Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple
of months you will have no doubt heard about the 50 Shades trilogy and as seems
to be the pattern, you will have heard one of two things. Either, you will have
had women gushing about how they couldn’t put the books down and they have told
all their friends and they are now all at different stages through the books etc
or you will have heard the opposite camp telling you they are sick of hearing
about these bloody books, that are badly written, badly edited and completely
unrealistic.
So where do I sit when it comes to the 50 Shades divide? As
much as I agree with many of the points made by the anti 50 shades brigade I
can’t fully get on board, because I can see too many positive possibilities
coming from these books and here are just a few of them.
The writing style of this book is not fantastic but by
bringing erotica to the mainstream instead of it being a tiny section hidden
away on high shelves in bookshops, it will give better opportunities for some
of the fantastic writers of erotica. People are finishing the 50 Shades Trilogy
and wondering what else there is out there that isn’t some trashy book that has
no story line and is just about the graphic details of the sex the characters
are having. On Twitter alone I can think of plenty of writers whose
capabilities, given the opportunity, will completely outshine E.L.James.
Early on in the trilogy we are introduced to the world of
Dom/sub relationships. OK it probably isn’t done as most people in the Dom/sub
community would like, I have heard the grumbles about the amount of alcohol consumed
etc. However for a lot of the people reading this book I think they have found
themselves discovering an interest in an area they didn’t know existed and for
those that perhaps already felt drawn to the idea, it may well help them gain
the confidence to voice their interest. There are many people in the world that
would view these kinds of relationships as taboo but 50 Shades has made it more
acceptable. Surely anything that allows people to learn about their sexual
desires can’t be all bad can it?
Still slightly on the theme above, I have experienced
personally, that women are finding a new sexual freedom having read these
books. Women who didn’t like to talk about sex are suddenly opening up, talking
about bits mentioned in the books that they would like to try or ideas that
have developed from reading the books. More sex for everyone? I don’t think
anyone will be complaining about that.
At this point I really could go on and on but I won’t I’ll
just say something about the claims that this book is unrealistic, yeah it is
unrealistic. A pretty, 21 year old virgin, lacking in confidence falls under
the spell of a handsome millionaire battling demons from his past and finding
release in his red room of pain. Can’t say it’s ever happened to anyone I know
but then again I also don’t know anyone who owns a mansion and ended up
shagging the gardener in his cabin, nor for that matter have I ever known
anyone who has fallen in love with a vampire and had his baby. There is a
reason for this, its fiction! We read books to escape into a world unlike our
own where things happen, that we may not ever imagine.
This post is to coincide with #ThoughtfulThursday
