East and West

The system of censual slaveplay codified in Code d’ Odalisque is based – very loosely – upon the historical institution of the ‘odalisque’ (pleasure slave) which was a feature of oriental civilizations before the modern era. In Ottoman Turkey the institution continued up until the early twentieth century. Impressions and remnants of odalisque slavery are recorded in so-called ‘Orientalist’ art made by European artists and travelers – the “odalisque” was one of their favorite themes. Code d’ Odalisque is a modern revival of odalisque slavery on consensual principles.

At the same time, however, it is not an historical re- creation. No claims are made for Code d’ Ode being an accurate reflection of historical realities. It is based, instead, upon European (Western) imaginings of the sensuous slave traditions of the ancient East.

Moreover, these imaginings have been combined and blended with a distinctly Western hardcore sensibility. In modern times Oriental (Islamic) cultures have degenerated into a reactionary puritanism. Such cultures have disavowed the color and richness of their heritage for a narrow puritanical fundamentalism. It is a remarkable fact, for example, that the great erotic poets of the East are now more popular in Europe and the USA than among Persians and Arabs. As eastern cultures have declined into puritanism, many profound aspects of those cultures have been absorbed and appreciated by the West. Code d’ Ode is another example of this. The beauty of odalisque slavery has now been rediscovered in the West, while in the east women are being flogged for not wearing a head scarf!

It is important to note that Code d’ Ode is not a piece of orientalist kitsch. It is a system of consensual slave play devoted to hardcore sexual exploration. It is inspired by and draws upon some oriental models, but it is not evocative of tacky scenes from ‘I Dream Of Jeanie’. It is a new genre of the BDSM lifestyle, not play acting for historical re-creationists. It is best understood as an example of creative cultural appropriation. The people who first constructed Code d’ Ode were not interested in being “oriental” – they merely wanted to acquire aspects of oriental aesthetics that were useful to their purposes, combined with a very Western and very modern concern for sexual expression.