Chapter 3, Part 3 (pp. 153-169) Summary

"Anne Marie and the Rings", part 3. The morning after her first experience of being whipped by Anne-Marie, O is told that her vaginal lips are to be pierced, that permanent rings are to be placed in them, and that a small medallion, engraved with both her name and Sir Stephen's is to be hung from the rings. At first O reacts with fear, but when she is shown the rings with which the other girls have been pierced, her fear ebbs away. The moment of piercing is not narrated; what is narrated, however, is Anne-Marie's reluctant admission that the permanent marking O is to experience is not, as O and the other girls believe, a tattoo, but rather branding.

Narration then describes how O participates fully in the routine of the house - the lazy, indolent days...