gorean slavers prize, beautiful, slave hot, and highly intelligent." |
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