Gorean Silks

Slave Silk, Its Color and Meaning

The main purpose of slave garments, of course, is not particularly to clothe the girl, for she need not even be clothed, as she is an animal, but to, as I have suggested, "set her off."
Guardsman of Gor, Page 108

There seems to be much confusion in the online environment over the color of slave silk and what the color of this silk means. I have researched the entire series and posted here an exhaustive collection of references to the color of silk. There are, in fact, 12 different variations of color. However, nowhere in the writings is the color of silk an indication of the 'level' of a slave. In other words, unlike the belt color of a karate student, a slave does not start out in one color, progress through other colors and finally attain a coveted color.

Predominantly though, there do seem to be a couple of color preferences. The first is that many paga slaves are dressed in yellow silk and many dancing slaves are dressed in scarlet. However this is simply not a hard fast rule. If you take the time to read through each reference, you will see this.

Now, on to the muchly debated topic of "white silk" and "red silk". First, three quotes:

“Are you white silk?” I asked. “I am a virgin,” she said. “Then you are white silk,” I said.
Explorers of Gor, Page 172

Similarly, the expression “red silk,” in Gorean, tends to be used as a category in slaving, and also, outside the slaving context, as an expression in vulgar discourse, indicating that the woman is no longer a virgin, or, as the Goreans say, at least vulgarly of slaves, that her body has been opened by men. Its contrasting term is “white silk,” usually used of slaves who are still virgins, or, equivalently, slaves whose bodies have not yet been opened by men. Needless to say, slaves seldom spend a great deal of time in the “white-silk” category. It is common not to dally in initiating a slave into the realities of her condition.
Blood Brothers of Gor, Page 472

Among slaves, not free women, these things are sometimes spoken of along the lines as to whether or not a girl has been “opened” for the uses of men. Other common terms, used generally of slaves, are ‘white silk’ and ‘red silk’, for girls who have not yet been opened, or have been opened, for the uses of men, respectively.
Dancer of Gor, Page 128

Without taking up a lot of space, it is obvious that the terms of 'white silk' and 'red silk' do not refer to the color of clothing a slave is wearing but instead to whether or not she is a virgin. Does this mean that every virgin must then be dressed in white silk? Notice these quotes:

“I have put you in red silk,” I said. “Is it appropriate?” “It certainly is not!” she said. “Perhaps it soon will be,” I said.
Beasts of Gor, Page 405

“Tela, when captured,” he said, indicating a blonde, “begged to be permitted to be kept in white silk.” He laughed. “After throwing her to a crew, for their pleasure, we put her, as she had asked, in white silk.” “Amusing,” I said. “She now often begs for red silk,” he said. “Perhaps we will one day permit it to her.”
Rouge of Gor, Page 197

Two different girls are mentioned. The first, a virgin, is literally dressed in silk of red color. The cloth did not remove her virginity. The second, no longer a virgin, was dressed in white. The color of white silk did not restore her hymen. It simply pleased the particular master that they were dressed in the color they were. A virgin need not be dressed in white anymore than a slave who is no longer a virgin be dressed in red. To put it another way, if every virgin had to be dressed in white silk then every girl no longer a virgin would have to be dressed in red silk. Obviously there are many different colors of slave silk. Obviously such a 'rule' simply does not exist.

To be sure, of course, the color of the garment, on Gor, would not be likely to be white, but, commonly, red or yellow. White, on Gor, is a color commonly associated with virginity. It is, accordingly, worn by few slaves.
Guardsman of Gor, Page 251

Following now and headed by color are the book references. It is my hope that this effort will help you to better understand the meaning of silk colors. That, in reality, there is no meaning.

I wish you well,

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