Cat Johnson Braves Doll Lil’s Word Association Challenge!

*Warning- This book contains highly mature subject matter*

From Wikipedia:

Published in French by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Story of O is a tale of female submission about a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, O, who is blindfolded, chained, whipped, branded, pierced, made to wear a mask, and taught to be constantly available for oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse. Despite her harsh treatment, O grants permission beforehand for everything that occurs, and her permission is consistently sought.

At the beginning of the story, O’s lover, René, brings her to the chateau of Roissy, where she is trained to serve the men of an elite group. After this first period of training is finished, as a demonstration of their bond and his generosity, René hands O to Sir Stephen, a more dominant master. René wants O to learn to serve someone whom she does not love, and someone who does not love her. Over the course of this training, O falls in love with Sir Stephen and believes him to be in love with her as well. While her vain friend, Jacqueline, is repulsed by O’s chains and scars, O herself is proud of her condition as a willing slave. During the summer, Sir Stephen decides to move O to Samois, an old mansion solely inhabited by women for advanced training and body modifications related to submission. There she agrees to receive a branding and a labia piercing with rings marked with Sir Stephen’s initials and insignia. At the climax, O appears as a slave, nude but for an owl-like mask, before a large party of guests who treat her solely as an object.

This is without doubt the most difficult review I’ve tackled to date. I first had to rant and rave privately – and to the other Dolls – in order to view the book somewhat objectively. And even that wasn’t much help.

Published in 1954 France, Story of O is a study in deviant sexual extremism – sadism and masochism at their worst. Because the story is both graphic and clinically objective, it fails to qualify as either erotica or pornography. According to various accounts, the French populace was both scandalized and titillated by the detailing of O’s descent into the shadowy world of sexual slavery. For a number of years the author remained anonymous and an official investigation brought about by many complaints was quietly quashed without explanation.

Though many people safely practice domination/submission, I found this tale disturbing due to the extent of brainwashing and physical mutilation involved. Despite her beauty, O was so insecure and afraid of losing René that she agreed to everything without question. He played on this insecurity to manipulate her into believing that every degrading act she submitted to was proof that she loved him, and she became little more than a semen repository for any man with a hard on.

She was less than a prostitute. Even a common whore would expect payment for her services, yet O received nothing but humiliation and mutilation and thought herself lucky indeed.

The narrator follows O to Roissy where she’s held for submission training. There she’s immediately stripped, cuffed, chained, sodomized, raped, and beaten in full view of (and by) everyone. She’s not allowed to see the faces of her rapists, look any higher than their crotch, speak, close her mouth or legs, or in any way be less than ready for any sex act imaginable at a moment’s notice.

She’s brutally punished for any infraction of the rules and the guards routinely beat her. No act is private. Even trips to the bathroom are made under the watchful eyes of the guards. For two weeks, she endures this and more until she’s broken enough to be considered properly trained.

Though O insists she submits willingly, anyone with half a brain will realize that her free will was stripped away through brutality and coercion. All while her lover watched and said nothing except to offer suggestions for added abuse.

After O leaves Roissy, René gives her to Sir Stephen as if she were a used car to be taken for a test drive. It’s at Sir Stephen’s request that her anal area is branded with his initials. He also has her labia pierced to accommodate heavy rings bearing his insignia – rings so large and heavy they’re impossible to hide or remove.

Story of O is not for the fainthearted or squeamish. Each despicable act is chronicled in detail – from the stretching of orifices to more easily accommodate the men, to the deep branding and burning of flesh in the genital area, to the parade of men committing sex acts as if she’s an amusement ride.

For eons, society ignored the mental and physical abuse of women because they were little more than chattel, so it’s unfathomable that any woman would willingly allow herself to be treated as less than nothing.

Though I’m sure someone somewhere considers this book to be an outstanding work of art, I found no socially redeeming value in the work. Perhaps it was intended as a farce rather than a statement on the French mindset, but even as a farce, in my opinion it is unsettling and in poor taste.

Mona's first grade teacher, Mrs. Stanford, gifted her with the love of reading. For that, she'll always live in her heart. But reading took over Mona's life, eclipsing everything but playing sports, and has continued to be a huge part of her life. Although she has always written poetry and stories for her self, last year she decided to try her hand at writing fiction. She is currently editing her first urban fantasy and hopes to have it ready for the agent by summer's end. Besides reading, Mona loves speed in the form of fast cars. The faster, the better! In her next life, she plans to drive race cars (or whatever happens to be their replacement in the future) all while reading and writing. She has also taken up rune reading, and find it to be disturbingly accurate and exciting.

Doll Mona Leigh

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