Posted on 02/14/2015 4:17:59 AM PST by Kaslin
Last week I was at a dinner with about 20 people and I happened to be surrounded by 7 women. One of them mentioned 50 Shades of Grey and as it turned out, every last one of them had read the book (Incidentally, two said it is "disgusting" and the other five like it). It might surprise you that so many women have read the book – well, until you find out that 100 million copies have been sold. When you consider that you can supposedly hit the New York Times Best Seller List with a few hundred copies moved per week, you start to realize how much of a cultural phenomenon this book has become.
Unlike a lot of other men, I do occasionally like to consume books, movies and TV shows that seem unappealing just because they really strike a chord with women. Sometimes they’re surprisingly tolerable. For example, despite the fact that all the characters were shallow and not very likable, Sex and the City was a fun show…well, for the first three seasons when the characters were engaged in funny dating hijinks. As a single man, watching the show almost made me feel like I was getting tapes from behind enemy lines that let me know how women think. Then, all of the women got into relationships and the show started focusing on their friendships and it turned so excruciatingly bad that I never finished watching the series. Also, don’t tell anybody, but I “kind of” like The Notebook -- not enough to watch it again or anything, but it was tolerable for a romantic movie. On the other hand, Twilight was “keep your head away from the noose lest you’re tempted to end your suffering” bad.
So 50 Shades of Grey was my latest foray into the female psyche and the book was just what I expected it to be: porn for women. Some men look at porn. Some woman read at romance novels. Both are designed to arouse, neither is very realistic and neither is probably very healthy. I’m not advocating it, but people have powerful instinctual drives and are going to do what they’re going to do.
As a man, reading the book was probably as dull as looking at the pictures in a Playboy magazine would be for most women – and that’s not just because the writing is bad. The 21 year old heroine, Anastasia Steele, is not a particularly interesting person and her constant talk about how her “inner goddess” feels is annoying. Ironically, that’s probably a big part of why the book is so appealing to so many women. Anastasia is generally attractive and a little puckish, but she’s not so exceptional that women couldn’t imagine themselves being in her shoes.
On the other hand, as you read about Christian Grey, despite the fact that the book describes him as an almost surreally attractive billionaire, you can’t help but think, “That guy has severe issues.” Granted they’re explained by his background, but as you’re reading about his “Red Room of Pain” and the long, weird dominance/submissive contract he gives to Anastasia, you just want to tell her to run.
Of course she doesn’t run because the issues are part of the point. Christian Grey has to be screwed up or there’s no drama for the heroine and no opportunity for her to “heal” him by, well, liking him and having sex with him a lot. In fact, and this may surprise a lot of fans of both series, but Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey are a lot more alike than people may realize.
In both cases you have an extraordinarily attractive, powerful, yet dangerous and damaged man becoming almost obsessive over a young girl he hardly knows because she stimulates so much desire in him. From the outside, neither relationship looks healthy, but the woman is determined to save her man with the power of her intense devotion and love. In other words, they have the same underlying theme, even though one features sparkly vampires and the other has light bondage.
As a man, I can tell you that the book was torturous to read and, no, I won’t be going to the movie. I endured the first Sex and the City film so I could write about it and I feel as if that’s enough suffering for my art to endure in one lifetime.
Wow, I wonder how many women stay in screwed up and even abusive relationships because they 'know' they can get him to change. It does not work out well, all too often.
I see geriatric women reading on the subway on the West Side. I gather it’s like “Harry Potter” for old ladies.
Ah the power of the pen. 100 million people read one man’s carnal fantasy, and all are now enlightened. And a humanist society continues on it’s cultural-moral free fall.
A long time ago I had a girl friend who was into the Dom/Sub thing. She was a sub and showed me “the ropes” of being a dom. At first it is really great and different but then it gets to be like a job. Then it is just a lot of work and sometimes you just want to skip all the pomp and circumstances and just scrump and hit the hay. So I will never do that again. It’s not worth it.
So she visits one such farmer and instantly falls in love with him during an interview. The sight of Ole in his overalls and John Deere hat wield a powerful influence on the woman. When Ole spits some snuff that accidentally lands on her shoes, she is smitten by his powerful, Scandinavian sexuality.
Of course, Oles's love for his tractor and other farm implements comes into play. And the lib reporter has to contend with Ole's affections for his sweetheart Lena who tries to foil the lib reporters quest to capture the heart of Ole.
Soon to be available at all fine bookstores close to you. Or online.
I would gladly stop paying farmersonly.com every month and send the money to Fresno for the rest of my life if that happened.
Instead, all I have are 50 Shades of Grey readers with tattoos of stars across their chest that consider Applebees as fine dining and Vodka and bathsalts as a good time.
Sigh... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
“Fifty Shades of Grey†is soft porn for women. Sex, domination, bondage, with sadomasochism — all done in print — and safe for feminine voyeurs. Ladies, if you need this bilge to entertain, you need counseling. It will be interesting to see how well the movie receipts are for this piece of Hollywood filth for the masses. I bet there will be a lot of good Muslims who attend so they can improve their women abuse techniques. Oh, wait, there aren’t women in burkas, so the movie is Haram (forbidden).
I think this guy is clueless about the inner workings of a woman’s “psyche”. 50 shades of soft porn? Phhht. I call it The Codependent Chronicles.
I’m a supervisor and employees are allowed to read during down times. Last year, I must have come across fifty women reading that book.
I asked them all the same question, “Should you be reading porn at work?”
Universal response: fifty shades of red. Busted, and they knew it.
I did like one woman’s response when I called out her friend, “See, I told you this was why I brought my copy on the kindle.”
The books reinforce the worst “fantasy” women can have......that they can change a man.
It is this thinking why women date clearly abusive, dysfunctional men who treat them like dirt. But these stupid women think they can transform this abusive, unfeeling bastard into a romantic dreamy prince.
50 Shades encourages women to believe they can change an abuser into a lover.
It’s shocking to me that this is all so shocking. It will be springtime shortly. Lot of this stuff will be going on in the forests and meadows.
I have a Kindle, but I never thought about this advantage LOL
(And I do NOT have any Mommy porn on it, unless you include the Dexter books in that category)
Many people have bad taste in general. Look at Obama.
Maybe before they turned it into a vehicle for progressivism.
Uf Da!
-grandson of a Norwegian farmer
-— I gather it’s like “Harry Potter” for old ladies. -—
It’s rare that so much can be said in so few words. LOL... I imagine that’s exactly what it’s like.
While I can appreciate that”50 Shades” is a hit for women, I understand that I don’t understand. I tried to read it, but it is so poorly written that reading it is a chore.
Maybe women like it because it doesn’thave the trashy rep that Harlequinn Romance does? I don’t know or care.
All this hubub about it, both pro and con is pointless.
Don’t like it? Don’t read it or watch it.
Like it? Enjoy.
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