Fifty Shades of Grey

I added Jasper Fforde's novel Shades of Grey to my "currently reading" list on Goodreads, which is linked to my Facebook account. Cue friends laughing themselves sick. Whoops.

"Doctor Who means never having to say you're kidding." - Bocaj

Hee, well maybe of you can point them into the direction of a good book it would be worth the ribbing.

Seriously does Christen have any redeeming qualities at all? Who in their right mind could find such a creep attractive?

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Journey: Slave play is not inherently sexist, as long as both sides are consenting.

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Um, that's not what makes Gor sexist. It explicitly states that ALL WOMEN are SLAVES ALL MEN are MASTERS, a man CANNOT be a slave, a woman can neither be free nor a Mistress. Gor, is, in fact, the enslavement of every single woman on the planet. No less. -Shudders- I've seen enough to know a Gorean Master won't tolerate a free woman in his presence. . . One tried to enslave my partner on there.

ETA: I just Wiki'd Gor to double check my facts. Tragically I wasn't misinformed. . . and learned that despite being blacklisted by the major sci-fi publishers, that series has found a place to be published, and is, in fact, their most popular line of fiction. Guess this Twilight/Shades thing isn't a new wave, it just brings it outright into the mainstream's view. Gor was done in the 1960s. This thing has existed for far longer than we've realized.

edited 7th Aug '12 8:41:28 AM by Journeyman

Yeah but I don't remember Gor hitting the top sellers list.

Obviously kinky stuff like that has always existed, and that's cool. It's because this has become so popular that it's problematic.

-Shakes his head- Stuff that portrays lifestyles in a fairly healthy, satisfying, and consentual for both parties kind of way is "kinky." These stories are mental patient cases waiting to happen.

If you can think, "That might be fun to try" without having to involve someone with shattered morals, then it's kinky. If you have to find someone who doesn't think you're even human, it's beyond perverted, even.

edited 7th Aug '12 11:08:37 AM by Journeyman

Eh, I'd say that this is at least a step in the right direction. The books suck, but believe it or not, there is not a lot of erotica directed towards women. I suspect that within a few years, there will be a happier medium.

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I'll give you that, it's just not a very wonderful first step. Here's to hoping the next ones are better!

Well, I think all first steps kinda suck. If this starts a trend of BDSM, that might be good, if annoying. I'd really only worry if it starts a trend of unhealthy BDSM. Even the Twilight-vampire trend came out with...some gems. Well, they weren't shit.

The new playing field has been set. What comes from it will be interesting to see.

edited 7th Aug '12 1:25:55 PM by MrAHR

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The Gor saga sold 30 million copies, so anyone who tells you that they weren't best sellers, Hermie, is lying through their teeth. They were extremely popular in the 80s. I should know, that is when I started reading them. For fairly obvious reasons given I was a teenager. Now? Barge pole, not touching them with.

And journeyman? Making judgements about a whole lifestyle about which you obviously know next to nothing about given your response is odd. To say the least. I make no further assumptions.

edited 7th Aug '12 4:50:10 PM by TamH70

Meh, I only know one person who likes the series, and she was a female sub. So like I said before, if the girl and guy is happy, then they can do whatever they want. I'd assume any group of people trying to force others to change would not be looked upon too highly.

Also, is Gor just porn books or?

edited 7th Aug '12 4:49:58 PM by MrAHR

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Torture porn, for a given value of torture and porn. Branding, whipping and all that stuff. Leaving permanent marks on people is icky as far as I am concerned, and it happens all the time in the books from what little I can bring myself to remember about them.

Ah. Yes, that tends to happen with pornish books. One person's icky is another person's MOAR.

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I have read a lot of the BDSM stuff over the years. You can tell when it is written by someone who is still human on the inside, and who is a kid writing the stuff with one hand. And who is the sort of sadistic fuck who should be smothered with a pillow. Because they write the dreck that the term Brain Bleach was coined as a treatment to get their stuff out of the affected patients heads.

Norman reached that point. The writer of F So G seems to be racing towards it at speed from what I have read in this discussion so far.

...well, you can tell where your line is, anyway. Different folks, different lines.

edited 7th Aug '12 5:01:02 PM by MrAHR

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Which response are you referrng to?

I've been researching the BDSM, well, D/s, scene on and off for five years now. Gor I just hadn't, because I'd read/heard from enough sources that it was something to keep a distance from.

replying to this. It's something that's pretty subjective, in my opinion.

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Uh my comment about the Gor books not being a "best seller" was more due to my ignorance of the series and I'm tentative to google more information on that. I do apologize.

No need to apologize, hermie, if anything it is me who needs to do so for blundering in with my big hairy feet. So, sorry. I could probably have put that better.

The books sold well, I read some, but I choose not to do so ever again if I can help it. If someone held a knife to my throat I probably would do though.

I think the reason I'm so convinced that this will lead to misadventure is because it's filling the niche Twilight used to fill: Popular dreck ruining a pre-established concept. Imagine if the same airheads and bitches (not all of the fanbase, I know, but still numerous) latched onto these books as well. It would NOT end well, and would serve to spread the misinformation around.

"Oh my god, I want to have a boyfriend like Christian Grey! ^////^"

Fuck. That. Shit.

Yeah, so the hype machine kicked into gear and a bit of fantasy fluff gets sold. What people are buying into is the "controversy", you know, and the ability to say "Oh, I've read it" when trying to impress people with how current and hip you are. There are also the many people simply curious what all the fuss is about.

So it's not literature or art. That puts it squarely into the category of half the entertainment product shoved in our faces anymore. People want to be entertained, they have an appetite for torture (or did you think the Silence of the Lambs was anything but torture porn?) and I'm glad there are 20 million people out there who can still read at an adult level.

Er, I don't think putting Silence of the Lambs in the same category as Hostel makes much sense. Silence of the Lambs has a lot of fascinating psychological components in addition to the murders and face-eating.

Also, I hesitate to call Fifty Shades of Grey adult-level reading. It certainly doesn't ask any interesting questions, have complex characters, or a plot that requires you to pay attention. It's fap material, and terribly-written, abuse-hyping fap material at that.

edited 9th Aug '12 11:42:27 AM by Accela

As someone who enjoys being dominant and sadistic with consenting, enthusiastic partners it horrifies me that people are getting ideas from these books, and I do not look forward to dealing with people who got into it after reading them.

A brighter future for a darker age.

Or even worse, do not know that there is better stuff out there. And put up with stuff in consequence that would make me want to do violence to the attempted perpetrator. Of a somewhat, well, terminal nature.

Oh, yes — alas, people will take the abusive form of what they need if they don't know that better is available :(

A brighter future for a darker age.