Editing Story of O (section)

== Plot ==
''Story of O'' is a tale of [[female submission]] involving a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer named O, who is taught to be constantly available for [[Oral sex|oral]], [[Vaginal sex|vaginal]], and [[Anal sex|anal]] [[Sexual intercourse|intercourse]], offering herself to any male who belongs to the same [[secret society]] as her lover. She is regularly stripped, blindfolded, [[Bondage (BDSM)|chained]], and [[Flagellation#Erotic use|whipped]]; her anus is widened by increasingly large [[butt plug|plugs]]; her [[labia piercing|labium is pierced]] and her buttocks are [[Branding persons#Persisting practices|branded]].

The story begins when O's lover, René, brings her to the château in [[Roissy-en-France|Roissy]], where she is trained to serve the members of an elite club. After this initial training, as a demonstration of their bond and his generosity, René hands O to his elder stepbrother Sir Stephen, a more severe 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. During the summer, Sir Stephen sends O to an old mansion in [[Samois-sur-Seine|Samois]] solely inhabited by women for advanced training and body modifications related to submission. There she agrees to receive permanent marks of Sir Stephen's ownership, in the form of a [[human branding|brand]] and a steel tag hanging from a [[labia piercing]].

Meanwhile René has encouraged O to seduce Jacqueline, a vain fashion model, and lure her to Roissy. Jacqueline is repulsed when she first sees O's chains and scars, although O herself is proud of her condition as a willing slave. But Jacqueline's younger half-sister becomes enamored of O, and begs to be taken to Roissy.

At the [[climax (narrative)|climax]], O is presented as a [[Sexual slavery (BDSM)|sexual slave]], nude but for an owl-like mask and a leash attached to her piercing, before a large party of guests who treat her solely as an object. Afterward, she is shared by Sir Stephen and an associate of his who is referred to only as "The Commander".

Some early editions included several different variations of an epilogue which note that Sir Stephen later abandoned O, though there is debate as to whether Desclos intended it to be included in the finished work; in one such version, O is so distraught by the threat of this abandonment that she insists she would rather die and asks for permission to commit suicide, which is granted.<ref>{{cite book|title=The story of O|first=Pauline|last=Réage|publisher=Ballantine|year=1973|isbn=0345301110|quote=''There exists a second end to O's story. In that version, O, seeing that Sir Stephen was on the verge of leaving her, preferred to die. Sir Stephen gave his consent.''|page=[https://archive.org/details/storyofo00reag/page/203 203]|url=https://archive.org/details/storyofo00reag/page/203}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://storyofo.info/The%20Death%20of%20O.htm|title=On the Death of O|website=The complete Story of O website|access-date=2018-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325211805/http://www.storyofo.info/The%20Death%20of%20O.htm|archive-date=2018-03-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Roissy triskelion iron ring signet.svg|thumb|144px|right|One version of the Roissy [[triskelion]] ring described in the book]]
[[File:Ring der o.jpg|right|thumb|144px|Movie-style [[Ring of O]], as sold in Europe.]]