Trying On a Collar, Pt. 02
(This is a fantasy set in a world where legalized, non-hereditary slavery is common-place for serious crime, unredeemed debt, or voluntary self-indenture. Eighteen years of age is the minimum for anyone in this world to be enslaved or be involved in slave business operations. In reality, slavery, even if a person enters into it voluntarily, is an abomination. This episode includes a guest lecture by Professor Sarah Hollister, arranged through the kind offices of Joe_Doe_Stories.)
I'm Shirley Thompson: 5 foot 6 inches (just barely), brown hair and eyes. At the time of this story I had finally tightened my body so I thought I was presentable but certainly didn't feel very attractive. I was 19 years old and just starting my sophomore year at the toughest female college (heck, any kind of college) in the country. And I had to find a way to stop fantasizing about being a slave.
The 34th Amendment had repealed the 13th Amendment, thereby making non-hereditary slavery or indenture legal in the U.S. Growing up in the North, I'd never given much thought to it, except to think how terrible it would be to lose all your rights and be at the mercy of someone who could do anything he or she wanted to your naked body.
College is supposed to expose you to new ideas, but this was ridiculous! My freshman roommate from Texas, the gorgeous and dynamic Pamela Foster, had introduced the topic of slavery to my consciousness. She had shown me a video of a woman being enslaved by parents because the girl had tried to do the same thing to her own sisterâthe image was horrifying yet fascinating. My roommate had persuaded me to practice slave yoga positions and told me stories about her own experience being "slave-graded" when she turned 18. Even though she was very assertive, she confessed to erotic day-dreams about being controlled and ravished. And suddenly, all I could think about was how terrible
and how sexy
it would be to lose all your rights and be at the mercy of someone who could do anything he or she wanted to your naked body.
I knew it was insane. I have no desire to give up my freedom or even risk becoming a slave. But, for some reasonâmaybe my lack of self-confidence, my lack of friends, or my lack (with the exception of my parents) of people who loved meâI'd become fascinated with the idea of belonging to a guy. Not for life, you understand, but for some undetermined period in which he would fuck my slave brains out at least three times a day, and in between keep me as his naked, bound toy. Somehow having someone who wanted to control me physically made me desirableâI know, it's crazy. Whether in my dreams or during slave yoga exercises, I get excited about the ideaâerect nipples and clitoris, dampness between my legs.
Shirley and I had signed up to room together again for sophomore year. When we were alone, after we finished moving our stuff into the room, I sat down to talk to her. I told her she was my best friend forever, BUTâcould we please take a break from the topic of slavery? Even for a month?
"You know I'm fascinated by the idea, but the reality is terrifying. I don't mean to insult you or the way you grew up, but I've got to stop thinking about it, or at least make myself more objective about the topic. You're so strong-willed that I guess YOU can fantasize without going off the deep end, but that's not me."
Pam: "I know, Shirlâsometimes I feel the same way about slavery. It's a great fantasy but a lousy reality. I hope you'll still come to visit my family over Christmas vacation, and with my brother Jessie working at a slave market the topic will be unavoidable then, but for now I promise to give it a rest, OK?"
Pam was as good as her word, and I was able to focus on studying (except late at night, when I daydreamed about slave sex to release tensions!) Yet, within a month of resuming school, the topic came up in the classroom.
*****
Pam and I had different majorsâpolitical science and chemistry, respectivelyâso most of our classes were now different, but for fun we had signed up together for an elective in gender studies. I should have seen this coming, but I suddenly realized that one of the topics in the course wasâyou guessed itâslavery. Seems that slavery, with its extremes of power exchange and submission, is usually classified academically as a sub-set of gender studies. Not all slaves get used as sex toys, but that's a significant part of their existence.
Picture a medium-sized classroom with about 20 students and the instructorâall female. The guest lecturer was Doctor Sarah Hollister, Professor of Slave Studies at Harvard. She was a tall, beautiful, supremely-confident woman, the exact opposite of my fevered images of a submissive female slave, but of course she discussed the topic as an academic and a business consultant, not a victim. Most of her remarks were about the business of slaveryâshe had published several books with titles than made me blush, such as
Profit Per Pussy: The Art and Science of Slaving
. She also covered some of the societal aspects of this strange institution:
"Let's face it, ladies," she admitted, "It's impossible to make a moral or ethical justification for this denial of human rights. Except that, somehow, it works. In the state of Texas, for example, slavery has been a fact of life for the past 33 years. During that time, the amount of violent crime and especially sexual assault as a proportion of population has declined 27 percent in the state. Default on debts, especially college loans and mortgages, is now less than 9 percent of outstanding loans as compared to 32 percent two decades ago. Even homelessness has declinedâIt seems immoral to use enslavement as a means of reducing poverty, but that's what has happened. In the state Department of Agriculture files for the past five years, I found more than four thousand cases in which destitute individuals indentured themselves, although they may have been coerced into doing so. And I would hasten to add that the state has begun spot checks to ensure that these self-indentures are not being abusedâor at least, not abused more than the average slave! Plus, there are virtually no pimps or prostitutes in Texas or Louisiana because they can't compete with slave brothels and call-girls. Big city vice squads have been cut in half for lack of sex trafficking cases."
When Professor Hollister invited questions, Pam was (typically) the first person to raise her hand.
"Professor Hollister: I recognize that your work has focused on the business aspects of the slave industry. Can you tell us about any studies concerning the psychological effects of slavery? How badly are slaves traumatized by their experiences?"
The professor replied: "You're correct, of course, that the slavery experience can have profound effects. I would refer you to the new survey by two Texas psychiatrists, Walker and Sheldon, titled
Psychological Impact of Slavery
. The book contains several chapters that I believe you'll find quite captivating." (she smirked in a condescending way about the pun she had just made.} "These include such topics as the trauma of initial indenture, the submissive orientation of slave sex workers, and so on."