Eva Illouz, "Hard-Core Romance: Fifty Shades of Grey, Best-Sellers, and Society" (U of Chicago Press, 2014) Grey Area: How Fifty Shades Dominated the Market by Emily Eakin. Fifty shades of fan labor: Exploitation and <em>Fifty Shades of Grey</em> 1.
Introduction [1.1] In April 2012, UK media was overrun with reports about a book series that had recently hit the shelves. 2015 Court Outlook, and 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in Context. Related Links MSNBC interview with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
'Fifty Shades of Grey': Kink or Abuse? 50 Shades Of Grey - Submissive Sexuality. Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features.
As a dominatrix who sometimes switches with her clients (and is strictly submissive in her personal life), I have desperately avoided Fifty Shades of Grey. All I heard from colleagues and other kinksters about the books was that they were a terrible representation of BDSM, written by an outsider with a dubious grasp on the concept of consent. I dismissed the books as irrelevant, but with the release of the movie adaptation this weekend, the buzz about Fifty Shades has become unavoidable.
I finally decided to see for myself just how bad it could be. It was bad. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. I would be remiss not to point out that Christian himself had been raped — but neither he nor Ana acknowledges it as anything but "seduction. " 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Fifty Shades of Microaggression. Microaggressions: The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.
In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment. Those who inflict microaggressions are often unaware that they have done anything to harm or demean another person. I first heard about the wildly popular novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.
James nearly a year ago. I overheard a friend mentioning an epidemic known as “mommy porn.” 50 Shades of BS - How to tell the Difference Between Kink and Abuse. Most of us who work or volunteer here at Scarleteen are bookworms, and are also really interested in following popular culture to see what's happening, especially in terms of frank conversations about sex , sexuality, desire and fantasies.
Fifty Shades of Grey is Offensive - Kink with Krissy. Fifty Shades of Grey Gets BDSM Dangerously Wrong. What is a fantasy?
From Freud to Ludacris, it's been an elusive idea, suggesting both an escape from reality and an expression of hidden desire. In culture, fantasy works like a mirror: It reflects who we are, but it also shapes what we become. Love it or despise it, American culture's sexual fantasy of the moment is Fifty Shades of Grey. Since Random House bought the rights to the trilogy in 2012, the series has sold well over 100 million copies worldwide. Trailers for the movie adaptation of the first book have been viewed 250 million times, according to an ad aired in early February; it’s expected to gross at least $60 million at the box office in its opening weekend. And that means the Fifty Shades fantasy is about to become all the more influential. The story is fairly simple. What’s not so conventional is their sex. As several experienced BDSM practitioners emphasized to me, there are healthy, ethical ways to consensually combine sex and pain. “I haven’t signed,” I whisper.
Please, media, separate kink (and its problems) from 50 Shades of Grey. I wrote a while back about how the media have got all excited over 50 Shades Of Grey because it portrays a view of sexuality which is not too far removed from the patriarchal norm, yet is a little bit titillatingly different.
With the book having sold approximately 19 billion copies, and it having been read by everyone who has ever lived or died, from the smallest amoebae to sentient gas nebulae, this media dribbling is showing no sign of abating. This week, I have seen two stories about legal cases, where the words 50 SHADES OF GREY have been breathily splashed in a headline-grabbing bonanza. First, there is the case of Steven Lock, who was cleared in court of actual bodily harm for whipping a sex partner. From what information is available about his defence, it seems that he and his partner read the book, and decided to play in a Master/slave relationship. In the incident brought to court, he beat the woman with a rope, and she did not safeword, saying:
Uk.businessinsider. Why are we so afraid of period sex? At least some Fifty Shades of Grey fans were disappointed to learn this week that the film adaptation of the first book, opening next month, will not be featuring one of the most infamous sex scenes of all time.
The tampon scene, as it’s known, marks an important point in the relationship between Christian Grey and Ana Steele—but it was apparently a little bit too much for an R rating. When faced with the need to tone down some of the sex, the producers didn’t even have to think about it; this scene was dumped in the toilet right from the start, and discussion about it has been clogging the Internet ever since.
The film presents a highly sanitized, stylized world, and it’s one where there’s no room for period sex. The fact that the tampon scene wasn’t even considered for inclusion is a telling testimony both to the story they want to tell in the movie, and to the way we view female sexuality in the real world. This is more than a little disappointing. Photo via Focus Features/Trailer.