Editing Gor (section)

== Subculture ==
{{in popular culture|section|date=May 2025}}
A [[fandom]] has developed based on the series of 1-38 books.⁣ <ref name="BBC">{{Cite news |date=May 19, 2006 |title=Officers discover sex-slave cult |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4996410.stm |access-date=August 18, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Guar">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Paul |date=May 19, 2006 |title=Gor blimey! Subservient cult is unleashed on Darlington |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/may/19/britishidentity.uknews2 |access-date=August 18, 2010}}</ref> Gorean subculture developed independently of Norman's involvement, particularly starting as a fan network after the [[publishing house]]s ceased printing new paperback editions of the novels.  Fans allege that due to the controversy and pressure from [[feminist]] circles, the Gor books went [[Out-of-print book|out of print]] in the late 1980s <ref>{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2012 |title=John Norman - Libertarian |url=http://server.theadvocates.org/celebrities/john-norman.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203163326/http://server.theadvocates.org/celebrities/john-norman.html |archive-date=February 3, 2012 }}</ref> (Trade paperback and e-book sequel novels were subsequently published from 2001 to 2016). It does not have a uniform following but encompasses different groups of varying views and practices.

The Gorean subculture particularly focuses on the 'Caste' and social hierarchies between different peoples whose functions uphold the society.

1 Initiates (priests and intermediaries of the gods); these have social control of the lower castes, keeping them in order through a religion and practices which are somewhat mysterious. 
2. Scribes, including those involved with the 133 laws of Gor, merchant laws (which are across all of Gor), city laws, magistrates, advocates/litigators' clerks in the law courts, and record keepers. 
3. Physicians, who have extensive reach around Gor, childbirth and other illnesses, battle injuries from wars or skirmishes. They also attend to slaves and the administration of a serum which stops ageing in those around 25 years old, hence why there can be a 25-year-old woman who has 150 years of experience; they also administer contraception, 'slave wine', and for Free Women (non-slave women of Gor), they have an equivalent, 'noble wine'; theirs tastes better. Physicians do watch  out for those who are not doing well and call them into have discussions to see if people are okay if they show signs of distress (experienced).
4. Builders, Well these tend to float throughout the Secondlife world and they are responsible for the awesome cities.
5. Warriors, these are the policeman, the guards at the gate and they spend their time making sure everyone is safe, occasionally defending their cities from raids or even dragging people off to jail, they can even be caused to do the executions or punishment! the world of Gor is not a land of Teddybears and Cuddles, expect it to be in line line with the books and that is something along the lines of the civilisation of Rome, Greece and Arabic World in the south of Gor (where they will engage with you in Arabic if you wish it and customs are more Muslim in practice and laws).

Then we have the master-and-slave dynamic in sexual relationships and associated forms of [[submission]] as portrayed in the novels. Therefore, although they are estimated to comprise less than 5% of the total female population on Gor,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Writings & Interview by Turians |url=https://turia.weebly.com/writings--interview-by-turians.html |website=Turia}}</ref> training and keeping a slave (known collectively as a ''[[kajirae]]'') is central to Gorean subculture. Formal slave training, including how to serve foods and drinks, standing or slave positions in relation to the company you are in (yes, there is a difference in the company of women), a series of verbal and nonverbal commands, as well as slave attires in relation to the climates and adornment of  jewellery (earrings being an example), are practices concerning slavery, including 'branding' (as if cattle) and wearing of 'collars'; institutionalised and therefore specified slavery practices are central to the Gorean subculture.

Literalists, otherwise known as lifestylers, incorporate elements from the Gorean culture and gender roles in their daily lives by choice <ref>{{Cite web |title=The Gorean "Lifestyle" ~ Gorean Living |url=http://www.goreanliving.com/lifestyle.php |website=www.goreanliving.com}}</ref> and some followers of an unofficial splinter group known as Kaotians who adhered to this approach were prosecuted for leading coercive sex cults.⁣ <ref>{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2014 |title=The BSDM legacy of Gorean slaves |url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/gor-gorean-slaves-history/ |website=The Daily Dot}}</ref> 

The role players are divided into real-life [[sexual roleplay]]ers (engaged or not engaged in [[BDSM]] practices) and online [[role-playing game]]rs (present particularly in ''[[Second Life]]'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bardzell |first1=Shaowen |author1-link=Shaowen Bardzell|last2=Odom |first2=William |date=August 2008 |title=The Experience of Embodied Space in Virtual Worlds: An Ethnography of a Second Life Community |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240696933 |journal=[[Space and Culture]] |publisher=[[SAGE Journals]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=239–259 |doi=10.1177/1206331208319148 |s2cid=146711299 |issn=1206-3312 |lccn=99301909 |oclc=535496255 |via=[[ResearchGate]]|citeseerx=10.1.1.472.686 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gorean roleplay in ''Second Life'' |date=May 2013 |url=http://www.second-life-adventures.com/gorean-roleplay-in-second-life/}}</ref> are not necessarily committed to Gorean philosophy and ideals. 

In Second Life there are over 100 different 'places' or 'cities' (05/21/2025) to visit which ascribe to the BtB (By the Book), with a few more GE (Gorean Experience) and others which are more of a themed version of Gor but allow you to experience it without too much involvement, so you are not forced into the most serious version, which is the BtB. It is recommended that to enter the BtB, you read the books and understand the world that you enter; at the very least, you should read some of the quotes at.<ref>http://goreancave.com</ref> This will enable you to understand the quotes which 'by the book' means to recreate the world in line with. In truth SL do not police the word of Gor directly. You are required to be 18+ and usually in the game for more than 30 days before being included in these worlds; the city owners will block you until they are sure you are, and they are vigilant about this because there are no children characters permitted in the Second Life RP. The people of the roleplay game do police in this regard, using their banning functions to block those they feel are underage or undesirables. There are those inside Second Life who form a support network should there be abuses or negative effects on people (experience). Those who are sensitive to the subjects surrounding abuse should consider whether they should enter this fictional world. Those who play hard and brutal are well known and avoided; it is not the majority who are this way within the game. If you enter, do ask around before getting involved with someone online, and your security protections must not be dropped. Even though you are in a 'game', you can speak to a moderator in the cities if there is a problem in an OOC(Out of Character) way.

Starting from the 1990s, the Gorean subculture has become attractive to a number of male teenagers through role-playing in chat rooms on 'AOL/Yahoo HTML sites and more', and there are to this day [2025] many still in the game. The teenage role-playing Goreans who concealed many of their personal aspects, such as age or lack of experience, thanks to anonymity, managed to appeal to a considerable number of married and middle-aged women as kajirae in role-playing contexts.<ref name=" makai" /> Such notoriety caused by this profile and related practices in the virtual Gorean community succeeded in creating disdain among both [[feminist]]s and the BDSM community. <ref name="makai">{{Cite book |last=Makai |first=Michael |title=Domination & Submission: The BDSM Relationship Handbook |date=2013}}</ref> Nevertheless, scholars have discussed the way that Gorean subculture groups on media such as Second Life and [[Internet Relay Chat]] have influenced the development of online role-playing and even the [[Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|MMORPG]] genre. <ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Jøn |first=A. Asbjørn |date=2010 |title=The Development of MMORPG Culture and The Guild |url=https://journals.kvasirpublishing.com/af/article/view/270 |journal=Australian Folklore |volume=25 |issue= |pages=97–112 |access-date=November 13, 2015}}</ref>

Norman's non-fictional sex manual is not really part of the Gorean series and is somewhat just an add on compare this to 'fantastic beasts and where to Find Them' Compared to the 'Harry Potter' series, the 'sex manual' is not taken so seriously as part of the Gor series. ''[[Imaginative Sex]]'' presents elaborate 'fantasy' scenarios to be acted out in isolated scenes. He also recommends the use of symbolic substitutes, such as the sound of claps as a substitute for whippings and other physical punishments. [[Patrick Califia]] asserts that Norman was critical of the psychological and physical harm that non-stop BDSM slavery and corporal punishment might inflict. <ref>"No Fantasy, Please, We're Americans: A Foreword by a Feminist", introduction by [[Pat Califia]] to the 1997 edition of ''Imaginative Sex''</ref> However, such views of Norman are not part of the Gorean canon, and debate on Gorean practices' relationship to BDSM, focusing on aspects such as [[Master/slave (BDSM)|Total Power Exchange]] and further complicated by the community's diverse nature, continues. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Scroll 83: Gor vs. BDSM |url=http://www.gor-now.net/delphius2002/id150.htm |website=www.gor-now.net}}⁣⁣ ref>{{Cite web |title=Gor - a Subset of BDSM? No! but ~ Gorean Living |url=http://www.goreanliving.com/bdsm.html |website=www.goreanliving.com |access-date=2023-11-27 |archive-date=2021-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207110720/http://www.goreanliving.com/bdsm.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> BDSM writer Michael Makai nevertheless asserts that Gorean fiction may be found responsible for shaping or otherwise popularizing many of today's established BDSM protocols and tenets.<ref name="makai" />

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:The Gor Project 1 by mjranum stock.jpg|Model dressed as a ''[[kajira]]'' in a camisk with a simulated ''kef'' brand
File:Woman topless on leash at Folsom Street Fair 2012.jpg|[[Sexual roleplay]]er in a ''kajira'' pose at [[Folsom Street Fair]]. The woman is posing in an approximation to ''nadu'', the typical position of a "[[Kajira#Employment|pleasure slave]]".
File:Panthers Thentis.jpg|Gorean role-playing in ''[[Second Life]]''. Panther Girls (Gorean quasi-[[Amazons]]) from the Northern Forest, attending a meeting at the town hall of the city Thentis.
</gallery>