but you aren't getting a thread for it.

her favorite was the "plantation" subgenre - you know, the master / mistress having their way with a slave who could "pass" and of course the scandal of it all.

Literature - barf - about a master literally raping his slave... was less rapey than Fifty Shades. That's where the discussion is coming from.

Collective, mind you. Just an opinion:


"Here's this book, what, Fifty Shades of Gray...hmmm...looks popular. Must be shitty. Nothing good is ever popular.
Yup, sure enough: it sucks. Sophomoric writing, glorified romance novel...repetitive...women everywhere are
reading it...must be sexually repressed or something. Wow, that woman really hit the jackpot with that crap.
She better be paying taxes. Ugh. I could do much better. What's this now? A movie? Well, of course,
that's typical. Uh oh. Waiiiiiiiiit a minute. HOOOOOOLD on. Fundies don't like the movie? There are fundy warnings
about it? Well, THAT sure changes things. Hey, if they're sexually repressed, that's THEIR problem. This is
ART and SEXUAL FREEDOM they're fucking with. This movie is IMPORTANT. It's a blow for SEXUAL FREEDOM
and EMPOWERMENT. Yeah, that's it! But you know, I said the book sucks, so I need a response for when someone
points out that inconsistency. Hm. What to say. What to say..."

(This one, too, actually. No offense.)

... and the most paranoid of them involves those who favor the status quo intentionally distracting us from shit that's actually important.

A more charitable theory is that the shit that's actually important right now is amazingly painful and difficult and so people unconsciously seek out meaningless drivel to keep from thinking about the painful stuff.

Either way -- distraction distraction distraction.



ETA -- the book/movie is drivel. I in no way mean to suggest that the off-shoot conversations about violence and lack of consent are drivel. --dlo

distracted from? Why would this be such a big deal right now? Why is this even all up on the mass radar all the sudden, people haven't been angrily been going on about this and now it has exploded but rather nothing to the issue of the day. Is that lame ass movie fixing to come out or something, and if so is this E or TLC or MTV? Are there going to be a dozen threads on "As the World Turns" tomorrow? How about Fabio: Where is he now? day at DU?

C'mon man! Is this not just some hyped up latter day Harlequin romance novel that is all the rage? Take it to the lounge or start a romance novel group but there I should no reason to be sucking up all the air on some Penthouse Letters/romance trash.

Bombs in Gaza, Ocean warmest temps in recorded history, Ukraine, What to do about Japan's nuclear waste, Detroit and the water situation, drought in the west, children from south America being held in kennels and on and on. So much going on and instead of multiple threads about these issues there are multiple threads on a book that in the scheme of things is almost dead last on my list of things to worry about this week.

It's rigidly formulaic, the plot set on page one with a heroine who is successful and traveling to exotic places but oh dear something is just not right with a life that's so complete, enter the older, more powerful male with a sketchy past and the rest is just filler with ripped clothing and lots of moaning. "50 Shades" follows this except for the exotic location, apparently that comes after she's started exploring the contents of his kinky toy box.

The funniest mystery books out there are written by women who cranked out bad romantic porn books one after the other since none of them make much money by themselves and burned out on it completely. Their plots and characters are hilarious and the sex, if there is any, turns out to be farcical and they're fairly well written, the writers having honed their chops working with editors and seeing the galleys dripping with red ink (or its computer equivalent).

The only difference between male porn and female porn is one uses pictures and the other uses words.

(the London equivalent of Westchester County, perhaps?) Hell, the author didn't just grow up in Bucks, she moved back to Beaconsfield after university.

Like a form letter you just change some details. This 50 Shades business makes some of those old romances seem like literature.

But then, it's safer to attack romance novels than it is to attack guns.

If women write it and read it, it must be dreck. Unlike anything that men write.

it is definitely worse than dreck.

That's why it offends. But people love dreck.

you like then go for it. It's not our job to judge.

or not

There appears to be general agreement it is not well written.

The debate is about whether one should be allowed to question BDSM - Free Speech doesn't go that far apparently.

So the book is a misogynist work by a patriarchal society used to trick women into desiring something other women don't want them to want...or something like that. Hell, I have no idea really except that some here are siding with the fundies and want to preach about it. (which will probably be seen as dismissive and hidden, easier to hide dissent -- another great religious tactic over the ages)

I had to ask someone what it was. Weird because yesterday I was in a B&N and saw that the Romance genre still survived. I noticed nothing announcing that particular title, but there were a bunch of people dressed up in honor of Comicon.

Seriously.

I was sitting here thinking, that's GOT to be a joke cover, right?

Why, yes! Here's the actual cover of the actual book!



The picture in your OP is a lovely photoshop job!

lol

... to have made the point that women can buy their porn in the grocery store.

Which has been true for many, many years.

Krogers are making a fortune off that as well

You liked an evil book, sinner, the lord shall send hurricanes upon thee!

themselves in. There are no good discussions anymore.

I think it's a sad commentary on society and I don't understand progressives who think it's all in good fun.

Maybe because it's about "sex." I've been wondering if those defending it would react the same way if generic mousy female character (I won't insult true romance heroines by calling her one.) were a man instead.

in hours of us stocking them on the shelves and the readers were all grandma aged ladies. I never saw them as nothing more than romantic fantasy. Many well know serious writers also write romance novels under different nom de plums for extra money.

But whatever.

and many folks think they will feel better by casting judgment down upon others.

They interviewed several middle aged moms on the news and a common theme was "I would never let my daughter read it but I'm on the third book in the series."

Men like to watch. Women like to read. Hypocrites like to shame.

At a time when people are talking about consent, and struggling to get the message out about kink shaming, this book starts those conversations. I haven't read it. I heard the writing was bad, and that's enough of a deterrent for me. That said, anyone thinking that this kind of book is new is wrong. I read romance novels when I was young, and I was thrilled to find out that many times, historical romances were the place to find exotic, in my mind, sex. It may have been one of the reasons I wanted to travel so much: At fourteen I wanted to go to o e of those places where they'd been having wild, uninhibited sex for hundreds of years. The books that portray such things have been around at least since I was a young teenager.

And I have to say, the dismissive tone of phrases like "mommy porn" set my teeth on edge. It's not as if dads never look at porn, but porn for males is never called daddy porn. And then you get to the kink shaming, and the women rushing to reassure that they would never read or enjoy such filth. I'm sure it's true for some women. But those of us who do enjoy such filth aren't such terrible people, either. It's unfortunate that it is, by general consensus, a terrible book initiating the conversations. For someone like me, though, who wants more tolerance in the world, talking about it isn't a bad thing if there's a chance we can steer ourselves into a more thoughtful direction.

tells us a lot about our society. What does it say about our society when a book about an abusive relationship is so popular? I would ask the same about Twilight (which I understand it's somewhat based on) and they didn't have sex until they were married but the same complaint is there. It's an abusive relationship, yet it is seen as romantic and is very popular. Why? It's worth conversation.

One totally domineering, unable to relate to women or to get it up unless he's being a jerk.