Kajira

The kajira "kef" symbol (or "staff and fronds") of the Gor books

Kajira is the term for female slave or "slave-girl" in John Norman's Gor novels.

Terminology

The phrase "la kajira" is said to mean "I am a slave-girl." in the Gorean language, the most widely spoken lingua franca in the known regions of the planet Gor (this is one of the few complete Gorean-language sentences given in the Gor novels). The word is usually seen in the feminine form "kajira" (pl. "kajirae"), as most slaves in the Gorean lifestyle are female; the masculine forms are "kajirus" and "kajiri" (with endings taken from the nominative forms of Latin first and second declension nouns, as also seen in words such as "alumna"/"alumnus" etc.). The construction "kajiras" is incorrect, but is occasionally seen in third-party writing.

Model dressed as a kajira in a Camisk with a simulated kef brand

Training

There exist various techniques in Gorean culture to teach Gorean slaves corresponding conduct. Slave tasks may include not only sexual slavery, but also the ability to maintain a household, possess artistic skills, wear an appealing outfit and address the master in certain manner.

Marking

To mark a slave as a particular owner's property, a collar with the owner's name is placed upon the slave (male and female slaves are collared).

Gorean slave women are branded, which means they are marked with certain signs burned into the flesh on being enslaved. "The kef is about an inch and a half in height, and a half inch in width. A rather simple, delicate, graceful, almost floral mark, in cursive script. Appearing slender, more vertical, more like a stem with floral, cursive curled loops. A rather severe, straight line staff, with two, upturned, frondlike curls, adjacent to it, joined where they touch the staff on its right. It bears a distant, remote resemblance to the printed letter K."^[1]

Types of kajirae

Kajirae have a plethora of types^[2] of varying prestige depending on their virginity, origins, and fields of employment including the following:

Virginity

• Red Silk Girl: A kajira who is not a virgin.
• White Silk Girl: A kajira 'not yet opened to men' (i.e. a virgin), a case which is depicted very rarely in the novels^[3] for a virgin kajira will usually be deflowered shortly after her enslavement.^[4]

Origins

• Gorean-born
  • Passion Slave: A kajira who has been bred through selective breeding for particularly desired physical or psychological traits, as opposed to other Gorean-born kajirae who may be either captured or bred.
• Barbarian: A kajira who was brought from the Earth by Journey of Acquisition. Since they have no Home Stone, barbarian girls are considered natural slaves, occupying the lowest rank, yet considered the most sexual.^[5]

Employment

• Pleasure Slave: A kajira whose main function is providing sexual services. However, her training includes broader skills such as dancing and cooking.^[6]
  • Prostitutes: Kajirae employed in prostitution by their masters.
    • Coin Girl: A kajira used by her master as a streetwalker.
    • Camp Slave: A kajira rented out for satisfying sexual needs during military campaigns.
    • Bath Girl: A kajira who works as a prostitute and masseuse in a bathhouse.
    • Feast Slave: A kajira rented out at feasts as a pleasure slave.
• Paga Slave or Paga Slut: A kajira who serves the alcoholic drink paga at a tavern. Their service usually includes sexual tasks.
• Flute Girl: A kajira versed in playing the flute. They are employed at feasts and may also serve sexual tasks.
• Kettle Girl / Kettle-and-Mat Girl: A kajira employed exclusively for domestic works is referred to as a kettle girl or pot girl. If the kajira's function is divided between household task and sexual service, she is known with the comparatively more prestigious moniker kettle-and-mat girl.
  • Tower Slave: A kajira owned as a maid in a private household.
  • State Slave: A kajira owned by a particular polity and used for domestic needs of citizens.
• Message Girl: A kajira who delivers secret messages.

Kajirus

Kajiri, male slaves, also exist on the planet Gor, but they are far fewer than kajirae, since Gorean men can only rarely be effectively "tamed", so that most male slaves are considered inherently slightly dangerous, and have little value other than as unskilled heavy labor which must often be kept under continual armed guard. The phrase "lo kajirus" is said to mean "I am a slave-boy." Men conquered in war who are not left free are more often killed than enslaved, while women in the same situation are almost always enslaved (since kajirae are a readily-negotiable commodity, among other reasons).

A male slave kept by a woman owner for bedroom duties is a "silk slave" (while most male slaves on Gor are used for hard labor in work gangs). When a free woman makes use of a kajirus sexually, he is often chained so that he is unable to hold her in his arms — since allowing this would be considered to add a note of male domination to the lovemaking. Some free women carefully avoid kissing a kajirus when making sexual use of him, since they would consider it degrading to soil their lips by touching them to the body of a mere slave. Note that only a small minority of rich free women on Gor own silk slaves, and (in contrast to the usual situation with free men and kajirae) it is often not very easy or convenient for a free woman to obtain the sexual use of a kajirus whom she does not personally own (in the city of Ar, the largest city of known Gor, it is strictly forbidden by law). Silk slaves are generally despised by free men on Gor, and their type of slavery is often considered to be rather unnatural. Kajiri do not usually wear locked collars; rather, a band of iron.

References

External links

• Branding of kajirae
• Dictionary of Gorean terms