fifty shades of…
I’ll come out and admit it… I haven’t read any of the books and I highly doubt I will in the future. I have my reasons and I hope to share them with you in this article.
I’m not prudish. I am not, nor will I ever be, a ‘Mary Whitehouse’ kind of person, shrieking in horror at what other people find entertaining and then campaigning to have it removed from public view for its own good. If a person doesn’t like something on TV, in movie theaters, books, radio, social networking sites, or any other media you can think of, the solution is simplicity itself: don’t watch, read, watch, or listen. but it remains the choice of the individual.
With that being said, here are my thoughts on the fan-fiction phenomenon that seems to have taken the world by storm.
As I understand it, it started as a ‘Twilight’ fan project, the sweet vampire date night that was written specifically for impressionable teens. In that story, there is a powerful and supernatural being (vampire) who took it upon himself to protect a newly arrived student in the area for whom she quickly developed a very strong desire.
I can already see some flaws in this story. The vampire is permanently in his late teens, which seems fine at first until you realize he’s been that age for a century or so. That makes him over a hundred years old and still mixing with teenagers…can’t anyone else see the creepiness in this scenario? An old man who still looks very young, dating children? He has decades of experience with those kids and he really does yell ‘predator’ at me, but not in a ‘vampire and victim’ kind of predator: I mean, he’s no good.
It goes way beyond the ‘lamb in lamb’s clothing’ scenario and while it may pull it off, it doesn’t make it any better, in fact it makes it worse!
I wonder how many mothers would be pulling their daughters out of that school if they thought that even a thirty-something is paraded around, being ‘re-educated’ over and over again for decades, never mind a centenarian. I know you would have something to say about it.
Then there was the whole ‘Twilight moms’ debacle. Actually? ‘Team Edward’ banners in theaters? If they were forty-year-old parents coveting a high school student so vigorously and in droves, there would be a public outcry, and rightly so. ‘Cougar’ anyone?
Again, if my son was being so publicly coveted, I would be deeply concerned for him and the women involved. Yes, I know it happens, young men under the age of twenty being seduced and ‘educated’ by older women, but it is the exception rather than the norm, thankfully.
Now, back to the fan-fiction – Fifty Shades… I think it started out as someone’s representation of the two main characters in Twilight and to avoid copyright issues, the names have been changed for publication. That’s not the only thing that has changed, the supernatural feeling is gone and so is the total innocence. While Twilight advocates strong moral values when it comes to sex and marriage, the Fifty Shades series… has no such restrictions.
Like I said, I haven’t read the book; I am unaware of the plot, plot, characters or locations used. I know it’s a runaway success, but I’m beyond dismayed to imagine why.
The main character is a misogynistic, arrogant and abusive predator. It takes an innocent young woman, who is (conveniently) old enough to consent, and instead of a beautiful relationship in which she falls in love with a lover who cares and cares for her, she is beaten and beaten beyond her resistance. . The girl is so naive that she has absolutely no idea of sex – not even the most personal, ‘lonely’, friendly kind – and yet she throws herself wholeheartedly into this relationship that sees her beaten raw, not for mutual pleasure like in ‘normal’ relationships, but only for your pleasure.
That sets off alarm bells for me. If she can throw herself into this kind of relationship, what must her home life have been like?
Again, I can only compare this to my own family life. My children have never seen domestic violence and therefore being hit or hit is certainly not the norm and they would not accept or commit it.
The sheer amount of negative reviews this novel is generating makes me wonder why. I’ve also seen positive reviews, but they only confirm my theory that humans as a species are, most of the time, sheep, followers, not leaders.
It reminds me a lot of the children’s fable: The Emperor’s New Clothes, where everyone on earth is so determined not to be considered stupid that they agree to the scam in which two unscrupulous merchants have designed and made a set of clothes that are totally invisible. if the person looking is of low intellect. Of course, no one wants to think that they are dumber than their neighbor and thus the scam is perpetuated. Just when this novel is taking the world by storm, it seems like a lot of the people who read it don’t feel like speaking up and saying, “Actually, it’s a bunch of crap and it’s setting a really bad role model for young girls.” !”
Following someone to the point of stalking you until they cave in and sleep with you is NOT a healthy start to a relationship.
Harassing someone until they cave in and become your lover is NOT a healthy start to a relationship.
Beating someone senseless, beating them until their skin is raw is NOT part of a healthy relationship if they don’t know what they are consenting to.
Beating a submissive beyond the measure of his pleasure is NOT how BDSM works, this story is NOT a true reflection of the BDSM scene.
I think the publisher should, at the very least, make a hefty donation to organizations that help support victims of domestic violence, just like the author.
