Slave Leia's Secret

Psychologist Warning: At the request of the American Psychological Advancement Association, we are required to warn you that if you do not have a "thing" for Slave Leia now, you will if you read this article. Those not wishing to be smitten by Slave Leia should definitely consider reading something more wholesome, preferably something dull. We recommend any of our competitors' sites.

I think it's fair to say that Slave Leia is definitely a phenomenon at science fiction and fantasy conventions and in the culture in general. The picture above is an indicator. For more indicators, we invite you to look at our collection of Slave Leia pics from various cons, so that you may be properly amazed. The first page is an index, and categories include nudity, sexiness, submissiveness, celebrities, and dancing.

Slavegirl Leia's most famous appearance outside "Return of the Jedi," the Star Wars film she originated in (interesting bit of trivia -- the scenes involving the Slave Leia outfit only took up two minutes of screen time) was an episode of "Friends" where Ross reveals that Slave Leia is a favorite sexual fantasy of his, and Rachel attempts to humor his fantasy by dressing up as Slave Leia.

In the scene, several other male characters also revealed that Slavegirl Leia was a favorite sexual fantasy of theirs, in a matter-of-fact way that suggested that all guys have Slavegirl Leia fantasies.

Jennifer Anniston in a very nice Slave Leia outfit on "Friends." Note, however, no chain on her collar. Tsk, tsk, but it was still a critical moment for the development of the Slave Leia Sexy meme.

It was at that moment, I believe, that the seed was planted that made Slavegirl Leia what the character is today: the Plausibly Deniable Slavegirl, the one sexy slavegirl that a regular guy can express interest in without being in any danger of losing his regular guy cred.

Now the attraction for regular guys and girls with regard to Leia's bondage babe qualities is not so great as it is among people who are actually into bondage, but it's still quite strong. At base the appeal of the gal who walks around half naked with a collar and chain or leash around her neck is that she has to do whatever deliciously nasty thing the holder of the chain orders her to do.

Of course, in the slavegirl fantasy for the woman, the holder of the chain is an attractive guy who really digs her and whom she really digs, who tells her to do exactly the deliciously nasty things she wants to do anyway. And the appeal for the guy is that the gal on the chain is an attractive gal who really digs him, and whom he really digs, who really wants to do exactly what he orders her to do. For both sexes, the "slavegirl" fantasy serves as a role playing device that gives them an excuse to do what they wanted to do anyway.

So you don't have to actually be into bondage and dominance to find the fantasy appealing.

It took me a long time to understand this, and its importance, because I'm not a regular guy and I'm completely OK with that. I like sexy slavegirls whether they're plausibly deniable or not. I luuuurve Slave Leia, but my fantasies involve Slave Leia doing a lot of deliciously naughty things while throughly bound and, in some instances, gagged. And by thoroughly bound, I mean bound and gagged in all sorts of interesting ways, and with all sorts of interesting devices and techniques. Whereas a lot of Slave Leias and her admirers prefer their "deliciously naughty" behavior unaccompanied by bondage gear. Seems a waste of slavegirliness, but there's no accounting for tastes.

ALSO FROM PAT POWERS

And of course, if you are consciously interested in getting a little slavegirl action into your life ... and a lot of science fiction/fantasy fans are ... well, Slavegirl Leia can be looked on as a safe gateway for those who aren't totally into bondage and dominance but just want to try things out in a mild sort of way ... call it bondage gateway drag if you will.

What goes for regular guys with regard to Slave Leia's plausible deniability goes tenfold for gals ... Slave Leia is the one slavegirl outfit you can wear without being considered a bondage babe. Well, some people will think you are a bondage babe, but that's just the way they are, they'll take any excuse they can get. You at least have the Star Wars excuse with the Slave Leia outfit for reasonable folks.

But it's not JUST about the plausible deniability. It's also the fact that Slavegirl Leia's garb is actually sexy. See, George Lucas is a much smarter filmmaker than the fanboys who constantly whine about Episodes I-III give him credit for being. When HE created Slavegirl Leia, he made sure she looked like a slavegirl - half, more like 3/4 naked, with a big iron collar attached to a heavy chain around her neck. He made sure the costume was extremely sexy, revealing lots of leg and plenty of flesh and concealing her nether regions with those peek-a-boo flaps that sometimes reveal much, and sometimes reveal almost nothing.

Here's the very template for all Slave Leias, Carrie Fisher in her Slave Leia ensemble in "Return of the Jedi." Note the collar, the big honkin' chain, the general skimpiness of the outfit and peek-a-boo flaps hung on the thong part of the metal bikini. Also, note the wrist cuff on her right wrist. Not shown: elf shoes.

It's almost as if Lucas understood that film is a visual medium, and that if you want to have a character be a slave, you have to make them LOOK like a slave, using the visual cues that generally convey the notion of slavery to audiences - collars, chains, skimpy dress, etc. And if you want them to be sexy, you gotta show some flesh, in fact, a lot of flesh.

Lucas got it exactly right, unlike the creators of "Buck Rogers" in the "Planet of the Slavegirls" episode, where Wilma is captured by slavers. Does Wilma get denuded and put in slinky harem scanties and forced to wear chains and collars or other visually distinctive bondage gear? No, she does not. She doesn't even get out of her uniform, just spends a few minutes wearing cuffs before they're removed and she's tossed into a cell. It was a completely missed opportunity.

And that, my friends, is why you see women at science fiction conventions wearing "Slavegirl Leia" costumes, but you don't see women slinking around at conventions wearing "Slavegirl Wilma" outfits.

Women know that guys think Slave Leia is sexy, and guys think that because she LOOKS sexy, even though Princess Leia as written is not a particularly sexy person.

(Oh, I'm sure a lot of fanboys would wave their hands and say that there must be a huge furnace of white-hot passion underneath all that ice princess, but that's about as literal a case of fanwanking as you'll ever see. Fact is, there's no evidence that Leia, Slavegirl or Princess version, likes sex in the canon (or outside the canon, she doesn't like it anywhere). Of course, there's a lot of slash out there that provides evidence (full disclosure: I have written Slave Gaia/Jiggi the Hunn bondage slash) but really, if you take slash as evidence, every character in every work of fiction (novel, TV, movie, play or video game) has had every kind of sex with every other such character, and that's not evidence, that's just people running amuck with crazed sex fever.)

My point is that even though Princess Leia/Slave Leia has never ACTED sexy, the sheer visual appeal of Leia's sexy slavegirl outfit got the message through anyway. You could SEE that she was sexy. Lucas understood that.

But because Princess Leia never ACTS sexy, and in fact is a powerful character who kicks ass when she has to, she is not just a generic "sexy slavegirl" she is Princess Leia who was temporarily enslaved. You can be very attracted to Princess Leia in her Slavegirl Leia incarnation and not be one of those weird bondage guys.

She's supremely sexy and she's Plausibly Deniable. Sweet, thinks regular guys and gals.

If all this is true (and how could it not be when it's my personal theory?) then it's possible to make some predictions about Slave Leia. For example, it's possible to predict that the Sexy Slave Leia meme will persist -- it's not just a fad.

Slave Leia became popular because she served a purpose and that purpose was to be an avatar for men and women who wanted to safely enjoy a little public display of slavegirl flesh. So long as Slave Leia continues to serve that purpose better than any other pop culture character, she'll remain popular. Perhaps not as popular as Andromeda, who was the iconic damsel in distress for centuries, but for the foreseeable future at least -- because there's no other character currently in pop culture that can offer the undeniably sexy/plausibly deniable combination that Slave Leia does. There aren't even any pop culture venues from which such a character is likely to arise. Possibly someday an anime, which is full of slavegirls and catgirls and catgirl/slavegirls, may come along with a character that fills the bill as well as or better than Slave Leia does, but that day has not arrived, and is probably very far away.

For things to have reached the point where dozens of Slave Leias are available to be photographed at a single science fiction convention almost 30 years after the premiere of the movie in which she appeared, the meme must have bubbled and brewed beneath the surface of pop culture for all that time. This is not your flash in the pan. Slave Leia will be with us for a long time, I think, and I for one am glad she will.

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