Needing to work: Sojourn & Occlusion

Question: My wife is… my bedroom slave. But these are tough times and there is no way my income could keep her… She has to go to work so we can survive. So, Code d’ Ode is a great idea but in practice it doesn’t work.

Answer: The ideal in Code d’ Odalisque is for the odalisque to be “kept from toil” by her Master. Ideally, she is an odalisque full-time and lives a leisured life without having to work for a wage. Her duties are to bring beauty and pleasure to her Master.

As you say, though, these are tight times for many people. Two income families are the norm because people need two incomes to get by. Not every man is wealthy enough to be able to keep a slave full-time. There are loans to be repaid and bills to be met. Regardless of the ideal, the reality is that for many people odalisque slavery must necessarily be part time. The demands of life are too pressing.

The Code is very flexible in this regard. The slave’s time is shared between periods of “occlusion” and periods of “sojourn”. In occlusion the slave is in active slavery - occlusion is captivity. In “sojourn” she may go out into the world like a freewoman. The institution of “sojourn” allows for the practical reality that often the slavewoman will have things to attend to in the world. She can go on “sojourn” if she needs. When facing economic imperatives, it is quite within the frame of the Code for the woman to go on “sojourn” to a part-time job. The Code proposes the ideal but it doesn’t insist on it. It is flexible. You can allow for work commitments through the device of periods of “sojourn”. There are certain rules that the slave must obey while on sojourn, but it certainly allows her to work a job if she must.

A few points:

*It is always better if the slave does not have to work. Strive for the ideal. An odalisque deserves to be kept – it is her right as an odalisque. Working is for memlooks (low slaves).

*If she does have to work, her Master should prevent her from doing work that would compromise her beauty. No work that would harden the skin on her hands, for example. Or where she might be scalded by hot flames. Or hard physical labor where she would be toughened and made overly muscular. Clean, soft work is best. Cooking, cleaning, washing are not usually suitable occupations. Cooking, cleaning and washing are for memlooks. Her Master should protect her from unsuitable work.

*Where possible, ensure that the slave spends the majority of her time in occlusion. If she must work, let it be part time work only. The policy of her Master should be that she will only work as few hours as possible. She is an odalisque: she belongs in occlusion.

*A slave cannot be made to go to work while her Master is idle. An odalisque cannot be exploited as a work slave. It is a gross violation of her nature, and of the Master/slave bond, to treat an odalisque in that manner. A slave cannot keep her Keeper!