Language
The Lexicon
The Lexicon preserves the language of the Lifestyle — its words, concepts and traditions. It records meaning; it never prescribes practice. Where usage varies between Houses or lineages, each is set down with equal respect.
Category
History
Entries are listed alphabetically. Categories classify — they never determine order.
Adaptation
The conscious modification of Gorean material to suit modern circumstances or community values.
Administrator
In the Gorean setting, an elected or appointed magistrate exercising civil authority over a city.
Arisue Tradition
A modern Japanese rope lineage associated with the teaching of Arisue Go.
Book Accuracy
The degree to which a Gorean practice conforms to the depiction in John Norman's novels.
Book Gor
A tradition within Gorean community practice that treats the novels as the primary reference for custom and vocabulary.
Builder Caste
In the Gorean setting, the High Caste responsible for architecture and engineering.
Canon
The body of Gorean novels treated as the primary reference for Book Gorean practice.
Captain
In the Gorean setting, a commanding officer within the Warrior Caste or of a vessel.
Caste
In the Gorean setting, a hereditary social order defining occupation, obligations and rank.
City-State
In the Gorean setting, a self-governing city with its own laws, castes and Home Stone.
Codes
In the Gorean setting, the traditional standards of conduct governing a caste, especially the Warrior Caste.
Commander
In the Gorean setting, a senior officer of the Warrior Caste with authority over larger formations.
Contemporary Western Rope
The evolving body of rope practice as it is taught, performed and lived in Western communities today.
Council
In the Gorean setting, the deliberative body of a city, typically drawn from the High Castes.
Custom
The body of received practice governing a Gorean city, caste, household or tribe.
Daughters of Bilitis
The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was the first national lesbian civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1955, it provided social support, education, and advocacy for lesbian women during a period of widespread discrimination. Although not a BDSM or Leather organization, its work helped establish the social and political conditions from which later lesbian Leather and BDSM communities would emerge.
Edo Period
The era of Japanese history (roughly 1603–1868) in which many restraint rope traditions were codified.
Equalitarian Gor
A Reformed Gorean current that adapts the setting to principles of equality between free persons regardless of gender.
Evolution of FLR
Development of the Female-Led Relationship concept and its associated literature and community models.
Female Leadership in Leather History
Historical record of women who have held recognised leadership within Leather traditions.
Female-led Gor
A Gorean tradition, generally reformed, in which the head of the household or the leading authority is a woman.
FemDom Literature
Body of educational, memoir and philosophical writing focused on Female Dominance.
Feminist Sex Wars
The Feminist Sex Wars were a series of intellectual, political, and cultural debates that divided feminist movements throughout the late 1970s and 1980s over pornography, BDSM, prostitution, sexual representation, and women's sexual autonomy. The controversy profoundly influenced the development of lesbian Leather culture, sex-positive feminism, and modern discussions of consent and sexual diversity.
High Caste
In the Gorean setting, the group of castes that enjoy the greatest civic standing.
Historical Rope
A general term for the pre-modern Japanese rope traditions that inform contemporary practice.
Hojojutsu
A Japanese martial art of restraint using rope, developed for military and law-enforcement purposes.
Lesbian Sex Mafia
The Lesbian Sex Mafia (LSM) is an educational and social organization founded in New York City in 1981 to support lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender women interested in BDSM, Leather, fetishism, and consensual power exchange. It became one of the most influential organizations in the development of lesbian Leather culture and sex-positive BDSM education.
LezDom Communities
Communities organised around Lesbian Dominance traditions.
Lifestyle Dominance
Practice of Female Dominance as an ongoing lifestyle rather than a professional or scene-only pursuit.
Low Caste
In the Gorean setting, castes engaged in trades, crafts and services beneath the High Castes.
Merchant Caravan
In the Gorean setting, an organised expedition of merchants moving goods between cities.
Merchant Caste
In the Gorean setting, the caste engaged in trade, banking and long-distance commerce.
Modern Kinbaku
The twentieth- and twenty-first-century tradition of erotic and aesthetic Japanese rope practice.
Naka Tradition
A modern Japanese rope lineage associated with the teaching of Akechi Denki and his student Naka Akira.
New Guard
A term for later Leather practice that adapts the older traditions to a more diverse and openly public community.
Old Guard
A term for the earlier, more formal Leather traditions, particularly those attributed to post-war gay Leathermen.
Origins of Female Dominance
The historical roots of Female Dominance traditions within Western consensual authority communities.
Osada Tradition
A modern Japanese rope lineage associated with the teaching of Osada Eikichi and continued by Osada Steve.
Panther Girl
In the Gorean setting, a free woman who has withdrawn from city life to live in the northern forests, and, in community practice, an identity within Reformed Panther traditions.
Physician Caste
In the Gorean setting, the High Caste responsible for medicine and healing.
Police Rope
Rope techniques used by Japanese law-enforcement officials in pre-modern and early modern periods.
Professional Dominance
Long-established practice of Female Dominance conducted in a professional context.
Reformed Gor
A current within Gorean community practice that consciously adapts the literary material to modern consensual and ethical standards.
Reformed Panther
A Panther tradition that adapts the literary material to modern consensual and egalitarian standards.
SAMOIS
SAMOIS was a lesbian-feminist sadomasochism organization founded in San Francisco in 1978. It became one of the earliest organized communities created by and for lesbian practitioners of consensual BDSM and played a foundational role in the emergence of lesbian Leather culture, sex-positive feminism, and public debate surrounding lesbian S/M.
Samurai Restraint
The body of rope techniques developed within samurai traditions for the capture and transport of prisoners.
Scribe Caste
In the Gorean setting, the High Caste responsible for records, learning and letters.
Sex-Positive Feminism
Sex-positive feminism is a current of feminist thought that affirms consensual sexual expression, bodily autonomy, and erotic diversity as compatible with gender equality. Emerging prominently during the Feminist Sex Wars of the late twentieth century, it has significantly influenced contemporary understandings of BDSM, Leather culture, queer theory, and consent-based sexual ethics.
The Ladder
The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine in the United States. Published by the Daughters of Bilitis between 1956 and 1972, it became one of the most influential publications in early lesbian history, providing education, visibility, literature, political discussion, and community during a period of widespread social discrimination.
Torinawa
A term for the rope used in Japanese arresting arts, and by extension the practice itself.
Trade
In the Gorean setting, the exchange of goods between cities, castes and merchants, often organised through fairs and caravans.
Ubar
In the Gorean setting, a ruler exercising sovereign or exceptional authority over a city or a people.
Ubara
In the Gorean setting, a female ruler holding sovereign or exceptional authority.
Warrior Caste
In the Gorean setting, the High Caste charged with the defence of a city.
Western Shibari
The body of Japanese-influenced rope practice as it has developed outside Japan.
Women's Leather Communities
Women-organised Leather communities and their long tradition of stewardship and cultural contribution.
Yukimura Tradition
A modern Japanese rope lineage associated with the teaching of Yukimura Haruki, emphasising erotic intimacy and connection.