A little while ago I wrote an article...which can be found on my own web site...under Gor v BDSM

The Gorean lifestyle is not a part of D/s or BDSM,
nor has it any attachment to them other then incidental.

My intention in writing this article was to form a basis for understanding
the Gorean lifestyle from a BDSM point of view.
Something that someone coming from that background could gain an overview,
a contextual framework for understanding what it is.

In considering the Gorean lifestyle,it is probably best to first consider the background – where it came from, etc.

Between 1967 and 1986, an author by the name of John Norman
wrote a series of 25 books, set on the fictional planet of Gor.
Whilst the ‘feel’ of the world is alien in many of its aspects
(vegetation, animal life, etc) from a human perspective,
it is very similar to classical Greek / Roman culture.

The Gorean lifestyle then is based upon an extracted philosophy from
books written by a philosopher.

In splitting out the philosophy from the books,
it is also necessary to look at the cultural background
against which they are set, but this background does not
necessarily become part of the lifestyle.
Indeed, the lifestyle is based solely on the philosophy;
any cultural aspects are included as individuals wish,
often to give a more ‘Gorean’ flavour.

It is easy to see from this that the connection between
D/s and Gor is not at all apparent.
No lifestyle based solely on one aspect could be so encompassing
as the Gorean one evidently is.

Why then the immediate association in most BDSM’ers minds?
I suspect that it stems mainly from online interaction,
rather then offline, since there are so few lifestyle
in the UK that many people will never meet them anyway.
Online, the focus of most ‘Goreans’ seems to be the master / slave dynamic,
to the exclusion of all else.
In the lifestyle context of course, owning a slave does not make one Gorean,
neither does the lack of one make one not.
Of course, some Goreans, just as any other members of society,
may choose to indulge in BDSM for their own amusement.

As Most have said here The Gorean lifestyle works well in this world of virtual reality as it is mostly role play....but really does not fair well in real life.

cg