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 MateThis is my narrative and relevant references from the Books where a Mate or Mating is mentioned. I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them. Arrive at your own conclusions. I wish you well, Fogaban Is the word Mate to be used instead of Companion for some reason? I addressed this question, #482, here. However, to expand on my answer, I decided to show all references to the word mate as it applies to: 1. Just Humans (not animals or Kurii) 2. A noun, as in describing a relationship 3. A verb, as in having sex Mate - Noun - Relationship "She agreed to be the mate of Pa-Kur, the Assassin," he said, "in order that you might have one small chance of life, on the Frame of Humiliation." "She is a Messenger," said the other, "who carries scent-tapes between portals in the Hall of Processing." "Oh," said the first slave. "He is interested in things like that." "He is new in the tunnels," said the second slave. I was curious. I looked directly at the first slave. "She had good legs, didn't she?" I said. He seemed puzzled. "Yes," he said, "very strong." "She was attractive," I said to the second. "Attractive?" he asked. "Yes," I said. "Yes," he said, "she is healthy." "Perhaps she is someone's mate?" I asked. "No," said the first slave. "How do you know?" I asked. "She is not in the breeding cases," said the man. As the girl spoke and I tried to lightly dismiss her words I wondered at the long processes of evolution that had nurtured over thousands of generations what had in time become the human kind. I wondered of the struggles of my own world as well as on Gor, struggles which over millennia had shaped the blood and inmost being of my species, perhaps conflicts over tunnels in cliffs to be fought with the savage cave bear, long dangerous weeks spent hunting the same game as the saber-toothed tiger, perhaps years spent protecting one's mate and brood from the depredations of carnivores and the raids of one's fellow creatures. As I thought of our primeval ancestor standing in the mouth of his cave one hand gripping a chipped stone and perhaps the other a torch, his mate behind him and his young hidden in the mosses at the back of the cave I wondered at the genetic gifts that would insure the survival of man in so hostile a world, and I wondered if among them would not be the strength and the aggressiveness and the swiftness of eye and hand and the courage of the male and on the part of the woman - what? That she might survive it seemed plausible that evolution would have favored not only the woman attractive to men but the one who had an unusual set of traits - among them perhaps the literally instinctual desire to be his, to belong to him, to seek him out for her mate and submit herself to him. 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. One tries different girls until one finds she, or those, who are the most exquisite, the most pleasing; one tends then, to keep them; this tends, too, to work out to the advantage of the women, the female slaves, but few, except themselves, are concerned with them, or their feelings; men, it is clear, have a need to dominate; few deny this; none deny it who are informed; in the Gorean culture, as it is not on Earth, institutions exist for the satisfaction of this need, rather than its systematic suppression and frustration; the major Gorean institution satisfying this need is the widespread enslavement of human females; the master/slave relationship is the deepest, clearest recognition of, and concession to, this masculine need, felt by all truly vital, sexual males; but, in the Gorean theory, this masculine need to dominate, which, thwarted, leads to misery, sickness, and petty, vicious, meaningless aggressions, is not an aberration, nor an uncomplemented biological singularity in males, but has its full complementary, correspondent need in the human female, which is the need, seldom satisfied, to be overwhelmed and mastered; in primitive mate competitions, in which intelligence and cunning, and physical and psychological power, were of biological importance, rather than wealth and status, the best women, statistically, would fall to the strongest, most intelligent men; it is possible, and likely, that women, or the best women, were once fought for, literally, as well as symbolically, as possessions; if this were the case then it is likely that something in the female, genetically, would respond to dominance and strength; most women do not, truly, want weak men; they wish their children to be born not to an equal but a superior; how could they respect a man who in stature and power was no more than themselves, the equal of a woman, a prize; given the choice to bear the child of an equal, or a master, most women would choose to bear the child of a master; women long to bear the children of men superior to themselves; it is a defeated woman whose body grows fat with the child only of an equal; just as evolution, at one time, selected for strong, intelligent men, capable of combat, because they were successful in mate competitions, so, too, correspondingly, in the transmission of genetic structures, it would be selecting for women who responded to, and yielded to, such men, women who were the biologically specified and rightful property of such men, our ancestors. Among the upper classes in the Tahari, it is scandalously erotic, generally, that a female's mouth should not be concealed. To see a girl's lips and teeth is a charged experience. To touch a girl's teeth with your teeth is prelude to the seizure of her body, an act that one would engage in only with a bold, brazen mate, or with one's shameless slave girl, with whom one can do with, to her joy, precisely as one pleases. The fur she wore, interestingly, was rather shabby. Her carriage and the sharpness of her tongue, however, suggested she must be someone of importance. I would later learn that the unmated daughters of even important men, namely, good hunters, were often kept in the poorest of furs. It is up to the mate, or husband, if you wish, to bring them good furs. This perhaps is intended as an encouragement to the girls to be a bit fetching, that they may attract a man and, subsequently, have something nice to wear. If this were the plan, however, clearly it had not yet worked in the case of my pretty critic. I was not surprised. It would be a bold fellow indeed who would dare to make her a present of fine feasting clothes. She tossed her head and turned away. Her hair was worn knotted in a bun on the top of her head, like that generally of the women of the red hunters. Their hair is worn loose, interestingly, out of doors, only during their menstrual period. In a culture where the gracious exchange of mates is commonly practiced this device, a civilized courtesy, provides the husband's friends with information that may be pertinent to the timing of their visits. Needless to say, the counting of coup, which is reflected in the feathers and adornments to which one is entitled, is a matter of great importance to the red savages. Indeed, there are also, in many tribes, practical considerations which also become involved in these matters. For example, it is unlikely that one can advance within a tribe, or become a leader or chieftain, unless one has frequently counted coup. Too, in many tribes, a man who has not counted coup is not permitted to mate. In other tribes, such a man, if he is over twenty-five, is permitted to mate, but he is not allowed to paint his mate's face. Thus will her shame before the other women be made clear. In most tribes, incidentally, a man who refuses to go on the warpath is put in women's clothes and given a woman's name. He must then live as a woman. Henceforth he is always referred to in the female gender. Needless to say, she is never permitted to mate. "You are not welcome among the Isbu," said Hci. "You shame them. You cannot mate among us. Why do you not go away?" "I am Isbu," said Cuwignaka. "I am Isbu Kaiila!" Cuwignaka lived and dressed as a woman; he was referred to as a woman and performed the labors of a woman. He was not to be permitted to mate among the Kaiila. Usually, among the Kaiila, it is free women who are permitted face paint, and then, commonly only at times of great festivals. This paint is commonly applied by the woman's mate. When the girl is taken to the breeding cell or breeding stall, she is normally hooded. Her selected mate is also hooded. And who moves barefoot and graceful upon the tiles of the palace? Is it the hunter's mate, clad in her skins, kept, and cuffed and obedient, cowering lovingly at her master's feet, his in the sense of rain and stones? No, it is the curvaceous, perfumed, silked, collared slave, owned in law, hurrying to do her master's bidding. If she were too independent she would die in such a world and if she did not mate her race would die. Often in these matters, conducted under supervision, both slaves are hooded, in order that they not know who it is with whom they are forced to mate, lest they might, in their moment of union, in their common degradation, care for one another, or fall in love. Needless to say, the counting of coup, which is reflected in the feathers and adornments to which one is entitled, is a matter of great importance to the red savages. Indeed, there are also, in many tribes, practical considerations which also become involved in these matters. For example, it is unlikely that one can advance within a tribe, or become a leader or chieftain, unless one has frequently counted coup. Too, in many tribes, a man who has not counted coup is not permitted to mate. In other tribes, such a man, if he is over twenty-five, is permitted to mate, but he is not allowed to paint his mate's face. Thus will her shame before the other women be made clear. In most tribes, incidentally, a man who refuses to go on the warpath is put in women's clothes and given a woman's name. He must then live as a woman. Henceforth he is always referred to in the female gender. Needless to say, she is never permitted to mate. "You are not welcome among the Isbu," said Hci. "You shame them. You cannot mate among us. Why do you not go away?" "I am Isbu," said Cuwignaka. "I am Isbu Kaiila!" Cuwignaka lived and dressed as a woman; he was referred to as a woman and performed the labors of a woman. He was not to be permitted to mate among the Kaiila. |       
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