Why are Women Devouring Fifty Shades of Grey?

[antigone382]

164. Umm...at the end of the Titanic she abandons her family and assumes a new identity...

...with no guarantee that she'll end up OK. And it's no surprise that schmaltzy romances have happy endings where the hero and heroine end up all right in every respect, including financially.


Are you arguing that abandoning wealth or the promise of wealth for "true love" are not very prominent themes in romance?

How about "Far and Away" with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise...

A quick google search turned up a few titles that feature a "common-born" or poor romantic hero:

Homeward Hearts
The Leopard Prince
McKenna's Bride
...and several others

(I'm not into romance novels so I haven't thoroughly read the plots of each of these titles, but they were all mentioned by romance readers...I'm assuming most of whom were female...who specifically wanted to read romances with "regular guys" as the hero).

Then there are books that deal with the inverse. In Wuthering Heights, the main character chooses a the rich and socially acceptable man over the man who she truly loves, her orphaned childhood companion, the results of which more or less doom all three characters in the book (she dies from stress-induced illness, her lover turns more or less totally dark and bitter, and her husband suffers the consequences of his wife's death and her lover's revenge, ultimately dying young as well).

Going beyond "rich," there are all kinds of love stories where the female heroine chooses the less seemingly charismatic character because he is a better human being. Going beyond that, there are as many other romantic themes out there as anyone could think up...because as it so happens, women are an incredibly diverse lot and not all consumed with wealth or any other one thing.

Lastly, if male wealth is such a precondition for female interest, what's up with dowries? In India and other countries, female offspring are viewed as a burden and are often aborted, killed, or driven to suicide because of the pressure that supplying a dowry places on them and their families...and once they become brides, they are often tormented, abused, or killed in horrific ways by their husbands/husbands' families, if the wealth they bring into their new families is considered insufficient.