Anthony paused for a moment, looked up to the ceiling, then exhaled loudly. Looking back at Chris, he continued, "We're getting way off topic and time is running out. Men and women are different, and as long as you don't approach those differences as one being better than the other, then emphasizing those differences can be a very good thing.
"That said, we in this kingdom seek to maximize the benefits of marriage by maximizing the differences between the men and women in them. To do this we start at the top with the King and Queen who together provide the guidance to establish our kingdom as profoundly paternalistic one, with sharply distinct roles for the men and women in it. These roles are created for you to learn from them, and what you should learn will take much longer than today to understand, so keep that in mind as I continue.
"To establish this paternalistic kingdom the King and Queen have created three classifications among the adults that have different rules apply to them. These classifications are men, women and maidens. The main distinction between women and maidens is that women are married, and maidens are not. There are married and unmarried men, but there are no rules that apply to them differently.
"Before I get into those rules I want to make it clear that these are rules, and not laws. Our kingdom does not seek to replace the government. If a rule and a law are in conflict, then you must follow the law. As such, many of us prefer to call our rules our customs, because that better describes what they are.
"The over-arching rule is that men rule. It's not an official rule, but all of the rules that exist establish this. From the moment you take your oath, every woman in this kingdom must do as you say as long as it does not harm them. If you were to find yourself alone in a room with the queen, then you can command her to do any thing you want. Her only protection from any man is the presence of a higher-ranking man.
"Now just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Having sex with a woman you shouldn't will not get you punished, but it will impact whether you work your way up the chain of command. It just demonstrates poor judgment, and a lack of respect for authority.
"There are many rules within our kingdom. Far more than what we can cover today, so I'm just going to talk about four this morning. The first two that I am about to cover don't even seem like they would have anything to do with emphasizing what men and women can offer differently in a marriage, but they do. And the reason why this seems confusing is because our rules are not about focusing on what you do, but on what you can learn from them. There really is no way you can fully understand why these rules exist without a lot of time living under them, so keep an open mind.
"Rule number one: No man can be compelled to have sex. All sexual acts performed by men are done so of their own choice. Women, on the other hand, are compelled to engage in sex regularly.
"Rule number two: No man can engage in a public display of homosexual sex or male sexual submission. Women, on the other hand, are compelled to have sex with other women all of the time. This rule does not prevent homosexual sex between men, it's just not permitted if there are three or more people present, or if there is anything recording it.
"Oh, and if the idea of being sexually dominated by a woman excites you, that can be arranged, it just can't occur in public.
"Rule number three: No man can be punished. This is the rule that goes more to establishing a man's authority over women than all of the others. Only women can be punished, never men.
"Rule number four: When a woman says no she means no. There could very well be medical reasons why she can't participate in whatever it is you desire, or she could be in the process of executing a command of a higher-ranking man. If a woman tells you no, that's the end of it, and she doesn't have to explain why. If it happens to you, then report it to me, and her chain of command will determine whether her refusal to comply was proper. If it wasn't, I can assure you, she will wish she had complied.
"Like I said, there are many more rules, but those are all you need to know for now. Before you take your tests, though, I want to elaborate some more on rules three and four.
"How would you define punishment?"
"It's what you do to someone when they have done something wrong," said Chris.
"But why would you punish someone?" asked Anthony.
"I guess it's because you want them to do good," Chris answered, but not with much confidence.
"So from that answer I can assume that you believe we don't want our men to do good, because we don't allow them to be punished?" Anthony continued.
Chris figured he was being backed into an ethical corner, but he couldn't maneuver around it. Now he was completely stumped. "I'm sure you do want them to be good, but…"
"It's OK Chris," said Anthony. "You were never raised to administer punishment, so your response is to be expected. Earlier today I talked about false rewards. Punishment is the flip side of that. It is about false consequences. When you have someone who cannot grasp what is wrong about their actions your instinct is to punish them, or more precisely, make them experience some sort of negative consequences, even if it's not the actual consequences of their actions.
"When a child acts like a brat you punish them because they don't grasp the actual consequences of their bad behavior, and how it will limit them in life. Rather than having them learn from how badly they will be treated as a result of their behavior, you make them experience false consequences, so they will learn to avoid the actions you believe they should not engage in.
"For our kingdom to function our men must learn from the actual consequences of their actions, not false ones. This doesn't mean they are free to do as they please. Every man's value to our kingdom is constantly being evaluated. The moment a man is determined to be more of a liability than an asset, he is gone. There is never a warning or a threat. It just happens, and there is never any reconsideration.
"We demand that every man pay attention to their value to our kingdom. Any man that isn't paying attention to it will certainly be a liability. And any man who is surprised when they are dismissed most definitely needed to go. This may seem strange and unfair, but as you will learn, nothing is more effective at keeping men on their best behavior than this approach.
"An important consideration to this are the attempts by women to punish the men in their lives. When they do not get what they want they will nag you, or guilt you, or try withholding sex in an effort to — in effect — extort what they want out of you. None of this can be permitted. One certain way for you to be dismissed from this kingdom is if you fail to assert your authority over women by not punishing them for breaking rule three.
"There is a delicate balance here. The actual consequences for a mistake on your part could be an upset woman. In other words, she really is upset and is not doing it to punish you. So punishing your wife who is crying about you forgetting your wedding anniversary is not good form.
"Probably the most delicate balance of all is dealing with rule four. While no means no, who decides when no has been said? In any dispute between a man and a woman the man always prevails. Always. Not because men are better than women, but because of how we deal with them differently when we believe they are wrong. If we punish a woman when we should not have, then all we have is a woman who was punished. If we dismiss a man when we should not have, that is irreversible, and it must be irreversible to be effective.
"Our kingdom is structured to focus a great deal of attention on the character of its members. Any man that would abuse a woman by not honoring her plea to not participate will have the kind of character flaw that is impossible to hide over time. He may not be dismissed by the single time that he lied about the woman saying no, yet if he actually thinks he got away with something, then he is on a very slippery slope to being dismissed.
"Another way of saying this is, it is hard to tell when a good liar is lying, but it is easy to see who a good liar is. No man is dismissed for what they have done, but what we perceive he will do. So good liars are dismissed whether they have been caught in a lie or not.
"So where is this delicate balance I was talking about with rule four? This kingdom develops the kind of women that are full of pride and confidence. When you couple that with an ingrained submissive character, you wind up with a deep seeded desire to be broken to your will in a very profound manner. As such, they will provoke you to take them forcefully, and punish them harshly.
"Just because you have encountered resistance to your domination of them, don't take it like they are saying no to you. The more they resist you, then the greater the domination occurs when you exert full control of them. This also corresponds to a greater submission on their part, which is what they are ultimately after.
"You have an incredible amount to learn from the women you dominate, and the key to that learning is knowing when you have gone too far. The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to whether you are still empowering them, or have slipped into harming them."
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/2rzzd1/next_generation_christian_kingdom_ch05_to_protect