(no I did not think of this)
Posted on 07/31/2012 11:22:22 AM PDT by Morgana
It’s a pitiful statement on the moral condition of our country and world. A book trilogy that promotes, among other things, sadomasochism, pornography and the degradation and sexual objectification of women continues to top the best-seller list. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the desensitization in our culture is so strong that we can’t recognize pure unadulterated porn when we see it or the fact that so many Christians, including some of my Catholic radio listeners, are among those going ga-ga over E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
If you’re not familiar with the trilogy, I will try to sum it up as cleanly as I can for a Catholic newspaper. The story centers around a twisted relationship between a sexually inexperienced college graduate named Anastasia and a billionaire named Christian Grey. Anastasia falls head over heels for Grey and agrees to be his “submissive,” meaning she allows him to take control of her life and engages in a domineering sexual relationship focused on S&M and bondage. The book describes graphic sexual encounters. Secular psychologist and TV host Dr. Drew Pinksy described it as a story about a “pathological, abusive relationship that in no way resembles a healthy love life.” Fifty Shades of Grey
“Why women would pick this up as any sort of substitute for intimacy or any sort of a model for a reasonable relationship, I find just sort of disturbing,” Pinsky said in an interview with WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C.
Peter Kleponis, a Catholic therapist and author of “The Pornography Epidemic: A Catholic Approach” (Women of Grace, $10.99), says women are wired differently than men.
“Men are more drawn to pornographic pictures and videos and women are relationship stimulated, which is why they are drawn to romance novels, soap operas and chat rooms. ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is really pornography disguised as a relationship. ... It is actually degrading to women and does not present a healthy picture of relationships or sexuality.”
Kleponis said a woman reading the book is no different than a man viewing Internet porn.
“I doubt any healthy woman would ever want the kind of relationship or sexuality portrayed in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’” he said. “Would you want your daughters reading this book?”
What I find so appalling is the hoops some Catholic women are jumping through to justify reading the books. One listener told me the books have a great message because the main female character ends up redeeming Grey and helping him get over his abusive childhood. There is not room enough in 10 columns, let alone one, to talk about the problems of women trying to “fix” men while putting themselves in abusive situations. Just as disturbing is the lack of understanding on Church teaching regarding pornography. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2354) is pretty clear:
“Pornography consists in removing real or simulated acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public) since each becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.”
We don’t exactly have to be a moral theologian to figure this one out. No pun intended, but there is no “Grey” area here.
It is crap. The story is crap. It is written like crap. And yet millions of women flock to crap. Go figure.
I first heard if this book here of all places. Yes if I did not come to FR I would not know that “The Story of O” (or a variation of it) was a national bestseller. Nope not me, too busy reading the likes of Glenn Beck. Not surprised this crap is being portrayed as a...a oh whatever.
I’ll just keep reading Glenn he is more interesting anyway.
Ladies, every time you read “Fifty Shades of Grey”, God kills a kitten. Please think of the kittens.
There are two immensely amusing aspects to the popularity of this series.
The VAST majority of its fans are women. They obviously find something about the story immensely appealing and stimulating.
There are feminists out there trying to portray its popularity as an example of the emancipation of women, since they are “taking charge of their own sexuality.” Never mind that the basis of the story is the quite literal sexual enslavement of the female lead character.
Personally I wonder to what extent the popularity of the series is due to the natural healthy female desire for a dominant male. Stuff that healthy desire back down hard enough for long enough and it’s likely to pop back up in unhealthy ways.
I know teenagers who get involved with Japanese anamae and sometimes Manga which is full of gender bending B&D. Starts at pokemon and ...
I have never heard of that book, and hopefully never will again
It is crap. The policies are crap. It is presented in crap speeches. And yet millions of women flock to crap vote for 0bama. Go figure.
I would imagine it does not hurt this Mr. Grey is a billionaire. Would of been funny if another version was sold making Mr. Grey just another Dilbert in a cube. I would guess zero copies sold. To steal from George Bernard Shaw this book establishes the buyer what type of women she is. Now it is just a matter of the haggling.
As I see it Fifty Shades is simply escapist fantasy for women. I don’t understand why conservatives feel the need to bash a fictional book when we have much bigger problems with the liberals trying to socially engineer and shame all women into acting like loud obnoxious men.
He is also no doubt devilishly handsome and a really snappy dresser.
My strictly limited investigation of this sort of female porn found that it spends an amazing amount of time describing what he and she are wearing.
BTW, I found the article’s mention of how it is really a bad idea to encourage female fantasies of “taming the bad boy” quite accurate. This “bad boy” fantasy is the basis of almost all romance novels. Women don’t often seem to realize that the bad boy is generally exactly that, and getting into a relationship with him is much like deciding to walk into a buzzsaw.
From what I’ve been told, the guy in the books is a 25 year old self-made billionaire who’s also incredibly handsome and in peak physical condition.
It’s pure escapist fantasy fulfillment.
So is drooling over nudie pics on sluts-r-us dot com ...
I’m guessing that the women that are enjoying these books, just don’t think the same way as the author does.
Snore. I’m reading “At Dawn We Slept” upstairs and the memoirs of Winston Churchill’s daughter Mary downstairs, and an old issue of “Sailing World” (left by my husband) in the bathroom. “Sailing World” is pretty boring.
(no I did not think of this)
It is porn. Hard core porn. Yet it is held up as great female/mommy lit.
Think about that. If this was a film, the same people would be complaining it demeans women. Yet in a book form, it makes them happy to be tied up.
Yep, If this was a film, women would be complaining it is porn. Yet in book form, "what's the problemo?"
This meme sums it up
I'm not qualified to speak about "almost all," but it's not the basis of the romance novels I read. These are usually historical, often "Regencies" but including other periods. For example, Lauren Willig is writing a very enjoyable series in which there's a modern protagonist writing her disseration on Napoleonic-period espionage, and the main plots are romances involving the people she finds in her research.
Tasha Alexander has a series set in the late 19th century, also involving crime and espionage. Many historical romance novels have mystery plots (another of my fiction interests), and the romance develops in the course of solving a crime.
In all the books I like, the male protagonist is a decent man, and the romantic suspense arises out of external circumstances. (If he seems to be a worthless roue', it's to make the French think he's not a threat!) I have no interest in "bad boys" in real life, so I'm not interested in them as romantic leads in fiction or movies. I even want to give Thomas Magnum a kick in the shins and tell him to grow up, half the time!
“Pornography consists in removing real or simulated acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public) since each becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.”
Given this definition of pornography, I fail to see how any of this applies to the written word, except perhaps “it immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world” which applies to most all fiction generally. The only persons involved are the reader and the author.
As to the last statement,” civil authorities should prevent the production production and distribution of pornographic materials “, ain’t gonna happen with freedom of the press.
Those that are offended by it should not read it, or if they do read it, grip the book firmly with BOTH hands.
At Dawn we slept is a really good book. Need to read it again it’s been a few years.
I read “Miracle at Midway” on a recommendation from the FR “WWII + 70 Years” thread, and then went back in time to “At Dawn We Slept.” I really like both books. The author does a great job of illuminating the personalities as well as putting together a huge volume of material in a comprehensible narrative.
It’s funny, but because the Japanese are attempting something novel and daring, I find myself wanting them to succeed. It’s sort of like when I read “Knight’s Cross,” I wanted Rommel to win, even though I knew better! It’s also interesting that people like Genda, Fuchida, Nagumo and so on - cultured and honorable men - were part of a society that produced the Rape of Nanking and the prison camps and the cannibalism, just as Rommel, a true gentleman in every way, was part of the Nazi culture. There’s a lot to think about.
At least Fifty Shades goes against the feminist grain that women have to be ‘dominant’ otherwise they’re worthless. Our problem is not that women are somehow being made submissive because a few read a book our problem is that there is a massive taxpayer funded government campaign to socially engineer women into the libtard’s idea of the opposite direction. Like Oblahblah talking about imposing Title IX on college majors for starters. Fifty Shades is a drop against a tsunami of militant left feminist.
Very true.
I have not read it and won,t, i just read westerns and some detectives and mystery and such but if i find what seems like porn in one of these i quit reading it.
And no, it is not that i do not like women and sex, in fact i like them too much to want to see it turned into something like that.
A beautiful nude woman is pleasing to my eyes but to go too far makes me want to vomit.
I think a big part of the appeal is the fantasy surrounding a handsome, extremely wealthy businessman becoming obsessed with a nobody college girl. Women have fantasies about high-status men. Hardly any woman fantasizes about being dominated by a supermarket manager.
Second, the key thing about domination fantasies is that, by giving up all control, the submissive also removes all responsibility for her actions. Her fantasy revolves around power (over the man) without responsibility.
Ah, yes, the "bad boy" archetype, the one who does as he pleases and ignores the rules. Lots of women are attracted to him. The more women are attracted to him, the higher the status of the woman who "gets" him.
Unfortunately for the woman who "gets" him, she doesn't keep him for long. The very fact that he's popular means that he has no incentive to not dump her as soon as she stops being as much fun as at the beginning of the relationship, or as soon as she gains a couple of pounds.
If this was a film, the same people would be complaining it demeans women.
“At its core, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is a complex love story, requiring a delicate and sophisticated hand to bring it to the big screen,” said Universal Pictures Co-Chairman Donna Langley. “Mike and Dana’s credits more than exemplify what we need in creative partners and we’re glad to have them as part of our team.”
“Michael De Luca is a dream producer, whose combination of vision, taste and fearlessness is the perfect match for ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’,” said Focus Features’ Chief Executive Officer James Schamus.
“From what I’ve been told, the guy in the books is a 25 year old self-made billionaire who’s also incredibly handsome and in peak physical condition.”
It's a Twilight Fan-Fic repackaged as a novel. These types of books have been around since the beginning of the written (pictograph) languages. it's nothing new. I have no idea why this particular one is drawing so much attention.
It's completely implausible (there are only 5 billionaires under the age of 25, 3 are Facebook people, 1 is Napster (I think) and 1 is a citizen who inherited his wealth).
As for escapism, everyone needs a little, now and again, this would not be my choice. But then, I am more of a Sci-Fi kinda girl. :-)
A Catholic homeschool mom in our area just wrote a Catholic romance. I’m looking forward to reading it just to support her. I prefer Sci-fi and historical fiction. However, I’m sure this will not be X-rated.
http://www.annmariecreedon.com/angelas-song/
That brings this clip to mind.
Agreed. I'm not a girl, but am a sci-fi fan and it's hard to beat well-done sci-fi. Sadly though Hollywood seems rather deadset against putting out good sci-fi; last good sci-fi movie off the tom of my head was Serenity.
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