History?

Time and again we encounter criticism of Code d' Odalisque for being based upon "historical errors." For a start, detractors say, an "odalisque" under the Ottoman Empire was not a naked sex slave as odalisques are described in Code d' Ode. Then the detractors start with history lessons about what various scholars and historians and academics say real odalisque slavery was like. Finally, they dismiss Code d' Ode as being a-historical and un-factual.

The answer to these charges is: yes, we know. It has never been claimed that Code d' Odalisque is an accurate historical depiction of odalisque slavery. That claim was not made in the early days when the Code was being put together and it is not made now. Rather, it has always been clear that Code d' Odalisque is based upon European fantasies and imaginings of odalisque and oriental slavery. Code d' Ode is a creative enterprise that is inherently rooted in fantasy. It is not a historical recreation and at no stage purports to be.

The immediate inspiration for the culture and aesthetics of Code d' Odalisque comes from the works of the Orientalist artists of Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This is then transposed into a late 20th C. context where it is given a much more explicitly sexual, hardcore edge. This fact is explicitly stated in the Code itself and in every edition of the Code that has ever been distributed.

This does not mean that Code d' Ode is some limp-wristed role playing game, as if historical authenticity is the measure of anything. It is presented as a "game" purely in the sense that all consensual slavery is a "game" and is "play" as opposed to real slavery (in the legal sense). For many players, though, Code d' Ode is a serious undertaking, albeit a luxury and an indulgence.

There have been many on-line attacks upon Code d' Odalisque in recent times. For the most part these come from small voices in dark corners: egotistic 'doms' in the BDSM world. It is precisely to get away from a scene pervaded by such power freaks and sadists that a group of M/s people formed Code d' Odalisque in the first place. It offers an alternative. It is a creative re-imagining of odalisque slavery through the dual lens of orientalist art and a contemporary hardcore sensibility.