Fifty Shades of Grey depicts RAPE and has been criticized by BDSM advocates

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19. Even if it is consensual sex it still begs the question as to why people are aroused by it . . .

which is a question worth examining. And, we can examine it without judging those who participate in it. I like a bit of it myself, but that doesn't mean I can't try to understand why I like it.

It is problematic to me that so many women are aroused by the way submission is depicted in this book. It bothers me that I find a certain level of submission arousing as well. What does this tell us about our culture? What does this tell us about patriarchy?

People who are arguing that judging this book somehow equates with judging the people who get off via BDSM is just silly. We are allowed to take any book or movie, critique it (including examining how it relates to the culture that produces it or reads it), and, yes, we are allowed to say whether we find the themes of it troubling. That doesn't mean the ones critiquing are the sex police or prudes. It means we are thinking people.

As an undergrad, my class was discussing The Da Vinci Code. My professor said the question was not if Dan Brown was a good writer, but what it was that drew so many people to the book. What can of worms did Brown open with that novel? It is worth examining because it tells us things we need to know about our culture.

The same thing can be said of Fifty Shades. Why are women aroused by it? Why would anybody get off on causing pain? What does that tell us about ourselves? Does the popularity of BDSM tell us anything about our culture? Does that in turn tell us what might need to change?

We can and should ask all these questions without being called prudes or the sex police. It's what intelligent people do and I hope it is what people that call themselves progressives would especially do.