It's Just A Story ...
That's exactly what Fifty Shades Of Grey is, a story, a fictional love story.
Boy meets girl, lots of loving, a number of obstacles and … well, I’m not going to spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it yet but there it is, a fictional story. That’s it.
So why is there a huge number of people who are trying to read much more into it? Who ever said Fifty Shades of Grey was written as a manual for a BDSM relationship? Because the author sure as hell didn’t!
It’s a story, a work of fiction, a made up book. It was never intended to be placed on the ‘Self Help’ shelf in your local Waterstones (other bookstores are available) and it most definitely isn’t on the ‘Hayne’s Manual of BDSM now including mock contracts!’ shelf …
But there’s much more to the argument than that, let’s take a quick look:
Badly Written?
Unless you have written and published a book which has spent more time in the book charts than the three pictured below, or is a literary classic, you have absolutely no right to tell Ms. James she can’t write. In fact, you have no right to tell any author they can’t write. Yes, you can have an opinion and please, feel free to voice it but who died and put you in charge of what constitutes good writing?
The Sex Part,
Sex, is sex. Everybody does it, more people than you know, will have added extras in their sex lives be it whips, paddles, handcuffs, vibrators, blindfolds or costumes. In fact, someone you know will have – at some point – used any or even all of the above without your knowledge. If you knew which friend it was, would you disown them? Besides, how other people have sex, is really nothing to do with you.
Does It Really Teach Us Anything?
For all the people who said the book teaches young girls to go out and find a sexually dominant man to fall in love with, change and have the perfect relationship with, you are obviously not giving any credit whatsoever to those young girls. In fact, they’ve probably got more gumption than you care to give them where the enjoyment of sex is concerned. Worrying about your own teenage children using these books as a manual or sex guide says more about your own parenting skills. Why are your children learning about sex and self-respect from a best-selling author?
Is It Abuse?
Punching someone full in the face, breaking their nose and causing a black eye, is abuse. Giving your wife/girlfriend a swift back-hander for not having your tea on the table at the time you requested it, is abuse. Constantly telling your partner they are fat/ugly/worthless/a slut/a whore/just in the world to please you, is abuse. Causing any harm or making your partner live in fear of doing certain things, that, is abuse.
Allowing your partner to tie you to a bed and pleasure you – and himself – to the point where you keep coming back for more, is not abuse.
Not only was Ana fully aware of what she was letting herself in for but throughout the whole story, she held all the power. She could’ve stopped Christian at any time. Any time. Not only did she accept Christian’s conditions for their ‘relationship’ she subconsciously pushed herself, she wanted to know how far she could go without chickening out.
On the flip side of that, how come no-one is screaming from the rooftops about the abuse which Christian suffered? The kind of abuse which is far worse than anything he could ever have inflicted upon Ana.
Compare It To … Reality?
Let’s take a quick look at a couple of films, Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. Really? REALLY? As if! And, oooo! Pretty Woman, that oh so fabulous 1990 movie which teaches us all to become prostitutes because that one special Richard Gere lookalike is just around the corner waiting to whisk us off our feet and fall madly in love with us … Yeah, right!
Gene Roddenberry produced awesome stories set in space, if he was still alive would you be writing him a strongly worded letter to tell him exactly how a warp core cannot possibly exist?
Back on the side of literature, Stephen King wrote books which feature a killer clown and a possessed car. Who’s up for knocking on his door to ask, “Hey, Stephen, killer clowns? Man, what were you thinking?”
Above all else, Fifty Shades Of Grey is a work of fiction, it’s from someone’s imagination. It doesn’t matter if there are certain things which are not technically correct. A lot of DaVinci’s inventions would never have got off the ground – literally – but did it stop him becoming one of the greatest minds and artists this world has ever seen? No.
There you have it, fiction. Stories. Made up tales. Our lives have been full of them since the first cavemen sat around a fire and uttered the words, “that sabretooth tiger today was a big bugger but he sure tastes good!”
So for all the haters of fiction out there, because that’s what you are, haters of fiction, jog on kitty, go find something else to scratch at!
