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I think the “disguised pedophilia” claim is not well supported.

What do you call it when a young girl who cannot operate a computer, talks a lot about cartwheels, wears pigtails, has an imaginary friend, has never had a drink of alcohol, speaks in terms of ’golly’, and is a complete novice to her own sexuality is manipulated, abused, and molested over and over again by an older wealthy man with all the power and all the control?

No, it’s not a classic child abuse scenario, though I can see how people with experience in Child Protective Services, law enforcement, and clinical psychology might think that. It’s actually the plot of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘.

Oh, and get this, the male protagonist is named ‘Christian’ (a nice cheap shot in and of itself) who was, himself, a victim of sexual abuse. Of course he’s wealthy. Take away his money and he turns into something else.

Even though the age of the female protagonist is given to be 21 and she‘s all set to graduate college, her character is portrayed as someone mentally handicapped or as someone much younger. Taken at face value her actions, diction, and level of performance in the world is that of a someone who should be housed in an assisted living facility. Either that or the age given by the author is a very thin cover hiding the fact that the main female character is actually a child.

For example:

The female character has no sexual experiences whatsoever. The narrative voice is that of a little girl. Listen to how she talks: “Holy Cow”, “down there”, “jeez” “double crap”, cartwheels, and skipping. Over and over it is the language and the imagery of a girl with no demonstration of emotional maturity.

If she were a high school student she would be extremely naïve. Remember, she is graduating college.

She is incapable of making the most simple every day decisions.

The older man makes her think the abuse is her choice. This is one of the primary tools of the pedophile, creating an environment where the child feels it’s their idea.

After the early stages of their relationship, the older man becomes more openly abusive and controlling. He tells the girl how to speak, what to wear, and what to eat.

There is spanking and at one point the slathers her in baby oil.

The girl wears pigtails and complains he treats her like a child.

Again, if she has not been given a literary false ID, then the girl belongs in an assisted living facility.

I know it’s ‘just’ fiction. But fiction serves many purposes.

Such people exist, and for that matter some women assume such a persona for sexual play reasons.

Not a big fan of this type of thing myself, but I think it is stretching the term “pedophilia” well beyond any reasonable meaning when you apply it to a 21 year old girl simply because she is somewhat immature and naive.

Pedophilia refers to sexual desire for prepubescent children. This doesn’t sound much like that to me. It sounds more like the lead female character is mentally and emotionally a young teenager but fully mature sexually. You can call that a number of things, none of them particularly complimentary, but I don’t think it’s fair to call it pedophilia.

Do I think the storyline is somewhat repulsive? You bet.

Do I find it REALLY odd that it is so popular among young and middle-aged purportedly feminist women? Absolutely. They obviously identify with the young woman “heroine,” which says something really odd about what they find erotic or entertaining.