Methods of punishment

An odalisque is protected from cruel punishments and pain. She is not a pain slave. She is spared from the whip and the paddle in order to have her beauty preserved and in order for her to be dedicated to the arts of pleasure. How then is she disciplined? How does a Slavekeeper or a Slavetrainer instil good behaviour into her? How is she trained? How is she punished when she misbehaves?

Code d' Odalisque sets out recommended modes of punishment, as follows:

19.2. - Recommended modes of punishment

The recommended modes of punishment set by this Code and those employed in normal circumstances are:

(a) bondage - to remind the slave of her helplessness
(b) caging - to remind the slave of her captivity
(c) solitary confinement - to remind the slave of her captivity.
(d) silence - to remind the slave of her passive role
(e) holding positions - to teach the slave obedience
(f) chanting - to remind the slave of her purpose.

Note that each of them has a purpose. In each case, the punishment is designed to reinforce some aspect of slavery and to teach and improve the slave. Punishment is not for its own sake. In some forms of BDSM the punishment of slaves becomes the focus of play itself. The centre of play becomes the dungeon and the punishment of the slave is the action. In Code d' Odalisque, this is not the case. Ideally, a slave does not need to be punished very often, and when she does it is always with a view to correcting her behaviour.

There is, all the same, a great deal of latitude in this. The Code specifically forbids some types of punishment - for example, a Master cannot cut his slave's hair to punish her - and it recommends types of punishment, but there is scope for a Master or Trainer to devise methods suitable to his slaves. Like all aspects of odalisque slavery, there are broad parameters but within that it is always a creative endeavour. How a slave is punished for her failings, omissions and misdemeanours is a matter of creative slave play.