General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why are Women Devouring Fifty Shades of Grey? [View all]nolabear
(41,991 posts)It is SO badly written. Anastasia may be the most annoying protagonist on the face of the earth, and I fear for any woman over 25 (up to then you get a youth and inexperience pass in my book) who identifies with her eye-rolling, lip-biting shallowness.
That said, there's a theory in psychology that women have always been so disrespected for having sexual desires and the urge to just get laid without it being within carefully proscribed social restraints that the "I have no choice" option is a fantasy not of pain or subjugation but of freedom to go outside the norm. The author beats this idea to death with her contract (DAMN that contract went on forEVER) and safe words and more condom wrapper ripping than I ever want to hear about in my natural life.
I think there might be something to the theory, and the reason a fantasy is best just that rather than something to justify acting on and flirting with real disaster. So far (and I may never finish the thing and find out any better) Grey has the childhood traumas, attachment issues and tendencies of a sociopath and a real life one would scare the crap out of me no matter how well his jeans hung off his hips.