General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why are Women Devouring Fifty Shades of Grey? [View all]Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Except more poorly-written than the average Harlequin. Damn, is that prose awful.
Many of them feature a male lead who is, initially at least, a very creepy jerk. But the 50 Shades trilogy, from what I gather (I've only read the first one, only so I could discuss it) does have the traditional ending where the man "reforms" because of the heroine's powerful love. Which is a very common fantasy.
I have problems with the pathologizing of women's sexual fantasies. Analyzing them is one thing, but all the handwringing about "OMG women are reading PORN!" and "OMG this relationship is NOT A HEALTHY ROLE MODEL" starts to wear on me after a while, because it doesn't acknowledge how fantasies really work, and it really starts to infantilize women as these mindless creatures who need to be protected from their own wank fodder.