First I would like to thank Loveboundbbw for pointing me to the Wikipedia article on [[Glenn Marcus]]. Due to his interest in our opinion on this subject, I’m considering researching and writing about various [[BDSM]] related court cases on a regular basis to aid in keeping people aware and voice my opinion. We all know how I like to voice my opinion. I’ll do this once a month, perhaps. Of course, I said the same about my recipes and I haven’t kept up with that at all so we’ll see where it goes.

As I go through the various cases I decide to cover, I’ll add related links to the “BDSM and the Law“section of our links. You can find links to the articles I’ve been able to find on the [[Glenn Marcus]] case there. I’m having trouble finding any early articles regarding the case and am actually sort of disappointed that I wasn’t able to follow the case when it was happening. This is probably due to my disinterest in current events. I have such a bad habit of just reading the news when I have to and ignoring it any other time. I don’t know if this is due to not being allowed to read or watch the news when I was a child or just a serious case of apathy. I hope it’s the former.

In any case, I’ll start with a little background on the case for those of you who aren’t interested in reading the news articles. By all accounts the relationships between Glenn and his submissives are/were completely consensual. But the other submissives he was with are not what he’s in trouble for. He’s in trouble for Jodi, so I’ll try to outline the parts of Glenn’s relationship with Jodi that were covered in the news and the trial here.

In 1998, Jodi began searching for information on [[BDSM]] online. She met Glenn and shortly thereafter went to Maryland to meet him and another [[submissive]] who belonged to him. With her consent, Glenn whipped her and carved “slave” on her stomach with a knife. After this first meeting, Jodi petitioned Glenn to become his slave. She begged for his complete and total ownership.

In January of 1999, Jodi moved to Maryland to live with Joanna, the [[submissive]] she’d met earlier. Glenn went to visit them frequently and they participated in many [[BDSM]] related activities. Eventually, Jodi went to live with another of Glenn’s girls in New York before deciding she no longer wanted to be part of the relationship. Through all this, witnesses (mostly other submissives belonging to Glenn) and Jodi herself say that she participated willingly and in most cases enjoyed the activities. 

From 1999 until 2001, Jodi was required to maintain slavespace.com for Glenn, a task she seemed to enjoy. She kept diaries about her need to serve this man and the enjoyment she received from her service. Then in 2001, Glenn and Jodi went their separate ways. However, Jodi maintained contact with Glenn, even going on a camping trip with him. According to the blog of another of his submissives, when Jodi was asked in court why she maintained contact, she replied, “I don’t know; he was nice. I had fun.” However, the articles maintain that she continued to keep in touch out of fear. Fear of the public humiliation of Glenn forwarding the photos of herself to her family and friends.

It is the belief of many of Glenn’s family and friends that Jodi went to the [[FBI]] in 2003 because Glenn refused to take the photos of Jodi down (claiming he had a valid model release making the photos his) and she had hopes of being a schoolteacher in Wisconsin. She was afraid the racy photos would be discovered and she would lose her chances to teach. But in 2001, Jodi kept her own [[BDSM]] site called “Amber’s Vault” (I’m having trouble finding it or any archive of it, but will put it up if I find the link.). Her reason behind that was she was afraid and confused and it seemed like a good way to make money.

During the trial, the defense called “Rona”, another of Glenn’s submissives. According to Rona, Jodi never showed fear of Glenn. She never cried or asked to be let go. She had no problem telling Glenn “No.” and refusing his orders. She often rolled her eyes, stamped her feet, and outright disobeyed him. And everything that took place between Glenn and Jodi was entirely consensual. Rona said that Glenn was fun to be around. She enjoyed all of her encounters with him and never did he try to do anything that she wasn’t one hundred percent okay with.

I suppose in reading all of the information regarding the trial a person could take a couple of stances. [[Stockholm Syndrome]] would be the side a person who was completely against [[BDSM]] would take. Not just for Jodi, but for all of the submissives Glenn owned and/or used. They would claim that any person under the control of another could not honestly testify in that person’s defense. Or that, if the implications are bad, they would not want to.

It’s also been argued that the dominant could/would simply order the submissive to testify in his favor. That if he trained his property well (or brainwashed her, as the DA alluded to but had no proof of outside of Jodi’s testimony), she would testify on his behalf, excluding any wrong-doing he might have committed simply on an order from him. While this is true, I don’t think this is the case. Otherwise, Jodi would never have been able to bring herself to go to the FBI in the first place, let alone testify against Glenn, without some sort of intervention from outsiders.

It is my opinion that it is as she originally stated. She gave her consent for the relationship and everything she endured during her time with Glenn. Then, when she changed her mind or lost interest and he refused to take down the photos she’d put on his website, she got angry and decided to retaliate in a way that would cost him dearly. This brings to light a whole series of questions regarding training and agreements and “true slavery”. Questions that can only really be answered by Glenn, Jodi, the other submissives involved, and what you, yourself, hold to be the definition of “true slavery”. I do not pretend to know all the answers to these.

For me, the option to leave has long since stopped being an option. Not because I’m afraid. Because I made an agreement, a promise and a final choice. The choice to become property for the rest of my days. This means that if Master tires of me, I’ll be passed along to another to own. If I tire of Him (which I don’t see happening), I have rights. But they do not include leaving. They include begging to be given or sold to another and/or released. And they include abiding by Master’s decision when faced with this request.

While legally I have so many more choices than these, mentally and emotionally these are the only choices that exist. Society’s law be damned. I am a slave, property. And a slave I will be until I die or until the one who owns me decides otherwise.

If she wanted out that badly, she should have made clear that she wanted out, cut her losses, and if needed, let her friends, relatives and any future employers know that she was being blackmailed with racy photos she’d allowed to be taken of her. This would have given her the opportunity to explain that she made bad decisions and that she was a “changed woman” (which obviously wasn’t true, judging by the website she posted on her own with no one else’s influence) and wouldn’t allow her former life to affect anything in her future life. Of course, this is all depending on their agreement regarding her option to terminate the relationship.

Is it my opinion that [[Glenn Marcus]] is guilty of abuse? No. By all accounts, Jodi consented to the type of relationship she participated in. She was not coerced or forced. She consented. Is it my opinion that he is guilty of sex trafficking and forced labor? I suppose it depends on the definition you choose to use for “forced”. It’s true that she was required, by her owner, who she chose and begged to own her, to maintain a website. This made it imperative for her to put racy photographs of herself and others on the website. Photographs that contained lewd (by society’s definition) sex acts. However, it’s obvious in viewing the website that she enjoyed this activity and did it freely and willingly. So no, I do not believe he is guilty of forced labor. And sex trafficking? Well, if we’re going to include pornography under this broad term, then yes, I suppose he is guilty of sex trafficking. But then, so is every other US based porn producer and website. You want we should lock up [[Hugh Heffner]]? I didn’t think so.

Personally, I believe that had the court been concerned with fairness the jury would have been made up of people more familiar with [[BDSM]], if not people who are involved in the “lifestyle”. For how can one truly be fairly judged by twelve of his peers if the twelve chosen cannot relate to his (and Jodi’s) chosen path? How can the jurists be considered his “peers” if they don’t at least understand his beliefs and the way he lives? Because, let’s face it. The majority of society today still believes that people who live as we do are at the very least a little off balance. And how can one judge someone fairly if they think that about them? I think the prosecution depended on the jury not understanding how someone could agree to live the way we do. I think the prosecution always depends on the jury not understanding our lifestyle and beliefs in these cases. It’s a shame, really.

Disclaimer: We at Insatiable Desire do not personally know [[Glenn Marcus]], Jodi or any of the other submissives involved in this case outside of the news articles and blog entries we have read on the subject of Glenn’s trial. I refer to him as “Glenn” in an attempt to remind readers that this man is just that: a man. Not, in our opinion, the monster some of the media portrayed him to be. Our opinions are our opinions and we do not expect anyone to accept or agree with them. We do, however, maintain the right to formulate them of our own accord. In turn, you are entitled to your own. For anyone interested in making BDSM a more accepted sexual orientation, please check out The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and perhaps show your support.