{"id":1713,"date":"2013-09-12T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/2017\/09\/fifty-shades-of-i-know-not-what\/"},"modified":"2018-05-02T09:06:50","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T13:06:50","slug":"fifty-shades-of-i-know-not-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2013\/09\/fifty-shades-of-i-know-not-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty Shades of I Know Not What"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been in the headlines of weekly magazines, on the television talk shows, in the book clubs. I am talking about E.L. James’s best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i> (2012). And just when I thought we were so over that, the movie casting calls, and the speculation and hype that go with that, seem to be never ending, putting the provocative book in the news again. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I heard the subject matter, it sounded like erotic fantasy, a genre that doesn’t interest me. But the buzz was unrelenting; even midlifers like me were devouring this book and passing their copies to friends. Eventually I caved and put my name on the waiting list at the public library. My number was very high, which indicated many borrowers were before me, but in just over a month, I had my library copy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I asked one of my librarian friends if she\u2019d read it. Oh yes, she admitted, she had read the entire trilogy. I offered that I understood it to be quite explicit with not much of a story. But she felt it was not so raunchy as I might think. I also had heard many libraries refused to purchase it because of the graphic sex, but she said libraries didn’t want to stock it because people steal books of this nature, being too embarrassed to check them out. Perhaps because folks are unwilling to be \u201ccaught\u201d buying this book or checking it out from the library\u2014or maybe even reading it\u2014the book has impressive e-reader sales. In fact, half the trilogy\u2019s total sales have come from e-books. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At its core, Fifty Shades<\/i> is a romance. Christian Grey is an arrogant, wealthy, young bachelor with kinky sexual needs. Spunky-but-innocent college girl Anastasia Steel is inexplicably drawn to him and becomes his submissive lover. Whipping, spanking, bondage, he’s an \u00fcber<\/i>-control freak, if you get my drift. Who do you imagine would be reading this? Teenagers and college-aged readers are on the young end of the spectrum but the book is reaching male and female, straight and gay. And, clearly, midlife women like me. <\/span><\/p>\n

The plot is virtually nonexistent, and the characters, one-dimensional. Yet in the United Kingdom and the United States, Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i> topped best-seller lists and is the fastest-selling paperback of all time<\/a>. Why? It\u2019s simple. Sex sells. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you see a woman sporting a shirt that says, I \u2665 Christian<\/i>, she’s likely not referring to her house of worship. The marketing madness associated with this phenomenon might surprise you. Not just lingerie, garters and stockings, but sex toys, vibrators, handcuffs and the like, with and without the Fifty Shades<\/em> brand name.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I am not a fan of this book. I am neither shocked nor disgusted; romance novels and erotica are just not my thing. I read enough in the first volume of the trilogy that I didn\u2019t need to seek out the other two. But I am intrigued by other people\u2019s reactions to these books. Polite women are talking about sex instead of about the weather, and women I know who say they \u201cdon\u2019t have time to read\u201d made the time for this trilogy and are raving about the books and speculating about the movie. And feminists want to know what\u2019s happened: all of a sudden, women are asking to be submissive, dominated by men.<\/p>\n

I just don’t see it. I guess I\u2019m the anticulture like the folks who produced this flow chart, \u201c101 Books to Read This Summer Instead of \u201850 Shades of Grey.\u2019\u201d  <\/a><\/p>\n

Where do you stand on Fifty Shades<\/i>? Are you turned off, impartial or eager to hear the casting call answered? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been in the headlines of weekly magazines, on the television talk shows, in the book clubs. I am talking about E.L. James’s best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i> (2012). And just when I thought we were so over that, the movie casting calls, and the speculation and hype that go with that, seem to be never ending, putting the provocative book in the news again. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Fifty Shades of I Know Not What<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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