The Problem of Work

A central problem in the life of many people - if not most people - is the question of work. How do I make a living? What do I do for an income? The global financial crisis and the technological revolution have made this a more difficult problem than it used to be. Once there were manufacturing jobs. For others there were office jobs. Most of these jobs have disappeared or have been automated. Increasingly, people have to find casual work or low paid menial jobs. Even well educated people find it hard to find a long-term satisfying occupation.

The problem for women is especially acute. There are less decent jobs and fewer well-established pathways in the workforce. When all the good jobs are gone, a higher proportion of women have to fall back on lousy employment: waiting tables, serving drinks, cleaning, spoon-feeding dementia patients, and so on. It is estimated that over the next thirty years nearly a half of all current jobs will be replaced by automation. Jobs traditionally done by women will be particularly hit.

According to studies, one of the consequences of declining job and pay rates is that more women are turning to prostitution. Scandalously, it is now not at all uncommon for young female college students to be funding their degrees by working as sex-workers at night or on the weekends. When there is no decent work left, women go on the game. It has always been the way. Inevitably, too, however, crime and drugs follow. As more women go into prostitution just in order to live, crime syndicates, pimps, drug-dealers, bikie gangs and other low-life move in to get their share of the profits. While it might at first seem an easy way to make a quick dollar, women soon find that prostitution is full of pitfalls and serious dangers, not least the ever-present and inherent dangers from law enforcement, disease, deranged clients, and so. It is not a romantic life. It is really only suited to tough-hearted women with strong internal defences. Timid women, submissive women, women who are not good at being combative and independent, are soon crushed and abused and exploited.

The odalisque’s life offers itself as a possible alternative. There are some women for whom it might be an attractive proposition. Certainly, it might be a better option for those women who would otherwise turn to prostitution. An odalisque is not a whore, but her role is sexual and her job is to provide sexual pleasure to men. Specifically, to her Master. An odalisque is a bonded slave. This means that she serves the man to whom she is bonded, but in return she is kept, housed, fed and nurtured - her Master has an obligation to protect and look after her and to meet all her needs. Obviously, it is a lifestyle that only suits women with the right aptitude. Submissive women. Highly sexual women who find fulfilment in sexual service. 

Note that an odalisque is a bonded slave. This is in contrast to a hired worker. A whore is a hired worker. So too is a plumber or a secretary or a burger-flipper. Hired workers are paid by the hour. Bonded service is entirely different. A bonded servant is not part of the hired workforce at all. It is an arrangement based on mutual obligation, obedience and fealty. Of course bonded service has no official place in the modern economy, but there are shades of it in the traditional housewife or the trophy wife. As far as the IRS is concerned, an odalisque is just a kept woman. She has no income of her own. Odalisque slavery under Code d’ Odalisque is a system for reviving bonded sexual service on a consensual basis. For some women it might be a solution to the problem of work - at least for a phase of their life. It takes them out of the job market. It offers them a life of leisure. It might be better than cleaning motel rooms for $8 an hour. And it might certainly be a better choice than whoredom. 

The Edward Bagley Case

The present case of Edward Bagley cannot go without comment. See the article below. The abuse of young "sex slaves" by sadistic men is exactly what first gave impetus to Code d' Odalisque. The codifications of odalisque slave play offered in Code d' Ode are all calculated to prevent such cases. Moreover, such cases underline the fact that there is a problem of criminal abuse on the fringes of the BDSM sub-culture. Code d' Odalisque was first put together by people who were looking for consensual, safe and sane "sex slave" play within an organised framework without sado-masochism, torture and violence.

Please read the article below. It is an appalling case. It illustrates exactly what Code d' Odalisque is not.

* * *

Three men from the state of Missouri have been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual torture of a woman who was held as a sex slave for six years.

For three years, the victim only could watch as prosecutors, defence lawyers and federal judges battled in court to resolve a grotesque sex torture and bondage case.

But on Wednesday, at last, was her day.

Three times the young woman, short and pretty, stood from a courtroom bench, walked to a lectern and described how the men who were to be sentenced that morning had hurt her - some through near suffocation, mutilation and even skewers through her breasts. All enjoyed applying electrical shocks, she said.

But each man, according to her descriptions, had dealt her a measure of cruelty that has changed forever how she views those around her.

"I don't know how to trust men," she said before revealing that she now has a baby daughter. "I have to protect her from men like Ed."

Edward Bagley, whom both she and prosecutors have described as her chief tormenter, remained in his seat just a few feet away, looking forlorn while dressed in orange jail scrubs and a pair of blue Crocs clogs.

US District Judge Dean Whipple had just sentenced the Lebanon, Montana, man to 20 years in federal prison.

In quick succession, Bradley Cook of Kirkwood also received a 20-year sentence, and Dennis Henry, a former postmaster from Wheatland, was sentenced to 10 years.

Three other defendants, James Noel of Springfield and Michael Stokes and Bagley's wife, Marilyn Bagley, both of Lebanon, await sentencing on Thursday.

When prosecutors filed the case in September 2010, they described the young woman as "mentally deficient" and said the indictment's allegations were "among the most horrific ever prosecuted in this district".

The allegations of torture were so wrenching that prosecutors chose not to mention them in official statements and a press release.

For five years, according to the indictment, the woman endured sexual torture with techniques described as "flogging, whipping, shocking, choking, piercing, sewing" and "stapling".

Her tormenters nailed intimate body parts to slabs of wood, sewed private orifices shut and forced high levels of electric current through the most sensitive parts of her body.

Defence lawyers responded almost immediately that they hoped to prove that the young woman had consented to the sadomasochistic sex, which would have made it all completely legal.

But as the lawyers reviewed the images and videos of the woman's condition, and weighed the prospects of presenting them to a jury, defendants began to plead guilty.

The victim, now in her mid-20s, said on Wednesday that her suffering was real.

"It started bad and got worse and worse," she said. "Ed told me I wasn't good for anything except to be used by him."

Bagley, 46, pleaded guilty in January to having a sexual relationship with the victim before her 17th birthday and then grooming her with bondage and sadomasochistic videos for life as his sex slave after she moved into his trailer home.

The woman elaborated in her statement, describing a hard life in and out of foster care before meeting Bagley when she was 15 or 16. He promised to protect her, she said. He had his wife model sexy clothes for her, and he showed her pornography and talked about how he was going to make her look beautiful.

"I was so excited about my new life," she testified before recounting the electric shock torture that "shoots your arms and legs out, and you want to die".

She added: "Ed killed me and brought me back to life."

Cook, 34, admitted at his December 2011 plea hearing that he often watched Bagley abuse the young woman during live online sessions.

Several times, Cook travelled to Lebanon to abuse and torture the woman, leaving Bagley with gifts of hard drives containing images and videos of bondage, domination, sadism and masochism. Cook said at his plea hearing that he believed that the woman had not consented to the acts and that it was the "most extreme he had ever seen".

Henry, 53, confessed in March 2011 to meeting the young victim in 2004 when Bagley invited him to Lebanon because he "had something to show him". There, Bagley presented the girl, who wore chains on her legs and restraints on her wrists.

Henry acknowledged having sex with the victim and whipping her in what he described as Bagley's "play room".

The Code Collection Archive

The work of several dedicated contributors, the Code Collection is an extensive collection of erotica, old and new, pertaining to the aesthetics and ideals of Code d' Odalisque. It features erotica across a wide range of categories. The Collection also includes instruction material.

Follow the direct link to the archive below:

The Code Collection Archive

Vow of Devotion (Repost)

5.9. - Vow of Devotion

Once she is bound and washed an odalisque is required to make a Vow of Devotion under threat of the sword. She shall be held forcibly, made to kneel and forced to expose the back of her neck to a sword wielded by whatever man is officiating. The position of kneeling, head forward and down and with the back of the neck exposed is the essential physical pose illustrating the cockslave's submission.

When a freewoman consents to enter life as an odalisque she makes a Vow of Devotion. This is usually done “under the sword”. The woman is naked on her hands and knees, her hair thrown forward, head down, the nape of her neck exposed. The Slavetrader (or the man presiding) places the cold steel of his sword on the back of her neck in an implicit threat of beheading. In this position he makes her give her Vow of Devotion. This consists of a series of assertions. The Trader says to her:

“Say: I am a cock slave!”

In response the woman says, “I am a cockslave”

The Trader says:

“Say: I am a cunt to be fucked!”

In response the woman says, “I am a cunt to be fucked!”

And so on.

Code d’ Odalisque includes a generic Vow of Devotion that can be used, but players should feel free to write their own Vow and to make it a creative feature of the woman’s initiation into the odalisque’s life.

These same Vows can also be included in later sessions of training or play. From time to time it is advisable to make a slave repeat her Vow of Devotion. It will remind her of her initiation (discalcing).

The intention of the Vow, it should be noted, is to dedicate the woman to cockworship – for this is what defines an odalisque and what sets her apart from other slaves. An odalisque is dedicated to serving male sexuality, and specifically phallic sexuality. She makes a vow to serve and worship cock. That is, she swears to be a sexual slave, serving male (phallic) sex, a cockslave. This is what makes her an odalisque. An odalisque is sworn to cockworship, and she does this through her Vow of Devotion. Article 5.11 of the Code explains:

5.11. - Intent of the Vow of Devotion

The intent and purpose of the odalisque's Vow of Devotion is to pledge herself to Cock Worship and devotion and service to the Phallus and to obedience to the men who are placed over her. It is the Vow of Devotion, above all, that makes her a sexual slave as distinct from any other type of slave.

The Red Rose in Thorns (excerpts)

Excerpts from The Red Rose in Thorns illustrating various aspects of Code d' Odalisque:

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. 

The Non-Sadomasochistic alternative

The original impetus for Code d' Odalisque came from women who, while sexually submissive, did not want to be subject to sadomasochism. This is the main characteristic of Code d' Ode: it offers slave play without SM. Recent contacts reiterate that this is still the main motivation behind people who are interested in this style of slave play; they are looking for fem sub play without SM. While true odalisques are rare, and it is hard to find women who are suited to the odalisque lifestyle, it is surprising just how common it is to find women who are in the submissive-but-no-SM category. It is a very common sexual orientation. Remarkably, it is not well catered for.

This fact was illustrated to us recently when, in the company of several young (and not so young) women, we were looking for female submissive erotica on-line. It is a simple experiment. Open google and search images for search strings such as "female submissive sex." You will find that such searches yield a high proportion of images such as this:

Search results for "female submissive sex" yield very few images of female submissives having sex and quite a lot of images of women having their nipples tortured or their backs flogged raw with a cat-of-nine-tails. It raises the question: since when is this sex? Obviously there are people who find such images stimulating and presumably they get aroused by them - which is fine. But the women who were perusing this material with us found it quite the opposite. I paraphrase, but one of them put it like this:

That is exactly the problem! I'm a submissive, but I don't want to be treated like this. When I say I'm a submissive, I mean a sexual submissive. I like to be used for pleasure. But as soon as I say I'm a female sub, guys and so-called "doms" think I'm saying that I want to be tortured and beaten and spat on. That's not my idea of submissive!

The other ladies all agreed. They all described themselves as "submissive" but they all found these images a turn off. Why, it must be asked, does a search string like "female submissive sex" turn up hundreds of images of pain maids? Why is there so little content concerning submissive females who are not into pain? Why should the word "submissive" be synonymous with sadomasochism? 

Code d' Odalisque offers female submissives a clear alternative. It is a different mode of slave play that draws upon different traditions of slavery. It is essentially hedonistic, devoted to sexual pleasure, rather than to "power exchange". It is essentially non-sadomasochistic; an odalisque is regarded as a creature of beauty and is protected from abuse and violence. Instead, an odalisque is a female sexual servant - not a pain slave. It is a defining feature of odalisque slavery. It is about pleasure, not pain.