50 Shades of Grey: child sexual abuse?

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Now that the film is coming out shortly, there is newfound interest in the latest BDSM mommy-porn saga, “50 Shades of Grey”. However, some blogs have indicated that it is actually thinly veiled child sexual abuse, rather than a consenting adult woman as many assume.

50 Shades of Grey Trilogy Normalizing Child Sex Abuse
Apart from the millions of women eating this stuff up, there are many book reviewers and commenters on other blogs who have suggested that the main male character, Christian Grey, has pedophilic tendencies. Says one who’s read the trilogy: “The calling each other baby, the baby oil used during sex, the pigtails worn by the female character, the remarks about skipping and cartwheels … [Grey] telling her she is a child, how naive she is, how innocent she is, he tells her when to sleep, how to eat, dress, act … she doesn’t even know how to work a computer properly even though the author gave her the age of 21, take away that fake ID age of 21, and the girl in 50 Shades is exactly that. She’s a little girl.”
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After a review of the language used in the book, and having done research on pedophiles, we agree. We would be hard-pressed to claim that the trilogy is anything but a sick story of an adult 27-year-old male dominating through coercion, sex, and complete control a young lady claiming to be 21 years old but who acts and talks like a child.
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The bondage/dominance going on between an adult and a child is not only immoral, but illegal. In an appearance on The View last May, Joy Behar asked James why she thinks some libraries are banning the books. The Brit replied that she didn’t understand the “strange thing that is American culture.” Then why in the world did she set the story in Seattle? James’s anesthetized response shows her lack of empathy for victimized children.
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The book’s supporters on Facebook are now denying it categorically. I am interested if anyone else has heard this theory or has opinions, or if you have even read it…
 
I have never read the book but Wow, what a thought ,that this is disguised pedophilia thoughts.

I’ll be interested to hear what others have to say.

Mary.
 
Everything described there is typical BDSM. That fetish is about being submissive in various ways to another. Baby oil is not uncommon in sexual intercourse. Its not only used for babies. Its a lubricant that can be used for many applications, and it comes in unscented forms.

The author hasn’t hidden the fact that this series started as a sexual fanfiction of Bella and Edward from Twilight. When she realized she could publish she got an editor and a publisher and they removed the Twilight characters. Its not pedophilia. Its typical BDSM that started as fanfiction. Nothing more. And considering the writing quality is barely above what a high school creative writing class could churn out we really shouldn’t be giving it any more attention than it is already getring from that ridiculous movie’s marketing campaign.
 
Thanks Justin for the background info on the book. Your explanation makes perfect sense.

God bless,
Mary.
 
If she’d written Christian Grey as a blue collar worker living in a basement apartment no woman would be drooling over this story.
 
I haven’t read the book, will not read the book and will not see the movie. However, I’ve read a few articles about the pedophile angle and a couple of those had quotes from the book. I thought the articles were persuasive enough to convince me that if the author’s intention wasn’t to write a thinly veiled pedophile fantasy, she at least had some aspects of that in mind when she crafted her fine piece of quality literature. I’m not saying she’s a pedophile or has any leanings in that direction herself, but I think she knows her target audiences. Without commenting on her writing abilities, I believe she knew the sort of story she wanted to give to female audiences, and I think she knew that having a child-like protagonist would appeal to a certain segment of the male population.

I think one of the main appeals of the book is, like Phemie alluded to, the glamor of Whatever-his-name Grey. If he was a working class Joe or a lower level management schlub in a go-nowhere department with average looks and nondescript physique, the book would have been viewed as creepy at best. But because he’s a billionaire Adonis, no level of abuse or depravity is too much. I think that sends a wonderful message to the daughters of the women gushing over the books.

I actually had to have a talk with my 13-year-old daughter about this today. We got in the car, turned on the radio and whoever was on EWTN was talking about it. I’m not sure what the program was, but considering the potential content, it wasn’t something I wanted my daughter hearing. When I turned it off she rolled her eyes and sighed. I asked her what was wrong. Turns out they’ve had to talk about it several times at school (you can imagine how much I appreciate the fact that no letter came home about it). Not only have a few kids brought in copies to pass around during recess, but other kids have heard their parents either drooling over it or talking about it amongst themselves. Was there an ad for it during the Super Bowl? Apparently one of the discussions centered around the trailer for the movie and the kids’ varying interpretations about some of the content in the preview.

The general gist of the discussions at school have been along the lines of “this is bad, we won’t tell you why, just pretend it doesn’t exist.” From some of my daughter’s reactions I assumed that the discussions among her classmates have been a bit more detailed. This led to a long talk on the drive home about inappropriate materials and inappropriate relationships. It wasn’t the sort of discussion either of us were in the mood for, but it let her get some things off her mind. One of the things I told her is that the basic plot of the book is about an older man who coerces a young girl into an abusive relationship and that’s portrayed as romance. We talked about how to identify bad relationships and what a horrible message it sends to girls when their mothers–or anyone else for that matter–glamorizes or trivializes abuse. I think it was a valuable talk to have, but not one either of us were in the mood for this evening.
 
From seeing the trailer and pictures of the actress who plays the lead, she does look child like. I completely agree with the blogs on it.

Only pedophiles and men who like to abuse women would really like this. I don’t know why so many women have bought the book.

Should be called 50 shades of abuse.
 
Gordon, the “older man” you speak of is 27. The “younger girl” you speak of is 21.

They are both consenting adults, regardless of how the story is meant to be interpreted. It is simply a fantasy. Like Justin said, it is a sexed-up, non-vampire twist on Bella and Edward from Twilight.

Since you haven’t read the book yourself, you would not necessarily know that the millionaire is in fact a young man, not an older man enticing some young naive girl. Her character IS inexperienced and naive. But it’s part of a character. It’s not a real person. Also, calling the story “abusive” is entirely subjective. BDSM is a lifestyle choice/preference, and calling it abusive is not accurate if both parties are consenting.

I would’ve just said, “it is adult literature” or something along those lines, rather than making it into something about “abusive relationships portrayed as romance.” It is simply a mainstream fantasy.

I do not think the author intended this to be anything like the article you quoted. I think the person who interpreted the story in such a way is misinformed.
 
Seeing as the premise of the interpretation is based on the idea that the female lead is childish and only childish people enjoy this bunk, I don’t know whether it’s serious or really just another way to start a flame war.

Either way, I’m just sit in the corner here and laugh at all this absurdity. It’s what the existence of the novel really amounts to. Don’t bother with the straitjacket. I’ll put it on myself! :whacky:
 
eatpraylove11 said:
Gordon, the “older man” you speak of is 27. The “younger girl” you speak of is 21.

They are both consenting adults, regardless of how the story is meant to be interpreted. It is simply a fantasy. Like Justin said, it is a sexed-up, non-vampire twist on Bella and Edward from Twilight.

Since you haven’t read the book yourself, you would not necessarily know that the millionaire is in fact a young man, not an older man enticing some young naive girl. Her character IS inexperienced and naive. But it’s part of a character. It’s not a real person. Also, calling the story “abusive” is entirely subjective. BDSM is a lifestyle choice/preference, and calling it abusive is not accurate if both parties are consenting.

I would’ve just said, “it is adult literature” or something along those lines, rather than making it into something about “abusive relationships portrayed as romance.” It is simply a mainstream fantasy.

I do not think the author intended this to be anything like the article you quoted. I think the person who interpreted the story in such a way is misinformed.
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If I’m writing a story and I say that Character A is 21 years old but characterize her as a child (and don’t establish that she has some underlying psychological or developmental problems), people are going to assume that I’m intending her to be a metaphor for a child. Likewise, if I characterize my male lead as much older, more worldly and more experienced, no matter what numerical age I assign him, the assumption is going to be one of a parental or adult/child relationship. If he’s not a good looking billionaire and I don’t portray it as a fairy tale romance (regardless of how depraved) then most people are going to see it as a thinly-veiled pedophile fantasy.

As for BDSM, I fail to see how dehumanizing, objectifying and inflicting pain on your partner is not abusive, and I don’t buy the, “but we’re consenting adults and we both enjoy it,” argument. I feel that attitude in general and this book/movie specifically has/will lead to a greater perpetuation of the “value” that women are worthless objects best suited as a tool for a man’s pleasure. Again, it’s a wonderful message to be sending to young girls.
 
oneofmany said:
From seeing the trailer and pictures of the actress who plays the lead, she does look child like. I completely agree with the blogs on it.

Only pedophiles and men who like to abuse women would really like this. I don’t know why so many women have bought the book.

Should be called 50 shades of abuse.
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It should be said that I looked ‘child-like’ until I was in my 30s and had 3 kids. It caused no end of eyebrow raising when I unlocked the ward to visitors at the psychiatric hospital where I worked. It caused someone to ask me what the legal age for marriage was when he found out I was married. That person, only 3 or 4 years my senior, had thought I was a kid and had blatantly ignored every comment I’d made in his presence, annoyed that my parents brought their kid to that function. I was 24.
 
Something else that must be added to the mix while considering “artistic” expressions like these is the fact that the legality of descriptions of underage sexual activity in printed matter (no pictures) is different from what it is for depictions of underage sexual activity in the graphic arts (including motion pictures).

I’m going to minimize details, but the historical romance novels that my wife USED to read frequently contained sexual scenes where the females were as young as 12. I was surprised that the authors could get away with this, but when I did the research, I found that purely textual descriptions of under-age sex are protected by the 1st Amendment. It’s only when pictures are introduced that the depictions become illegal, and if I remember correctly, it doesn’t matter whether the pictures are of real people (i.e., photographs) or not (anime, drawings).

I could be wrong about some details, and if so, I welcome correction.
 
oneofmany said:
From seeing the trailer and pictures of the actress who plays the lead, she does look child like. I completely agree with the blogs on it.

Only pedophiles and men who like to abuse women would really like this. I don’t know why so many women have bought the book.

Should be called 50 shades of abuse.
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I look like a child. I’m in my mid 20s and still get ID’d for the movies! People a few years younger always think I’m still in my teens. Does my husband, who is almost 30, have some pedophilia fantasies? Is that why me married me? :rolleyes:
 
eatpraylove11 said:
Since you haven’t read the book yourself, you would not necessarily know that the millionaire is in fact a young man, not an older man enticing some young naive girl. Her character IS inexperienced and naive. But it’s part of a character. It’s not a real person. Also, calling the story “abusive” is entirely subjective. BDSM is a lifestyle choice/preference, and calling it abusive is not accurate if both parties are consenting.
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I don’t agree with the pedophilia angle that has been advanced here, but neither do I agree that this book displays anything close to a healthy, consenting lifestyle (and I have read the whole trilogy, because I needed to know what the fuss was all about). Grey is controlling, manipulative, and coercive. He preys on Ana because he sees her as vulnerable, naive, and inexperienced - she can be controlled. He uses emotional abuse to further his control, try to make her bend to his will. It is not, in any sense of the word, a consenting relationship between two adults on equal footing.

I have friends who (for better or worse) do subscribe to the BDSM lifestyle, and they condemn this book as being a terrible example of how abusers try to use BDSM as a shield to hide their abusive behaviour.

It’s also pretty terrible writing, but that’s another rant.
 
Pedophilia was the last thing on my mind when I went through that book. The male character is simply abusive and controlling.

To put it another way, the male character treats the female as a child in a similar way that you would expect an abusive man to be over controlling of his victim and always phrase things as it always being her fault.
 
The fact that it originated as Twilight fanfic is even more damning. Edward is a ruthless and violent stalker type. He would kill Bella if he had half a chance; he demands that she procure an abortion for their child; etc. etc. I know Twilight much better than I know “50 Shades” and if they are anything alike, then neither are worth wasting any time on. Twilight’s relationships were seriously messed up. Even my niece stopped reading that trash before the end.
 
oneofmany said:
Only pedophiles and men who like to abuse women would really like this. I don’t know why so many women have bought the book.
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First, you say that only “pedophiles and men who like to abuse women would really like this.” Then you question “why so many women have bought the book.” Obviously, your analysis of the book or its readers is wrong. Perhaps you need to rethink things.
 
I may have to read the stupid books for myself just to refute some of the erroneous things being posted here. Some have already been countered but some haven’t. If we are going to make the points about why the books and movie are wrong we need to make the right points.

FWIW, I’ve seen the trailer.I nearly sprained the muscles attached to my eyeballs from the aggressive eye rolling. I can think of several actors who would have made a more convincing Christian Grey and I suspect better actors wanted nothing to do with the project. Also, Ana does look like the young woman she is, but she does not look child-like at all. The character is 21 but the actress could pass for 25 even (I just looked it up. Dakota Johnson is 25). Considering that the actress’s mother is Melanie Griffith it’s not surprising she might sound childlike. From what I’ve seen Ana is is vapid, not child-like.

I also don’t think the books have anything to do with child sex abuse. Age-play and infantilism do not indicate pedophilia nor are they a substitute for it; and the fact that the author obviously has little understanding of BDSM or paraphilias make it even less likely. On that last note I am, in part, taking the word of people who read smut and a few that have been a part of the BDSM scene. They are well read (most members of the original forum were writers) and those who have read the books all say the writing is awful and that there is better written smut out there.

I’m hopeful that the film will bomb. I read that one of the scenes had to be re-filmed because back in September or October because it wasn’t sexy enough. I’m actually surprised that people found any interaction between the two main characters to interesting, let alone sexy. I’ve read excerpts on line and opened up the book at Wal-mart (wal-mart selling “erotica”? Pullleeeze.) and the bit I read was CG being supportive of Ana on some endeavor. The dialogue was so wooden I couldn’t believe people made this a best seller and was made into a movie. Ugh.
 
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